Italy · 25th anniversary of the 2004 EU enlargement

With the accession of ten countries, the European Union was enlarged on 1 May 2004 to include countries from Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia were admitted. It was the largest enlargement round in the history of the European Union.

The accession was connected with the political changes following the end of the Cold War. States that had previously belonged to different political and economic systems were gradually integrated into a common European order. Requirements for membership included democratic institutions based on the rule of law, the protection of minorities, a functioning market economy and the ability to fulfil the obligations of membership. These requirements are known as the Copenhagen criteria.

The accession treaties were signed in Athens on 16 April 2003. Upon their entry into force on 1 May 2004, the new member states became part of the single market and the common political institutions. The enlargement changed the composition of the Union and at the same time presented it with the task of adapting decision-making procedures and political cooperation to a larger number of members.

For Italy, one of the six founding states of the European Economic Community, the occasion refers to the development of European integration from limited Western European cooperation into a Union with members from almost all parts of the continent. The issue thus commemorates a step that further overcame the political division of Europe after the Second World War and placed cooperation between the participating states on a broader foundation.