Enlargement
Enlargement became a core EU priority in the 1990s following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the democratisation of Central and Eastern European Countries.
- The euro
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Related publications
Five years of an enlarged EU. Economic achievements and challenges. (European Economy 1/2009)
Enlargement, two years after: an economic evaluation (May 2006 report)
Progress towards meeting the economic criteria for accession: the assessments of the 2007 Progress Reports
Candidate and Pre-accession Countries' Economies Quarterly - CCEQ
See also
European Commission, Directorate-General Enlargement
International economic issues
Last update 30 March 2009.
On 1 May 2004, ten new Member States joined the EU – the largest wave of enlargement in its history – followed on 1 January 2007 by Bulgaria and Romania. Enlargement remains high on the EU agenda. There are currently three candidate countries: Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. All Western Balkan countries have been offered the prospect of EU accession.
Five successful rounds of enlargement of the original Community of six Member States have taken place so far:
The accession negotiations are conducted according to a negotiating framework that sets out the method and the guiding principles of the negotiations, in line with the December 2004 European Council conclusions. The substantive negotiations are conducted in an Intergovernmental Conference with the participation of all Member States on the one hand and the candidate country on the other.
In order to ensure progress in the negotiations, the candidate countries will also need to make progress on the ground in meeting the requirements for membership, most importantly the Copenhagen criteria described below.
In order to become a Member State, candidate countries have to accept the Union’s acquis communautaire – which is the body of EU laws and regulations in force in the Union. As in all previous accession negotiations, specific arrangements may be agreed. The analytical examination, commonly called ‘screening’, forms the first phase of accession negotiations. This process, which takes around a year, enables candidate countries to familiarise themselves with the acquis, and the Commission and the Member States to evaluate the degree of preparedness of candidate countries prior to negotiations. Screening and the subsequent negotiations are organised by 37 chapters, each covering a specific policy area.
The Commission is responsible for regularly assessing the degree of preparedness of candidate countries for accession. It delivers its assessment in progress reports published annually, normally in the autumn. Within the Commission, the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs is the department in charge of:
On 1 May 2004, ten new Member States joined the EU – the largest wave of enlargement in its history – followed on 1 January 2007 by Bulgaria and Romania. Enlargement remains high on the EU agenda. There are currently three candidate countries: Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. All Western Balkan countries have been offered the prospect of EU accession.
Past rounds of enlargements
Five successful rounds of enlargement of the original Community of six Member States have taken place so far:
- 1 January 1973: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom;
- 1 January 1981: Greece;
- 1 January 1986: Spain and Portugal;
- 1 January 1995: Austria, Finland and Sweden;
- 1 May 2004: Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia;
- 1 January 2007: Bulgaria and Romania (completing the fifth wave of enlargement that started in May 2004).
Enlargement process: state of play
At present there are three countries which have applied for EU membership and are not yet members: the candidate countries Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey.
Dates of application for EU membership of candidate countries
- Croatia: 21 February 2003
- The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: 22 March 2004
- Turkey: 14 April 1987
The EU launched accession negotiations with Croatia and Turkey at the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 3 October 2005. In December 2006, negotiations with Turkey were partly suspended, owing to conflicts on the extension of its Customs Agreement with the EU to Cyprus.
In December 2005, the European Council granted the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia the status of a candidate country. However, the start of accession negotiations will depend on further progress by the country in complying with the accession criteria.
All the other Western Balkan states are potential candidate countries.
Accession negotiations
The accession negotiations are conducted according to a negotiating framework that sets out the method and the guiding principles of the negotiations, in line with the December 2004 European Council conclusions. The substantive negotiations are conducted in an Intergovernmental Conference with the participation of all Member States on the one hand and the candidate country on the other.
In order to ensure progress in the negotiations, the candidate countries will also need to make progress on the ground in meeting the requirements for membership, most importantly the Copenhagen criteria described below.
Screening of the acquis
In order to become a Member State, candidate countries have to accept the Union’s acquis communautaire – which is the body of EU laws and regulations in force in the Union. As in all previous accession negotiations, specific arrangements may be agreed. The analytical examination, commonly called ‘screening’, forms the first phase of accession negotiations. This process, which takes around a year, enables candidate countries to familiarise themselves with the acquis, and the Commission and the Member States to evaluate the degree of preparedness of candidate countries prior to negotiations. Screening and the subsequent negotiations are organised by 37 chapters, each covering a specific policy area.
Economic assessment of candidate countries’ degree of preparedness
The Commission is responsible for regularly assessing the degree of preparedness of candidate countries for accession. It delivers its assessment in progress reports published annually, normally in the autumn. Within the Commission, the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs is the department in charge of:
- Assessing compliance with the economic accession criteria adopted by the European Council in 1993 in Copenhagen and which, together with other accession criteria, are known as the Copenhagen criteria (see separate web page on this issue);
- Closely monitoring the candidate countries' medium-term economic and fiscal outlook, primarily by means of an annual economic and fiscal surveillance procedure intended to prepare the candidate countries for eventual Economic and Monetary Union membership.