Central and Eastern Europe Soviet Union; the independent states in former Yugoslavia (which were not considered part of the Eastern bloc); and the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (which chose not to join the CIS with the other 12 former republics of the USSR). The CEE countries are further subdivided by their accession status to the European Union (EU): the eight first-wave accession countries that joined the EU on 1 May 2004 (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Slovenia), the two second-wave accession countries that joined on 1 January 2007 (Romania and Bulgaria) and the third-wave accession country that
European Union climate and energy package interconnection. On the other hand, member states disputed on how to avoid the outsourcings of the most polluting industries, subject to competition of rivals from countries with little involvement in the fight against global warming. Germany proposed the allocation of free emission quotas to the most vulnerable (especially steel industry) companies. European Union climate and energy package The European plan on climate change consists of a range of measures adopted by the members of the European Union to fight against climate change. The plan was launched in March 2007, and after months of tough negotiations between the member countries, it