Copenhagen, Denmark ? European Union leaders struggled Thursday to resolve last-minute snags to the EU’s largest expansion during a summit aimed at overcoming the legacy of the Cold War by bringing in eight formerly communist nations.

The landmark meeting also gave an answer to Turkey’s demands to be included in the EU’s longer-term expansion plans: Talks could start as early as December 2004, said Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the summit host.

If EU leaders decide then that Turkey has made sufficient progress on democracy, human rights and economic stability, “then accession negotiations can begin as soon as possible,” he said.

At the two-day summit’s opening dinner Thursday, Fogh Rasmussen said EU leaders also backed a $41 billion subsidy package to the new entrants.

Bilateral talks were to begin this morning to persuade the candidate countries to accept what Fogh Rasmussen termed the EU’s best offer.

“I am confident we can find a compromise on the basis we agreed tonight,” he said.

The plan to invite Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to join the EU in 2004, along with Cyprus and Malta, marks the culmination of years of work to unite the continent after more than four decades of Iron Curtain division.

“Since 1989 a huge effort has been made in eastern and western Europe to bring us where we are today,” Fogh Rasmussen said. “Our task is to conclude the work and finally reunite as one Europe.”

But the historic expansion has hit a snag over financial issues.

Poland is leading the candidates in demanding more, insisting the EU must be more generous with subsidies to its farmers and aid to build infrastructure to help the easterners catch up with their western neighbors.