The expansions were approved in a unanimous vote at the Bundesrat upper house of parliament attended by the ambassadors of the 10 mainly former communist states set to join the EU in May 2004.

The EU agreed at a landmark summit in Copenhagen in December to embrace the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia in the bloc's biggest-ever enlargement.

NATO is expected to welcome Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into its military alliance by the time its next summit is held, also in May 2004.

Bundesrat president Wolfgang Boehmer said the moves were of "historic importance" and would help bring peace, freedom, security and prosperity to all of Europe.

The chamber, meeting for the last time before the summer break, also rubberstamped a treaty putting relations between Germany's Jewish community and the state on a formal legal footing and tripling its public funding.

WAR.WIRE