On May 1st 2004 Poland became a European Union member after long years of preparations. 

Click on the audio icon to listen to a report by Slawek Szefs

During that period it had to satisfy an equally long list of requirements in various areas, starting from purely economic factors, up to democratic rights and civic freedoms. Something very demanding with regard to a country marked for almost five decades by communist rule. It was the biggest of the ten newcomers in terms of population, economy... and ambitions.