Cyprus in
EU 2004 Since 1974 Cyprus has been divided between the
Greek south (the Republic of Cyprus) and the northern areas under Turkish military occupation (the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus). The Republic of Cyprus is recognised as the sole legitimate government by every UN (and EU) member state except Turkey, while the northern occupied area is recognised only by Turkey. Cyprus began talks to join the EU, which provided impetus to solve the dispute. With the agreement of the
Annan Plan for Cyprus, it was hoped that the two communities would join the EU together as a single
United Cyprus Republic. Turkish Cypriots supported the plan. However, in a
referendum on 24 April 2004 the Greek Cypriots rejected the plan. Thus, a week later, the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU with political issues unresolved. Legally, as the northern republic is not recognised by the EU, the entire island excluding the British overseas territory of
Akrotiri and Dhekelia is a member of the EU as part of the Republic of Cyprus, though the
de facto situation is that the Government is unable to extend its controls into the occupied areas. Efforts to reunite the island continue as of 2026. European Union membership forced the country to suspend
its membership in the Non-Aligned Movement with
Government of Cyprus insisting on maintaining close ties with the NAM.
Poland in
EU 2004 Accession of Poland to the European Union took place in May 2004. Poland had been negotiating with the EU since 1989. With the
fall of communism in 1989/1990 in Poland, Poland embarked on a series of reforms and changes in foreign policy, intending to join the EU and
NATO. On 19 September 1989 Poland signed the agreement for trade and trade co-operation with the (then)
European Community (EC). Polish intention to join the EU was expressed by Polish Prime Minister
Tadeusz Mazowiecki in his speech in the
European Parliament in February 1990 and in June 1991 by
Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Krzysztof Skubiszewski in
Sejm (Polish Parliament). On 19 May 1990 Poland started a procedure to begin negotiations for an
association agreement and the negotiations officially began in December 1990. About a year later, on 16 December 1991 the
European Union Association Agreement was signed by Poland. The Agreement came into force on 1 February 1994 (its III part on the mutual trade relations came into force earlier on 1 March 1992). As a result of diplomatic interventions by the central European states of the
Visegrád Group, the
European Council decided at its
Copenhagen summit in June 1993 that: "the associate member states from
Central and Eastern Europe, if they so wish, will become members of the EU. To achieve this, however, they must fulfil the appropriate conditions." Those conditions (known as the Copenhagen criteria, or simply, membership criteria) were: • That candidate countries achieve stable institutions that guarantee democracy, legality, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities. • That candidate countries have a working market economy, capable of competing effectively on EU markets. • That candidate countries are capable of accepting all the membership responsibilities, political, economic and monetary. At the Luxembourg summit in 1997, the EU accepted the commission's opinion to invite Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus to start talks on their accession to the EU. The negotiation process started on 31 March 1998. Poland finished the accession negotiations in December 2002. Then, the Accession Treaty was signed in
Athens on 16 April 2003 (
Treaty of Accession 2003). After the ratification of that Treaty in the
2003 Polish European Union membership referendum, Poland and other 9 countries became the members of EU on 1 May 2004.
A8 countries Eight of the 10 countries that joined the
European Union during the 2004 enlargement are grouped together as the
A8, sometimes also referred to as the
EU8. They are grouped separately from the other two states that joined Union in 2004, i.e.
Cyprus and
Malta, because of their relatively similar ex-Eastern block background, per capita income level, Human Development Index level, and most of all the geographical location in mainland
Europe, where the two other states from aforementioned 2004 batch are Mediterranean isles. These countries are: •
Czech Republic •
Estonia •
Hungary •
Latvia •
Lithuania •
Poland •
Slovakia •
Slovenia According to
BBC News, a reason for grouping the A8 countries was an expectation that they would be the origin for a new wave of increased migration to wealthier European countries. == Impact ==