Budapest, Apr 13: Hungarians overwhelmingly approved their country's membership in an enlarged European Union in a binding referendum on Saturday that reunited the former Soviet satellite state with Europe Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy said. "The citizens of the Hungarian Republic have today given authority to sign the EU accession treaty in Athens. Thank You, Hungary. Thank You, Europe," Medgyessy told a celebrating crowd on the banks of the River Danube, broadcast live on state television.

With 99.18 percent of the vote counted, 83.76 percent said yes against 16.24 percent no for Hungary's EU membership, the National Election Bureau said. "Hungary has written history today," said foreign minister Laszlo Kovacs.

The result enables Medgyessy's Centre-left government to sign the historic EU accession treaty on April 16 in Athens along with nine other candidates from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean -- Cyprus, The Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia in May 2004.

"Europe is a chance, a possibility. It is a chance and a possibility for every single citizen of the Republic," said Medgyessy. "I am very happy and relieved," the European Commission's delegate to Hungary, Juergen Koeppen, said.

Bureau Report