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Countries that joined EU during “big bang” enlargement two decades ago extol virtues of membership
Research leaders from some of the 10 countries that joined the EU in the “big bang” enlargement of 2004 have praised the impact of membership on their research and innovation landscapes.
On 1 May 2004 the EU underwent its largest ever expansion, when it was joined by Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuanua, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Marking the 20th anniversary of the occasion, European Council president Charles Michel described it as “a transformative event for our continent [that] has given us more global clout”.