EU poised to announce expansion date

The European Union is poised to agree on Monday that the biggest enlargement in the bloc's history will take place on May 1st, 2004. The 15 EU foreign ministers will meet their counterparts from the 10 leading candidate countries to review the state of accession talks less than a month before negotiations are due to conclude at the EU's Copenhagen summit. The candidate countries drafted a common demand regarding entry terms on Friday, stressing that EU accession should not leave them worse off than they are now.