June 10, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1424

BRUSSELS, June 9: European leaders hailed on Monday the overwhelming vote to join the European Union by Poland, the largest of the 10 countries in line to join the EU next year.

The European Commission hailed “a turning point in European history” after more than 77 percent of Poles voted in the weekend referendum to join the EU.

Congratulations also poured in from the rest of Europe after the EU’s most ambitious enlargement yet passed its stiffest test in the country that led eastern Europe’s liberation from communist rule in 1989.

“A great, proud nation is turning the page of a tragic century and freely takes the seat that should have belonged to it right from the start of the process of European integration,” the European Commission said.—AFP