COPENHAGEN, Dec 13: The European Union and 10 candidate countries on Friday agreed terms for a historic enlargement of the EU deep into ex-Soviet territory at a hard-fought summit in Copenhagen.

“For the first time in history Europe will become one because unification is the free will of its people,” said European Commission President Romano Prodi. “Accession of 10 new member states will bring an end to the divisions in Europe.”

The breakthrough came after Germany, the EU’s traditional paymaster, said an extra one billion euros (dollars) was on offer to appease the candidates despite the EU insisting for weeks that no more money would be forthcoming.

Poland, the biggest of the 10 candidates and heavily dependent on agriculture, finally came on board after its demands for better terms sent the summit into overtime.

With a financial deal in the bag, leaders of the 15-nation EU were to declare an emphatic end to Cold War divisions by extending invitations to the 10 hopefuls to join in May 2004.

“Our common wish is to make Europe a continent of democracy, freedom, peace and progress,” leaders of all 25 nations were set to announce, according to a draft statement.

“The Union will remain determined to avoid new dividing lines in Europe and to promote stability and prosperity within and beyond the new borders of the Union,” the statement said. “Our aim is One Europe.”

In their draft conclusions, the EU leaders called on Turkey “to pursue energetically its reform process”, adding that the EU’s “irreversible” enlargement process would eventually take in Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia are all in the first wave of the enlargement scheduled for 2004, with Bulgaria and Romania hoping to join three years later.

Poland, which needs to convince its large farming community to back the country’s entry at a referendum next year, fought tooth and nail at the summit and its eventual agreement saw the other nine candidates fall into line.

EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said: “EU enlargement without Poland would be a Europe missing a very important limb.”

The EU summit agreed to stump up 40.42 billion euros to finance enlargement over 2004-2006, equating to about 25 euros for every citizen of the current EU.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs said shortly before the deal came through that the EU should capitalise on the upcoming festive season.

“Christmas is coming closer and closer and maybe in the evening we will get some nice Christmas gifts,” he said.

There had been hopes that the showpiece gathering in the Danish capital could see a deal to end the 28-year division of EU candidate Cyprus.

But the Greek Cypriots said the last-ditch talks here brokered by the United Nations had ended without an agreement with their Turkish-Cypriot rivals.

US reaction: The United States — which had pushed for an earlier start date for talks to bring Turkey into the European Union — nevertheless welcomed the EU’s decision to decide on accession talks only after Dec 2004.

“The US welcomes the decision,” said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. “This is a visionary decision by the European leaders for a truly inclusive union.”

“Turkey’s continued evolution towards Europe demonstrates for the continent and for the world that Islam and democracy are fully compatible,” he said.

US President George Bush had strongly supported Turkey’s candidacy, and had pushed hard to get the union to set a firm date on when talks could begin.

Turkey’s initial reaction was furious but was tempered later with Prime Minister Abdullah Gul vowing to stay on track to join the EU by pushing through far-reaching reforms.

A senior State Department official said the decision to set a date for talks at least put Turkey on the path toward EU membership, despite the delay.

“Obviously we think this is a very important step, and the Europeans say they are giving Turkey a date, so that’s a good thing,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“What is important is that Turkey know what kind of timetable is on. Turkey has a timetable. We will all support Turkey to undertake the reforms and to get ready for membership.”

Ankara — supported by the United States and Britain — had pushed for an earlier start date to the accession talks.

Despite the rebuff, EU leaders sought to assure Turkey — the only predominantly Muslim member of NATO and a key US ally — that its future lies in Europe, urging Ankara to accelerate efforts to fulfil the EU democracy criteria.—AFP