European Union Ready To Expand … Maybe 11 Applicant Countries Face Difficult Road To Acceptance

None of the 11 nations hoping to be admitted to the European Union over the next decade is ready yet, but all are expected at today’s ceremonial opening of the group’s most ambitious expansion.

Although the 10 East European countries and Cyprus face a hard road to qualify, foreign ministers from the 15 existing members and the hopefuls will declare Europe on course for unprecedented integration.

“This is a historic milestone,” Priit Kolbre, Estonia’s envoy to the EU, said Sunday.

But the candidates will have to make difficult economic and social adjustments. None currently meets the membership criteria, said Francois Lamoureux, a senior official involved in enlargement talks.

It will take at least five years to integrate Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus - and five more to get Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria through the door.

After Monday’s ceremony, the slow-track candidates go home. The EU will engage them in “preparatory” talks. The six “fast-track” candidates open formal membership talks in Brussels on Tuesday.

If all work hard to make their economies comply with EU rules, they will get billions of dollars in technical and other aid. If they don’t, they risk “a suspension of financial assistance,” Lamoureux said.

Poland, for instance, must create “a viable steel sector” by laying off thousands of workers. Slovenia must introduce value-added taxes. Estonia must integrate Russian-speakers more into its society.

The candidates, except for Cyprus, lag further behind the EU in economic development than any previous newcomers.

But no country except Cyprus presents more political problems.

The EU wants to admit the entire Mediterranean island - which has been divided into Greek and Turkish camps since 1974 - but has no guarantee that can happen.