EU leaders name Poland among ten leading candidates for entry in 2004

During a summit on Saturday, European Union leaders named the ten candidate countries most likely to join the EU in 2004. "(The leaders) agree with the report of the European Commission, which considers that if the present rate of progress of negotiations is maintained, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic and Slovenia could be ready," they said in a statement. During the summit, the 15 countries also appointed former French President Giscard d'Estaing chairman of the convention which will be responsible for the Union's expansion. Each of the candidate countries have to send three government representatives to take part in debates. Belgium's Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt proposed that Bronislaw Geremek, former leader of the Freedom Union, be one of the representatives from Poland. Prime Minister Leszek Miller criticized the proposal and said the decision to send Geremek has yet to be made. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A3) A.K.