Countries agree about benefits of 15 years of EU membership, Plenkovic says Croatia to follow in their footsteps

Ten countries that joined the European Union in 2004 said at a ceremony on Wednesday marking the 15th anniversary of their membership that joining the block was a turning point in their development and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that Croatia was running behind because of more difficult historical circumstances but that it was successfully following in their footsteps.

Ten European Union member states are celebrating the 15th anniversary of their European Union membership in Warsaw on Wednesday.

Apart from Plenkovic, the ceremony in Warsaw is also attended by the prime ministers of Bulgaria Bojko Borisov, the Czech Republic Andrei Babis, Estonia Juri Ratas, Hungary Viktor Orban, Lithuania Saulis Skvernelis, Malta Joseph Muscat. Slovenia will be represented by Foreign Minister Miro Cerar.

The event is hosted by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

The ceremony in Warsaw marks the15th anniversary of the May 2004 first wave of EU enlargement in which eventually 11 Baltics, Central and South Eastern European countries joined the EU.

It brought together prominent political figures, policy makers and experts from the EU Member States, International and European institutions, the private sector, etc to identify and reflect on the experiences and the impacts of this EU enlargement episode.

The event will focus on the identification and discussion of experiences from which wider lessons can be learnt, using concrete country cases. It will consider the channels through which EU membership has helped to speed up convergence, via analysis of the role e.g trade, investment, financial integration and institutional channels have played.

Adopted at the summit in Warsaw was a joint declaration on reuniting Europe.

Plenkovic said the participants in the meeting agreed that EU membership meant progress.

Text: Hina

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