Forty eight countries, comprising over 80% of the world's population, have acceded to it.

As of May 2013, 40 countries have ratified or acceded to the convention:

However, until Western Samoa joined in 1970, only recently independent countries would accede.

We agreed, for example, that the new countries should accede on 1 May 2004.

We all know that despite the fact that these countries are acceding, it is still very difficult to implement a large number of these aspects.

The report's position on which countries may accede to the European Union is not clear.

The notion that reforms will end as soon as those countries accede is nonsense.

I would like to see my country, Lithuania, acceding not only to the eurozone, but also to the common European area of energy security.

Consequently, the principle of the free movement of persons will be implemented approximately three years after these countries acceded to the Union.

The Christodoulou report tends towards the former, in my view: for example, it assumes that ten countries could accede simultaneously.