It has now been 20 years since the European Union announced that Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Malta, Slovakia, and Cyprus would join the EU.
The single largest expansion in the EU’s history, the ten countries came to be known as the A10, and, according to Brussels’ advocates, promised to mark a significant, positive shift in the direction of Europe’s future.
While the absorption went largely without trouble and opened up an entirely new labour market on the continent, niggling differences have surfaced in the years since. A divide between many of the newer intake and their western neighbours has materialised. Now, Express.co.uk looks at how some of the A10 countries contrast to the founding EU nations, and why this may be a serious problem for Brussels in the future.
While Hungary and Poland used to have each other’s backs, they have diverged over the war in Ukraine with the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán seemingly pro-Russia stance. He failed to both send military aid to Ukraine and struck up a new deal with the Kremlin to ensure Hungary can survive the winter.
It is thought that in order to pressure the Commission into releasing funds, Hungary refused to sign off on an €18billion (£15.46billion) EU aid package for Ukraine — the only one of the 27 EU states to do so.
Mr Orbán dismissed the accusation as “fake news” on Twitter on December 12, claiming Hungary is “ready” to give financial assistance on a “bilateral basis”. However, one EU official told CNBC: “[Hungary] will deny it, but they want to create leverage and are taking two files hostage.”
These are fresh conflicts within the bloc. A separate issue that has inflamed debate at the heart of the EU is mass immigration: the union views immigration as based on “solidarity”, member countries bound by the free movement of people policy.
However, various leaders believe that their countries and the EU ideal is threatened by this very concept. Italy’s new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Mr Orbán, and now the Czech Republic’s pro-EU Interior Minister Vít Rakušan have all spoken out against immigration, while the likes of Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands overwhelmingly support it.
The Czech Republic has now extended temporary controls on its Slovakia border meaning that thousands of people are now trapped in Slovakia, as Hungary refuses to take those who have passed through its territory.
For now, with a war next door, a cost of living crisis, and a tenuous energy situation, the EU appears to be closer than ever. But as tensions over political differences and struggling economies build, and policy between nations diverges, the EU’s newest cohort may well prove to be its downfall.