May deadline looms for enlargement law
03.11.03 @ 08:56
Just six months before the ten new countries are set to join the European Union, only four out of 15 member states have managed to ratify the accession treaty.
The treaty, which sets the rules for admitting ten new countries, has to be ratified by all member states before the first of May.
At the same time all ten accession countries have already ratified it.
No reason for panic
Germany, Portugal, Denmark and Spain are the four EU member states who have already ratified the treaty, most of the countries are expected to do it at the end of December, reports AFP.
Austria, Netherlands and Luxembourg will ratify it in the beginning of the next year. The UK will vote this month.
Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia are the ten new countries to join the EU in May.
