The new members will receive 23bn euros in structural aid over the first three years.

The EU will ensure that they do not pay more into the EU budget than they get back between 2004 and 2006.

Despite the formalized agreements resulting from the summit, there are a host of issues facing existing EU members and new members that threaten a smooth transition for the proposed world’s largest trading bloc. In Hungary, farmers are worried that they won’t be ready to be full-fledged partners in the EU’s farming community by this May. In Estonia, the national asset forests are predicted by environmentalist to be largely depleted if logging continues at the current rate. In Lithuania, there is a long history of resistance and stubbornness to outside influence, a similar condition in Malta which remained bitterly divided over EU entry. Many in Malta continue to see EU membership as a deal favoring more powerful states, just one more in a long line of foreign attempts at domination. In Cyprus, supporters of EU membership are hoping it will bring peace to the torn nation, but many others doubt that membership will achieve this goal. The Czech Republic is in dire straights and will need great assistance to ge

Towards an EU expansion. Mar 10, 2004. Available: http://www.rnw.nl/hotspots/html/euro_dossier.html, 1-2.

Other countries are concerned that there will be less domestic investment as a consequence of EU expansion. Countries that are already members of the EU came across as much more optimistic about the potential favorable benefits of EU expansion. In Germany and Ireland, for example, cheaper labor and access to larger markets are viewed as a natural outcome of the expansion, with 62% and 52% of businesses respectively believing these benefits will accrue to them as a result of the accession (EU 2). However, even in current member states, many businesses believe that increased taxes, greater regulations, and increasing domestic competition will result from the upcoming expansion. Ireland is most concerned about a drop in foreign investment from the proposed accession, as it has been the major beneficiary of foreign direct investment (FDI) over the past two decades (Barry 2). The summit in Brussels also resulted in two other resolutions agreed to by leaders:

European election: The expansion of the EU. June 10, 2004, 1-6.