EU enlargement ceremony planned next year

A special ceremony to commemorate EU enlargement will be held in Dublin next May, it was announced today.

The Minister for European Affairs, Dick Roche, announced details of events to celebrate the expansion to the EU to include 10 new member states.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has invited colleagues from the 24 countries to Dublin for the ceremony.

Minister Roche says the aim of the celebration is to is to display the diversity of the European culture and the unity of the European peoples.