GERMANY: CEREMONY: GERMANY AND POLAND OPEN BORDERS AS POLAND JOINS EUROPEAN UNION.
Record ID:
649263
GERMANY: CEREMONY: GERMANY AND POLAND OPEN BORDERS AS POLAND JOINS EUROPEAN UNION.
- Title: GERMANY: CEREMONY: GERMANY AND POLAND OPEN BORDERS AS POLAND JOINS EUROPEAN UNION.
- Date: 30th April 2004
- Summary: (W8) FRANKFURT ON THE ODER, GERMANY (APRIL 30 - MAY 1, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS: CROWDS GATHERED NEAR BRIDGE CONNECTING GERMANY AND POLAND AT FRANKFURT ON THE ODER (GERMANY) AND SLUBICE (POLAND) (10 SHOTS) 1.14 2. GV/PAN/CU/MV: GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER JOSCHKA FISCHER AND POLISH COUNTERPART WLODZIMIERZ CIMOSZEWIC ARRIVING AND LISTENING TO CONCERT ON BRIDGE ABOVE ODER RIVER (3 SHOTS) 1.50 3. CU/GV/PAN: CHOIR PERFORMING; PAN ACROSS CROWD (2 SHOTS) 2.16 4. CU/MV/GV: : CIMOSZEWIC, PAN TO FISCHER; TWO MEN SHAKING HANDS; PAN FROM CIMOSZEWIC TO FISCHER, THEN THEY EMBRACE AND WAVE (5 SHOTS) 3.12 5. CU/TILT UP/CU: SPECTATORS WATCHING FIREWORKS GOING OFF; COUPLE WATCHING (4 SHOTS) 3.36 6. CU; (SOUNDBITE) (German) JOSCHKA FISCHER, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYING: "This is a big night and a big moment and I would like to shout to all our Polish friends Welcome to the European Union!" 3.50 7. MCU: CIMOSZEWIC WAVING 3.57 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th May 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: FRANKFURT ON THE ODER, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVAUFG5P96ZLW8V6OEAZXRUA725
- Story Text: The German and Polish foreign ministers at midnight
have officially opened the border between their two
countries as Poland joined the EU.
Joschka Fischer of Germany and Wlodzimierz
Cimoszewicz of Poland opened the border between the German
city of Frankfurt on the Oder and the Polish town of
Slubice on Friday night (April 30) by crossing a bridge
connecting the two countries.
"This is a big night and a big moment and I would like
to shout to all our Polish friends Welcome to the European
Union!", Fischer told reporters, his voice choking.
For East Europeans, enlargement crowns 15 years of
often painful economic reforms since the collapse of
communist rule.
EU enlargement took effect at 2200 GMT, though a still
divided Cyprus and the former Soviet republics of Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania celebrated entry an hour earlier,
since they lie in a time zone east of the bulk of
continental Europe.
Other newcomers are former Warsaw Pact members Hungary,
the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the former Yugoslav
republic of Slovenia and the tiny Mediterranean island of
Malta, which will
become the EUs smallest member with 400,000 people.
This largest one-off EU expansion will turn the bloc
into the worlds biggest free trade area with 450 million
citizens.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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