On both counts, the new member states expected to benefit substantially from the EU system.

Bulgaria s nearest EU members, however, seem to yearn for the Iron Curtain.

These and other EU members could rotate in the non permanent seats.

That is why EU member states have already received their own nationals and former residents from Guantánamo.

Since then, 69 countries, 22 of them members of the European Union, have recognized it as an independent country.

The EU s members must above all recognize that Africa s ills have to be dealt with by Africans.

Smaller and bigger EU members seem to be lining up in opposing camps.

The EU 15 promised an 8 reduction in GHG emissions by 2010.

Because all EU member countries must ratify the constitution, a French Non will, in effect, kill it.

So current EMU members and EU candidate countries clearly share OCA properties.

It seems evident that this principle will be effectively binding on all member states, and all candidates for membership.

How Can the New Members Catch Up?

Finally, at the European level, EU policymakers can help by encouraging member states to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs.

They have their own national rules and regulations to apply, and every financial supervisory authority (FSA) in Europe has its own practices and traditions.

Even when implementing directives, EU member countries are often tempted to gold plate them by introducing extra rules.

The poorer EU countries will suffer from this development.

But the UN s Member States must be accountable as well.

Indeed, it underlines the fact that the member states are the defining building blocks of the EU and defines the competences of the Union clearly.

On these occasions existing members pretended that they need not fundamentally change the EU's institutional arrangements.

The EU s member states retain power over the most sensitive political issues, including taxes, health, education, pensions, the labor market, and foreign policy.

Nevertheless, the EU s newest members share some key features.

We urge the EU and its member states to insist that the rule of law is respected.

That objective, insofar as EU member countries are concerned, has been met.

However, when it came to sharing the burden of emissions reduction among EU member states, the European Commission proposed in January 2008 to change the base year from 1990 to 2005.

Despite the European Commission s good intentions, the EU s larger members continue to resist submitting to a common EU energy policy.

The new members could, of course, benefit from investment pouring in from current EU countries. After all, for many West European companies the existence of a common economic area and, eventually, an enlarged monetary union will make it easy to relocate their operations to those parts of Europe with lower costs but identical legal standards.

The new members could, of course, benefit from investment pouring in from current EU countries.

Far from acknowledging this reality, EU members old and new, big and small insist on having an equal say in foreign policy decisions.

Europe's attention nowadays is rightly focused on enlargement and on the constitution that is currently being worked out between the EU's member states.

EU member states have no interest in letting their continent slip back into ethnic nationalism and power politics.

New EU member states are meeting their individual Kyoto commitments.

A decade ago, with the Maastricht Treaty, EU members agreed to respect the history, culture, and traditions of all of their constituent peoples.

Continuing discrimination against them constitutes a Europe wide scandal, and the EU, its member states, and candidate countries need to address it.

Small and medium sized EU countries feel tricked.

Trade integration can be measured by the EU's share in a country's exports.

I accepted the decision that my country would become part of the EU.

Members of the European Union are still divided and continue to hope for a compromise and other options.

The EU s eastern member states, in particular, must not lose their interest in Ukraine's future, otherwise the Union as a whole may soon do the same.

Some EU countries particularly new members in Central and Eastern Europe have committed themselves to use privatization receipts to finance pension reform.

Although all new member states claim to be western, some are more Western than others.

The EU's members have structures to provide this, and with their support and input we are building structures at a Europe wide level, to bring this information to EU policymakers.

Other members were previously political prisoners or exiled dissidents.

Its member countries have strong legal frameworks and well functioning societies.

On energy, it is picking off individual EU member states and signing long term deals that undermine the core principles of the EU s common strategy.

In fact, the fate of this group is perhaps the best example of how individual identities of the new member states are beginning to assert themselves now that membership in the EU and NATO are secured.