(1 May 2004)
1. Wide shot crowds and stage
2. People singing
3. Pan from child to balloon
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Svens Dinsorf, celebrating Latvia's entry into EU:
"I don't think there are any special feelings, fears or positive feelings. Latvia has always been part of Europe so this is a natural process. You can always discuss, what is the European Union? The whole of Europe has chosen this structure as a theme so we are joining it."
5. Pan from balloon to stage
6. Pan over people singing
7. Clock counting down from one to zero, pan over crowds cheering
STORYLINE:
Ushering in a bold new era, hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets of Riga on Friday night for festivals and fireworks as Latvia entered the European Union.
A riverside concert entertained crowds in the run-up to midnight before the country became one of 10 nations to enter the EU on May 1.
The Latvian and EU flags were raised in a ceremony to mark the accession.
Dozens of events were culminating with spectacular fireworks displays in the 10 newcomer states at midnight (2200 GMT), when the EU becomes a potential economic and political superpower of 450 (m) million citizens.
The expanded EU takes in a broad swath of the former Soviet bloc, a region separated for decades from the West by barbed wire and Cold War ideology.
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