IN THE NEWS - European Union Expansion

IN THE NEWS - European Union Expansion

By Cynthia Kirk

BROADCAST: December 21, 2002
This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program, IN THE NEWS.

 

The European Union has officially asked ten countries to join the organization in
Two-Thousand-Four. The leaders of the fifteen current E-U member countries
approved the invitations at a meeting in Copenhagen last week. Danish Prime
Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen led the meeting. He called the decision, a victory
for liberty and democracy. He also said that, a new Europe is born.

Eight of the invited countries are in Eastern Europe. Until nineteen-ninety-one,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania were part of the Soviet¹ Union. Poland, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia all had Communist governments. The E

U also offered membership to Malta and the Greek-ruled part of Cyprus.

The planned expansion would be the largest in the E-U’s history. It would create a community of more than
four-hundred-fifty million people in twenty-five countries. The expansion also would create an economy of more
than nine-million-million dollars. Such an economy would be close to that of the United States.

Intense negotiations² took place at the Copenhagen meeting about the financial terms under which new members
will join. Candidates for E-U membership had demanded more aid. Most of them are poorer than the average
country in Western Europe. They also have shorter histories as democracies and had problems with dishonest
governments. Many people in the invited countries did not fully³ support efforts to join the E-U.

Poland is the largest of the ten candidate countries. It had threatened to sabotage⁴ the expansion plans if it did not
receive more aid. The agreement calls for the E-U to provide more than forty-thousand-million dollars in aid to
the new members.

The expansion is planned for May, Two-Thousand-Four. But first, citizens in each candidate country must
approve E-U membership in a series of votes expected next year.

E-U members had hoped that a United Nations-negotiated agreement to end the division of Cyprus would be
signed during the Copenhagen meeting. Cyprus has been divided between Greek and Turkish Cypriots since
nineteen-seventy-four.

The E-U offered membership to the southern, Greek side of Cyprus. The Turkish north could enter later if it
agrees on terms to end the island’s division. Now, only the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot
government will receive E-U membership.

In another development, Turkey accepted an E-U decision to delay considering its membership until December,
Two-Thousand-Four, at the earliest. E-U leaders said Turkey must make the political and human rights reforms
necessary to begin talks about membership.

The United States supports Turkey’s efforts to join the E-U. The Bush administration has been attempting to
win Turkish support for possible military action against Iraq.

This VOA Special English program, IN THE NEWS, was written by Cynthia Kirk.

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1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。