from BBC on European Union
Dazzling entry for new EU members
Hundreds of thousands across Europe celebrated the event
Huge street parties, sparkling firework displays and joyful concerts have heralded the biggest expansion in the history of the European Union.
The 15 old members welcomed in Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia at midnight.
Leaders of all the members will later join Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern for a flag-raising ceremony in Dublin. The expansion to 25 nations makes the EU the world's biggest trading bloc.
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said a dream had become reality. Hundreds of thousands packed city squares in the newcomer states to see the fireworks on the stroke of midnight and hear Beethoven's Ode to Joy - the EU's official anthem.
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.ENLARGEMENT NUMBERS
10 new countries (up to 25)
74 million people (up to 455m)
444bn euro of extra GDP
(up to 9,613bn)
738,573 sq km of territory
(up to 4m sq km)'One Europe'
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 were not even separate countries until just over a decade ago.
The other two new members - Malta and Cyprus - are Mediterranean islands although Cypriot membership is being overshadowed by the exclusion of the island's Turkish Cypriot part.
One of the fathers of European reunification, Helmut Kohl, spoke through tears when he addressed thousands at a ceremony in the German town of Zittau, which borders both Poland the Czech Republic.
"The message is there will never again be war in Europe," the former German chancellor 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.
Viewpoints: Where is the EU heading?
The European Union is expanding from 10 members to 25, and is set to grow further still in 2007.
Will a bigger EU make closer integration more or less likely? Can the EU keep on growing without becoming meaningless? BBC News Online asked eight opinion formers to share their thoughts on where the EU might be in ten years time."Turkey must be part of the EU's future"
Dr Mehmet Ugur, author of The EU and TurkeyThe EU will never be able to stop surges of nationalism which leave it unpopular, and it will also be used as a scapegoat when things go wrong
- That scapegoat could be Turkey (a "Muslim" country). With this logic, he argues that Turkey must be part of EU...However, I think then it follows that EU would find another scapegoat if Turkey became part of it..
