Bush supports Turkey’s EU membership bid

WASHINGTON (AA) – US President George Bush hailed recent European Union (EU) enlargement and named yet another 3 countries he hopes will be added to the membership list.

Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta officially joined the EU May 1 in a historic reunification of western and eastern Europe 15 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. This biggest ever enlargement makes the new 25-member EU the world’s most powerful single trading bloc with 450 million citizens producing nearly one quarter of global wealth.

This enlargement will bring opportunity and hope to millions of Europeans, Bush said. Along with NATO’s expansion, the EU’s enlargement further unites the new and the established democracies of Europe, and helps create a Europe whole, free and at peace, the US president added.