GREECE: EU WELCOMES 10 NEW MEMBERS IN A LAVISH SIGNING CEREMONY AT FOOT OF ACROPOLIS, WHILE THOUSANDS DEMONSTRATE ANTI IRAQ WAR FEELINGS

Record ID: 838100

  • Title: GREECE: EU WELCOMES 10 NEW MEMBERS IN A LAVISH SIGNING CEREMONY AT FOOT OF ACROPOLIS, WHILE THOUSANDS DEMONSTRATE ANTI IRAQ WAR FEELINGS
  • Date: 16th April 2003
  • Summary: (W5) ATHENS, GREECE (APRIL 16, 2003) (REUTERS) RIOT POLICE STANDING IN LINE PROTESTERS RUSH POLICE CORDON, THROWING PAINT ON POLICE, POLICE RESPOND WITH FIRING OF PEPPER SPRAY INTO THE CROWD, SCUFFLES BREAK OUT CROWD STARTS RUNNING VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS THROWING PETROL BOMBS, BOMBS LANDING NEAR POLICE
  • Embargoed: 1st May 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ATHENS, GREECE
  • City:
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: International Relations,European Union
  • Reuters ID: LVACO13RIQHAJ1I0WBT3NY8KDW1E
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The European Union has welcomed 10 new members to its ranks in a lavish signing ceremony rich in symbolism at the foot of the Acropolis, the ancient cradle of Western democracy. As the historic treaty was signed, thousands of demonstrators expressed anti-war sentiments, protesting those leaders who had supported the war against Iraq.
    Police estimated about 7,000 people had taken part in the anti-war protests in Syntagma Square on Wednesday (April 16).
    Demonstrators tried to break through police lines to march closer to the summit. After being turned away, they marched through the diplomatic district and pelted embassies with rocks, paint and more petrol bombs.
    At least five people were injured, including a police officer and a cameraman. Authorities detained 50 demonstrators.
    In another protest, about 100 members of the Greek communist party briefly occupied a British Airways office in Athens.
    But leaders of the European Union (EU) were secluded from the chaos as they made history, welcoming 10 new members into their fold.
    Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis warmly greeted leaders from the mostly ex-communist candidates to the Stoa of Attalos, a long two-storey colonnaded building dating back to 150 BC, which was the venue for the 135-minute ceremony.
    Simitis told the assembled leaders that it was a historic day and the achievement would create new obligations to look to the future with optimism and creativity.
    The EU is especially keen to look to the future after the war in Iraq exposed deep divisions in the wealthy bloc.
    Many candidate countries backed the decision of the United States and Britain to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein by military force, while EU core members France and Germany fiercely opposed the war.
    Simitis and Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, were the first to sign the accession treaty.
    The leaders of the other 14 EU states and the 10 acceding countries then took the podium in turn to make a three-minute speech before also signing the treaty. In ancient times, Athenian politicians were allowed six minutes for each speech.
    German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed joy that the Union was creating a united and peaceful Europe with "excellent economic and political perspectives."
    Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also evoked key dates from the period when Europe was divided into two ideologically hostile camps, including Hungary's 1956 revolt and Czechoslovakia's 1968 struggle against Soviet domination.
    British Prime Minister Tony Blair, staunchest ally of United States (U.S.) President George W. Bush in the Iraq war, referred briefly to the discord that the war triggered within Europe, but stressed the common EU values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law.
    "Those are the values that unite the EU, whatever differences there may be within the Union," said Blair.
    French President Jacques Chirac also offered hope and optimism for the newly enlarged Union.
    "A period of metamorphosis has arrived for Europe. If we want, a time of achievement will open for us. It's not only the enlargement of Europe that we celebrate -- but its unification: 450 million Europeans will get together in the the most extensive integration project ever carried on by peaceful means," Chirac said.
    Few locations could have been more appropriate for the symbolic event than the Stoa of Attalos at the foot of the Acropolis hill crowned by its landmark Parthenon temple.
    Nestled among olive and almond trees in a serene corner of the bustling Greek capital, the Stoa of Attalos has been at the heart of Athenian political and social life for centuries.
    The marketplace or agora around the arcade hosted lively political debates even before Athens's golden age in the fifth century BC was ushered in by democratic reforms by top Athens statesman Pericles.
    While similarities with modern democracies are few, the Athenian democracy, which translates from the Greek as rule or power of the people, gave the city-state's free male citizens the right to vote and participate in assemblies and councils.
    Slaves, foreigners and women were barred.
    The arcade is only a stone's throw away from where Socrates, regarded as the father of Western philosophy, taught in Pericles's times.
    The 10 acceding countries are Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. They will formally join the EU on May 1, 2004.
    The leaders of Bulgaria and Romania, which hope to join the EU in 2007, were also present. Participants also included the leaders of would-be EU candidates such as Croatia and Serbia.
    But Turkish leaders stayed away from the ceremony, possibly to mark Ankara's displeasure that Cyprus has been allowed to join the EU despite the absence of a peace settlement between its feuding Greek and Turkish Cypriot halves.
    The internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government conducted the EU accession talks on behalf of the whole island.
    jg/ik
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