A Polish man with banner showing the flags of all 25 EU members.

Newspapers across Europe are celebrating the accession of the EU's ten new members, with many describing it as an historic day.

Although some - especially in Eastern Europe - warn of challenges ahead, most welcome it as a landmark for European unity and the end of Cold War divisions.

Below is a selection of quotes from the main European newspapers.

From red star to gold stars

Headline in Slovenia's Delo

This is a great step, despite all the concerns and reservations... Europe is emerging from the long shadows cast by Hitler and Stalin... It ranges from the reconciliation of arch enemies to the stabilisation of young democracies and the banishing of poverty from Western Europe's former poor houses.

Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

We are today overcoming the last borders of the old world... More and more of us, day by day, will grow up in Europe, with its new possibilities for everyone. Greetings Europe. We have arrived.

Commentary in Poland's Trybuna

Hurrah! Hungary has, perhaps, never been so secure externally, free internally and facing such a huge opportunity to progress than with this accession. From the backward, straggling and exposed periphery we have climbed onto the threshold of a centre promoting equal rights and progress.

Hungary's Nepszabadsag on 30 May

From midnight we are 25. Twenty-five members of the European community. The third largest population bloc, the second largest economic bloc, and, yes, the largest trading entity on the planet. This Europe is the conclusion, for the first time in history, of a process that was both voluntary and peaceful.

France's Nouvel Observateur

It remains to be seen whether the union that saw its heyday at the end of Cold War will be able to find a new vigour and its new global meaning, or remain a Europe of the past... It would be a tragedy if at the end of our path through thorns and towards the stars during our first ever period of independence, our historic dream ended in another crumbling federation.

Slovenia's Delo

From today, Europe, old Europe, will be reunited with the estranged brothers of the East. United by history, culture and the stamp of Christianity, World War II made them into satellites of the Soviet empire and hostages of the status quo on which was based the so-called Cold War... For this reason, today should be a happy day for all the citizens of this great nation called Europe.

Spain's La Razon

The mood is like New Year's Eve - expectations, hopes and fears... There won't be any miracles, but there will be opportunities we should be able to grasp. In short, there won't be any less work... Let us hope that we will all do well in the new, united Europe. Have a good first European day!

Latvia's Chas (Russian-language daily)

Just a few years ago Czechs believed that on joining the EU, they would become fully-fledged Europeans. Now it is obvious that it was just an illusion... Czechs will feel like "second-class" Europeans much more than they used to.

Czech Republic's Lidove Noviny

Hungarians keep a distance, are pessimists and excessively political, their language is a torture to learn - but despite all that they still happily welcome us into the union. Because apart from these things, we can be kind too, our wines are good, our women are pretty, we are family-lovers, have a sense of humour and, once upon a time, we used to play good football too.

Hungary's Magyar Hirlap

We are not joining Europe. We aren't even coming back to it because as a nation we have never left it, and we never allowed ourselves to be dragged away from Europe. We are entering the European Union. This is a grand day for Poland. The crowning of 15 years of efforts, arguments, negotiations and discussions. The day marking the return to the country's proper place in Europe and the world.

Commentary in Poland's Rzeczpospolita

Malta in Europe - a new dawn

Headline in Malta's The Times

Although euphoria is not a typical Estonian emotion - the last time we felt it was during the Singing Revolution [protests for independence from the Soviet Union] - even the most critical fellow citizen has to admit that tomorrow will go down in the history of the Estonian nation... But the EU is no doubt not a paradise on earth and those who expect it to grant us easy success and gain will be disappointed.

Estonia's Postimees

The Europe which visionaries like Jean Monnet or Konrad Adenauer dreamed of is made a reality today... Enlargement will be enormously positive in the long term for a continent which has been torn by three major wars since 1870. It opens a horizon of peace and stability, from which the new generations growing up without those old prejudices which have weighed Europe down will benefit.

Spain's El Mundo

The former communist Baltic states see enlargement as yet another opportunity to rid themselves of their bitter past and to link their fate with Western Europe for good, since they have always perceived themselves as part of it.

Lithuania's Kauno Diena

The success of the Czech Republic will not be determined in Brussels, but still in Prague, Brno and other towns and villages... If productivity remains low, if the reform of public finances remains slow and inconsistent, and if corruption and the grey economy continue to thrive there's nothing Brussels can do to help.

Czech Republic's Hospodarske Noviny

It means above all the one and most important fact that we are overcoming the division of Europe, finally and definitively... Of course there are risks, and not everything will go smoothly, but consider what we shall get in return tomorrow!

Germany's Die Welt

The largest ever EU enlargement symbolises the end to the division of this part of the world, even though all benefits and obligations will not yet embrace the citizens of Estonia... At the same time, we have to carefully think about what Estonia's interests in the EU are. Should we support deeper integration or preservation of the status quo?

Estonia's Eesti Paevaleht

From the historical point of view, a Europe of 25 is clearly a major step: the means of extending to the whole continent the peace which was the ambition of the founding fathers.

France's Le Figaro

If it is true that EU membership will open up a number of new opportunities, we must also be aware that we will be able to use them only if we develop the best of European qualities in us.

Slovenia's Vecer

On 1 May, a goal will be achieved which was set by Latvia at the beginning of the '90s, and seemed to many at the time hypothetical, too far off, too beautiful, yet today sounds dryly prosaic... For Latvia too, the 20th century will have ended. A miracle that there could be a happy ending to a horror story.

Latvia's Diena

The first of May is a historic date which is going to be written in flaming letters in the golden book of Hungarian history. However, it is wise to treat these historic dates cautiously. There will be country-wide street festivals for the joy of exhibitionists, but there will be no choirs singing the praises of Prime Minister Medgyessy and Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs.

Hungary's Magyar Nemzet

The accession is a historic event and it is likely that we will perceive its significance, as well as the advantages and shortcomings of being in the EU, only after some time... The 1 May is just a symbol and our air will not smell any different, nor will roast pigeons start falling into our mouths on 2 or 3 May.

Lithuania's Verslo Zinios

It has been a long and sometimes difficult march but as the island takes its place in the 25-member European Union, a new era begins for this small country that had to go through so much before finally winning the right to determine its own affairs. It is through that right that the majority of the people chose to shape and share its future with that of the European family of nations.

Malta's The Times

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.