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European voice

May 26th, 2014

Special report 10th anniversary of enlargement

Published Wednesday, 30 April 2014

A look at how the EU has changed since 2004.

After the big bang

1 May marks ten years since the EU’s big bang’ enlargement. How have those countries, and the EU, changed in the past decade?

Survival instincts

Cyprus is still feeling the effects of the eurozone crisis, but other countries that joined the EU in 2004 can focus on longer term economic …

Eastern promises

The enlargement of 2004 imported some foreign policy problems and increased attention to the EU’s eastern neighbours.

The EU’s numbers game

Fears that bringing ten countries into the EU would paralyse the Union have proved unfounded.

Staffing

In 2004, the Council adopted a temporary rule that made it possible to give preference to candidates for the new member states in recruiting for …

A decade of consolidation

Politics in central and eastern Europe has become significantly more predictable.

Divided then, divided now

Cyprus was a special case among the ten countries that joined the European Union in 2004, and it is a special case still the only member state …

More money, more migration

Malta’s political leaders have been quick to praise the benefits of European Union membership ahead of the tenth anniversary.

Tested for resilience

After a tough first decade as EU members, leaders of the class of 2004 are Euro realists keen on consolidation, rather than innovation.