The 20th Anniversary of Hungary's EU Membership

Following a referendum on accessing the European Union, held on April 12, 2003, Hungary – along with nine other countries – joined the EU twenty years ago, on May 1, 2004.

At the referendum, which had a turnout of 45.6%, 83.8% of the voters cast their ballots in favor of EU membership and polls suggest that still today, the majority of Hungarians are in favor of EU membership.

Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy announced the result at a celebration on the banks of the Danube by saying that "allow me to officially announce that the Hungarian republic will be a member of the European Union". The European Commission welcomed the result as marking the end of Hungary's "tragic separation from the European family of democratic nations."

The official act of the ten countries (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) accessing the European Union was celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin as it took place during the Irish Presidency of the EU. Hungary submitted a membership application to the EU ten years before, on March 31, 1994 and negotiations on entry began in 1998. At a summit in Copenhagen in December 2002, Hungary was one of ten countries invited to join the EU in 2004.