The European Commission has recommended that 10 applicant countries should join the EU in two years, which will take its total number of Member States to 25. Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia are expected to conclude negotiations with the Commission on accession to the Union by the end of the year.

The Commission also pledged to strongly support Bulgaria and Romania in achieving their objective to join the EU by 2007. Regarding Turkey, the report states that the country does not yet meet the political criteria to start entry negotiations.

It recommends, however, that the EU should “enhance its support” for Turkey’s pre-accession preparations and provide additional resources for this purpose.

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