The enlargement negotiations for the ten countries concerned are drawing to a close. The meeting of the European Council in Brussels at the end of October – in welcoming the outcome of the Irish referendum on the Nice treaty – endorsed a Commission paper which stated the ten countries in question – Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia – fulfilled the political criteria and would be able to fulfil the economic criteria to assume the obligations of membership from the beginning of 2004.