EU leaders agree to 2004 expansion date, give Poland 28 seats on EU Council

At their summit meeting in Nice, leaders of European Union countries agreed to accept new members in the year 2004 and give Poland as many voting rights in the EU Council as Spain. The declaration of readiness to expand the EU in 2004 was surprising, as earlier EU politicians had been wary of naming any specific dates. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said before the Nice summit that naming the date "would be ridiculous." Observers are quick to note that the declaration does not mean that Poland will be accepted in the year 2004, as there are still many chapters to close in the accession negotiations. Most of Saturday was filled with heated debate on the number of seats various EU countries would receive on the EU Council. Under the French proposal, the four largest countries in terms of population, Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy, would have 30 votes, Spain would get 28 and Poland 26, even though its population is almost the same size as Spain's. This alarmed Polish politicians, with Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek making several calls to the prime ministers of Spain, Denmark, Sweden and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. All of them supported Poland and on Sunday EU leaders came up with a new proposal, giving Poland 28 seats. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Dec. 9-10, p.1; Gazeta Wyborcza, p.1)