EU’s Eastern Enlargement at 20: Poland’s Democratic Transition and the Intellectual Legacy of Bronisław Geremek
On 1 May 2004, with the accession of 10 candidate countries (Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia), the European Union (EU) not only marked the biggest enlargement in its history, but also opened up for the first time to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which had embarked on the transition to freedom, democracy and a market economy after long decades of communist and dictatorial regimes. On 26 April 2005, Bulgaria and Romania have also been included in this process.