{"id":357629,"date":"2024-04-30T12:04:17","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T10:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/04\/30\/allargamento-ue-2004-cortina-di-ferro\/"},"modified":"2024-05-06T18:19:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T16:19:11","slug":"charles-michel-sees-enlargement-of-the-union-necessary-to-avert-risk-of-a-new-iron-curtain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/04\/30\/charles-michel-sees-enlargement-of-the-union-necessary-to-avert-risk-of-a-new-iron-curtain\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Michel sees enlargement of the Union necessary to avert risk of a “new iron curtain”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels –\u00a0On May 1, the EU will celebrate 20 years since its biggest enlargement<\/strong>. In 2004, 10 states (Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) joined the Union. In an interview on\u00a0Le Soir daily<\/a>, the President of the European Council,\u00a0Charles Michel,<\/strong> recalled the historic event focusing on the entry of the current candidate countries, setting a date of 2030<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“By 2030, both the European Union and the candidate states must be ready,” Michel said, warning that “procrastinating on new entries would be a terrible mistake.” The challenge is twofold: on the one hand, for countries that want to enlarge the club of the 27 Member States, there is the need to comply with the democratic and economic parameters that the EU demands; on the other, there is the need to find the agreement and willingness of the Member States to advance\u00a0the Union’s enlargement.<\/p>\n

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2004 marked the reunification of a divided continent as we welcomed ten new EU member states. <\/p>\n

20 years on, war is back in Europe.<\/p>\n

The next wave of enlargement is once again a date with history, a geopolitical imperative. https:\/\/t.co\/NXa1rxFwoD<\/a><\/p>\n

— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) April 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n