EU newcomers welcomed to the club

The new 25-member European Union has heralded its historic
expansion with celebrations across the new bloc. The 15 old
members welcomed in Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and
Slovenia at midnight.

The most high-profile festivities took place in Ireland,
current holder of the rotating EU presidency.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern welcomed the new members
and hailed a "day of hope and opportunity".

In bright spring sunshine, the leaders of the new member
states were welcomed in a simple ceremony in the grounds of
the Irish president’s official residence by their
counterparts from the existing 15 members.

They watched as young people from all 25 countries presented
their national flags, which were then raised together
alongside the EU flag as a mass choir sang the EU anthem,
Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.

Mr Ahern spoke of the progress that Europe had made over the
past decades, saying it had moved from war to peace.

He went on: "From hatred there is now respect, from division
there is union, and from dictatorship and oppression there is
democracy. "

But he also made reference to the challenges ahead for the
enlarged club - notably the need to find agreement on the
thorny issue of a constitution, and to narrow the now even
more pronounced wealth gap between members.

"There is indeed much work to be done," he said.

Ireland mounted its biggest security operation since Pope
John Paul II visited in 1979 in preparation for the
celebrations.

In Saturday evening, riot police used water cannon to break
up hundreds of anti-capitalist protesters in Dublin, but no
serious incidents were reported.

Joy and uncertainty

With a population of 455m, the EU now is the world’s biggest
trading bloc.

Hundreds of thousands packed city squares in the newcomer
states to watch fireworks and hear Beethoven’s Ode to Joy -
the EU’s official anthem.

The BBC’s Tim Franks says some enthusiasts are describing the
enlargement as a millennial event, comparable to the creation
of great empires.

This is a hugely significant day for Europe, our
correspondent says, but it is nowhere near the end of the
story.

In the existing member states, there is more uncertainty over
immigration, over the new balance of forces within the EU and
over whom the club should admit next.

For the newcomers, there are concerns about price hikes
without commensurate salary increases.

There is also disappointment that established members have
placed restrictions of up to seven years on freedom of
movement for workers from the relatively poor east into the
west.

Eight of the new members are former communist states, joining
the Western club only 15 years after most of them emerged
from years of Soviet domination. Some did not even regain
their independence until just over a decade ago.

’No war again’

The other two new members - Malta and Cyprus - are
Mediterranean islands.

But Cypriot membership is being overshadowed by the exclusion
of the island’s Turkish Cypriot part, following an
inconclusive referendum on reunification a week ago.

Infighting, insolvency and unemployment are all the EU is
going to accomplish Ben, USA

One of the fathers of European reunification, former German
Chancellor Helmut Kohl, spoke through tears when he addressed
thousands at a ceremony in the German town of Zittau, which
borders both Poland and the Czech Republic. "The message is
there will never again be war in Europe," Mr Kohl said.

Marek Wos, a 40-year-old Polish businessman attending the
celebrations in Warsaw, said it was a good day for his
country.

"We will no longer be second-class people from a second-class
country," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/3675801.st