(Smartness; 04-03; p.2)

The European Union of Twenty-five

On 16 April the heads of states and governments signed the so called "accession treaty" between the EU and ten potentially new members. Provided, the treaty will be ratified by each of the latter - usually by plebiscite - the Baltics, Eastcentral Europe, Malta and Slovenia become full members of the EU on 1 May 2004. The treaty has already been ratified in both of the smaller states and in Hungary.

The conclusion of the treaty is the preliminary milestone of a process already begun in the 1990s.
The EU defined economic, political and juridical criteria that had to be fulfilled by new members. Thus, the by no means benign transformation of the former Eastern Bloc eventually meets its end: the mutual formation of a zone of prosperity to the long-term advantage of all members.

That there had very hard questions to be solved in regard to proportional representation on the one hand and in regard to the ability of decision-making in due time on the other, showed the need for reforms in "Old-EU", also - they had been solved e.g. by creating possibilities for majority instead of unanimous decisions.
Beside these big questions some very special had to be tackled as well; notice for example that the accession treaty regulates the hunt for brown bears in Estonia as well as the fate of the Carniolan bee in Slovenia and the VAT in Malta.

Although it might be a bit early for opening the champagne, one may state: Europe is indeed not a fortressed island of prosperity that is forced to project power militarily. (read on here)