German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has assessed the enlargement of the European Union by 10 states, 20 years ago, as a European moment of happiness.

“On May 1, 2004, the EU grew from 15 to 25 members and added 75 million new citizens to the EU,” Steinmeier said at a joint press conference with Czech President Petr Pavel in Prague.

“The enlargement of the European Union at that time is, I think, a very impressive example of a significant and successful transformation in Europe, which ultimately overcame the division of Europe resulting from the Cold War,” he added.

The largest single enlargement of the EU to date, saw the countries of the former Eastern Bloc—Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland—join the Union along with Malta and Cyprus.

Steinmeier traveled to Prague in the early afternoon to celebrate the anniversary together with the Czech Republic.

“I am sure that EU membership has changed the Czech Republic, but the Czech Republic has also changed the European Union. Even today, EU enlargement is of strategic central interest to Germany, the Czech Republic, and the European Union,” Steinmeier added.

“Germany stands by the perspective of membership for candidate countries in the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia,” he said.

/k.s/