Discussion in the European Parliament on EU Enlargement with the Participation of Candidate Member States

The Historic European Parliament Debate on Enlargement held in Strasbourg on 19 November 2002 marks a significant moment in the course of European integration, as it is the first pre-enlargement gathering where members of parliament from candidate countries participated. Ten of these countries – Cyprus, Malta, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia – joined the EU on 1 May 2004, while Bulgaria and Romania joined on 1 January 2007.