In 2004 ten countries joined the EU at once, a big bang that continues to change the face of Europe today. Take a look back on the events and facts leading up to the EU's greatest enlargement: the new members, how the process developed, what it cost, the EU's growth over time.

Right-wing Polish President Lech Kaczynski called for the reintroduction of the death penalty this August, sparking outrage at the Council of Europe. 

One month after the deadline of 30 June 2006, only five European countries - Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Ireland - had sent the EC their National Allocation Plans for the second phase of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme

Despite the worsening humanitarian situation, calls for an immediate ceasefire were blocked by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. This week Condi has swept through Beirut, Jerusalem, and now Rome, co-chairing the 15 state summit on 25 July where foreign ministers debated an international peacekeeping mission and safe corridors for aid.

After several prohibitions and violent clashes at gay pride marches in Poland, Latvia and Russia, the Council of Europe spotlighted EU rulings against the criminalization of homosexuality. It explored how the European Court of Human Rights has taken a clear position against unequal ages of sexual consent, exclusion from the military, deprivation of child custody as well as social benefits for same-sex partners.

The lies, the myths, the bad press. Straight cucumbers? Banning the British banger? Diminutive double-decker buses? Are the bureaucrats in Brussels mad or misunderstood? We separate the myth from reality