Christian Message Boards: Ireland to join EU

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Posted by MIGUEL ANGEL CHAPARRO (Member # 47) on :

Ireland to join EU
October 22, 2002
AFTER Ireland's vote in favour of the biggest expansion in European Union history, the EU was preparing yesterday to figure out how much it would cost to welcome 10 new nations in the next two years.

Following the initial jubilation over the results of the Irish referendum, which could have derailed the bloc's ambitious expansion plans, officials now must address a lingering budget row between heavyweights France and Germany.
Foreign ministers will meet in Luxembourg today before a summit later in the week in Brussels, where current EU president Denmark said the Union must sort out the battle over its costly farm subsidies policy.

"The first stone on the road has been removed but there will be several more," said Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "We must reach a clear decision in Brussels on budgetary and agricultural policy."

The Common Agricultural Policy accounts for about half of the Union's $95 billion ($168 billion) yearly budget, and France has rejected German calls to cut back on the farm aid.

Berlin is worried the admission of nations like Poland will send costs spiralling out of control.
Germany is a net contributor to the EU budget, while French farmers benefit from the aid.

Ten mostly former communist nations are in line to be invited to join the EU after Irish voters changed their minds and gave nearly two-thirds approval to the Nice Treaty on expansion which they rejected last year.
"Today is a historic day in our relationship with our sister states in Europe," Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said yesterday."We want to welcome the peoples of the applicant countries into the union with open hearts as well as open minds."

Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller praised Ireland as he toasted the result with a glass of Guinness – possibly Ireland's most famous export.
The vote was also welcomed by Czech President Vaclav Havel, who had warned that a delay in EU enlargement would amount to a "new Iron Curtain".
The other countries on track to join in the first half of 2004 are the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia.