On Wednesday, the approaching twentieth anniversary of the largest enlargement of the European Union to date was commemorated in the European Parliament. Hungary on May 1, 2004
- together with the Visegrád Four (Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia),
- with three Baltic ex-Soviet republics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania),
- with two Mediterranean island countries (Cyprus and Malta),
- and with Slovenia as the first former Yugoslav republic
joined at once.
The future suddenly became limitless, the divided Europe was united, the Maltese President of the EP, Roberta Metsola, recalled her experiences of the accession. Now, according to him, the Ukrainians, Moldovans and Western Balkans look at the EU with the same hope. Member States faced unprecedented challenges and resisted trying to solve them alone, understanding that “for all its frustrations and imperfections, the European Union is still the best guarantee for all of us”. The transformative power of accession can still be felt today, it affected all member states, but unity does not mean homogeneity, everyone must be given the same chance even if they do not have the same point of view, said Metsola.
Péter Medgyessy and Ursula von der Leyen at the event organized for the upcoming twentieth anniversary of the largest enlargement of the European Union in the European Parliament – Photo: Fred Marvaux / EP
Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission at the time, and the leaders of the member states that signed the accession agreement, including Péter Medgyessy, the Hungarian Prime Minister from 2002 to 2004, were invited to the meeting. For the commemoration, one of the young people born on the day of accession from the countries that became members in 2004 could sit in the meeting room, and they could ask the leaders a question. Medgyessy was asked about the reason for joining: according to him, one of the reasons was that the Hungarians always felt that this was their place. Those who negotiated the accession (as prime minister between 1998 and 2002) “from Viktor Orbán to Péter Medgyessy” did nothing but fulfill the will of the people, he said. The other reason is that “we believe that sovereignty can be strengthened within the European Union. A country that is strong can be sovereign. The European Union makes Hungary strong”, so they considered it their job to strengthen our sovereignty through the EU, he declared.
