“The European Union needs to reform. We need a strong Europe, an alliance of strong member states, where the driving force is the Council of Europe, the member states‘ presidents and prime ministers, rather than a politicized European Commission” Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said during celebrations in Warsaw marking 15 years of EU membership.
The meeting at the Royal Palace in Krakow was attended by the prime ministers of countries which joined the alliance in the “big bang” expansion in 2004 as well as others admitted in the past fifteen years. The debate focussed on the achievements and problems of the past years, challenges faced by the EU today and the need for reform.
On May 1, 2004 the EU admitted ten new members: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007 and Croatia in 2013.