§ 26. Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make a statement on progress towards EU enlargement. [77188]
§ Mr. MacShaneIn line with the objective first set by the Prime Minister, the Brussels European Council agreed that ten candidate countries should be ready to join the EU in 2004 (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia). It also confirmed the objective of completing negotiations with these countries this year. Brussels also confirmed that enlargement will not stop there. The UK welcomes the progress made by Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.