Who signed the accession treaty?

The leaders of each of the 15 EU member states and the 10 future members were represented by their head of state or government, or by both. Each was supposed to speak for a maximum of three minutes before signing the treaty.

ACCESSION STATES Cyprus Czech Republic Estonia Hungary Latvia Lithuania Malta Poland Slovakia Slovenia

Several countries (like Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia) insisted on having three people sign - mainly due to domestic political infighting.

Hungary and Poland also brought large delegations to Athens, including many of the previous presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers, to emphasise that all governments since the collapse of communism in 1989 worked for the goal of EU membership.

How big is the treaty?

It is the bulkiest in EU history, running to 4,900 pages. Even its full title has 44 words.

Teams of legal translators from all candidate countries have worked for months in Brussels on the draft, which is now available in all the 21 languages of the enlarged EU.

It has been formated in such a way as to be exactly 4,900 pages long in each language.

It is binding on all signatories. However, some countries have included unilateral declarations. For example, Poland, a staunchly Catholic country, has declared that EU accession will not hamper the regulation of matters of moral importance or relating to the protection of human life.

When does it come into force?

On 1 May, 2004, when all 10 countries are set to formally join the EU.

What will the ratification process involve?

In all 15 existing EU members, the treaty will be ratified by parliament.

Despite warnings from President Chirac to the candidate countries that their pro-American stance in the Iraq crisis could jeopardise ratification, he is unlikely to call a referendum.

In the unlikely case that one EU country fails to ratify the treaty, it would become null and void

All candidate countries, except Cyprus, have planned referendums on EU membership. The people of Malta, Slovenia and Hungary have already voted in favour of joining the EU.

Public support is generally high elsewhere, with the exception of the Baltic republics of Estonia and Latvia, where it hovers at around 50%.

Both will hold referendums in September.

There are also concerns that not enough Poles will turn out to vote in June, in which case ratification would take the form of a parliamentary vote.

What happens if a country fails to ratify the treaty?

If one candidate country fails to ratify the treaty, it will still enter into force - but that particular country will then stay out of the EU.

In the unlikely case that one EU country fails to ratify the treaty, it would become null and void.

Does it matter that attempts to re-unite Cyprus have so far failed?

In theory, the whole of Cyprus will join the EU on 1 May, 2004.

In practice, the accession treaty will contain a clause suspending the application of EU rules in the northern part of the island, until a political settlement is found for the reunification of Cyprus.

Turkish Cypriots did not take part in the membership negotiations, but they can still benefit from some advantages of EU accession - such as free travel throughout the EU - if they apply for official Cypriot passports.

How will the new members change the EU?

The area of the EU will increase by almost one-quarter, and its population by one-fifth. Seventy-five million people will join the EU's existing 375 million residents, making enlarged Europe the world's biggest trading bloc.

But the EU will also become much poorer - the average GDP per capita of the newcomers is just 40% of existing EU levels.

And, in political terms, many are concerned that decision-making will become more cumbersome and that, after the Iraq crisis, the EU will find it even harder to speak with a single voice on the world scene.

Eight of the 10 new members are from the ex-communist bloc. Six of them - Slovenia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - only became independent after the collapse of communism.