About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (September 26, 2003)

handle is hein.crs/crsaihl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS21624 September 26, 2003 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web European Union Candidate Countries: 2003 Referenda Results Julie Kim Specialist in International Relations Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division Summary The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia held public referenda from March through September 2003 on becoming members of the European Union (EU). These nine countries plus Cyprus are expected to accede to the EU in May 2004, bringing the EU's total membership to twenty-five. This report briefly analyzes the referenda results and implications. It will not be updated. For additional information see CRS Report RS21344, European Union Enlargement. Background to the Referenda The European Union is embarking on a major enlargement process that will expand the Union from fifteen to twenty-five members by mid-2004, and potentially more in the coming years. The current round of enlargement is notable for its size (which will expand the EU zone from 378 to over 450 million people) and inclusion of many former Communist bloc countries. Ten candidate countries - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia - concluded accession negotiations in December 2002 and signed the Treaty of Accession on April 16, 2003 in Athens. Bulgaria and Romania aim to join the EU by 2007. Turkey is recognized as an EU candidate, and the countries of the western Balkans also seek eventual EU membership, although no target entry date has been identified for these states. From March through September 2003, nine of the ten acceding countries held public referenda on joining the EU according to their own constitutional procedures (Cyprus did not hold a referendum but ratified the accession treaty through a parliamentary vote). While individual results varied, all of the referenda outcomes favored EU membership, paving the way for the acceding countries to become full members by May 1, 2004, and participate in the June 2004 elections for the European Parliament. The fifteen current EU member states as well as the European Parliament must also ratify the accession treaty (the European Parliament did so in April 2003). Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most