April 16 marks the 8th anniversary of the signing of the Accession Treaty which opened the road to EU enlargement, which included 10 new members of Central and Southern Europe, including Poland.

The other new members were Cyprus, the Czech republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.

The document was signed in 2003 in Athens by representatives of the aspiring states and the EU’s fifteen older members.

Poland was represented then by Prime Minister Leszek Miller and head of diplomacy Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz.

Two months after the signing Poland held a referendum on EU accession, with 77.5 percent of Poles saying yes to joining the bloc.

The Accession Treaty was ratified by the then president Aleksander Kwasnieski in July and on 1 May 2004 Poland together with the remaining nine aspirants became full members of the EU.

That day the official EU flag was hoisted at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw beside the official flag of Poland. The ceremony of enlargement was celebrated in Dublin. (ab)