Questions and Answers about Enlargement

Background

  1. How long has enlargement been going on?
  2. How does a country join the EU?
  3. What does the EU do to help potential new members?

Croatia

  1. Why has the EU opened negotiations with Croatia?
  2. When will Croatia join the EU?
  3. What is the current state of play in the negotiations with Croatia?

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

  1. Is the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia a candidate country?
  2. Will the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as a candidate country, receive more financial assistance?
  3. When will accession negotiations be opened with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia?
  4. When will the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia join the EU?

Turkey

  1. When was it decided to open negotiations with Turkey?
  2. What advantage would the EU gain from Turkish accession?
  3. Where does Turkey in its process of reforms?
  4. When will Turkey join the EU?
  5. Is Turkish accession guaranteed?
  6. What is the current state of play of negotiations?
  7. Has Turkey made any progress on Cyprus?

Western Balkans

  1. Is enlargement to the Western Balkans still on track?
  2. What are the accession prospects for the countries of the Western Balkans?
  3. What is the Stabilisation and Association process?
  4. Why are the countries in the region treated differently?
  5. How much EU money has been allocated to the countries of the Western Balkans?

Albania

  1. When will Albania's Stabilisation and Association Agreement enter into force?
  2. Does Albania have any real chance of one day joining the EU?
  3. How does the EU view the issue of corruption and organised crime in Albania?
  4. How does the Commission assess the situation of human and minority rights in Albania?
  5. What is the EU doing to help Albanian people to get visas to travel to EU countries?

Bosnia and Herzegovina

  1. Is the EU perspective realistic for Bosnia and Herzegovina?
  2. Is the Dayton Constitution an adequate framework for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s rapprochement to the EU?

Montenegro

  1. Will Montenegro, since its independence, succeed in catching up with Croatia or the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on the path of European integration?
  2. What is the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA)? What will Montenegro gain from it?
  3. When will MNE be able to start accession negotiations?
  4. What can EU/Com do to fight poverty/inequality in Montenegro?
  5. How does the EU financially assist Montenegro?

Instrument for pre accession assistance "IPA"

  1. Why does the IPA regulation make a clear distinction between candidate countries and potential candidate countries? Is this not going to contribute to isolate potential candidates in the Western Balkans?
  2. Why not open the five IPA components to potential candidates?
  3. Isn’t there a risk that this differentiation contributes to broaden the gap between countries in the Western Balkans, with potential candidates lagging behind, and to reduce the opportunities for regional co-operation?
  4. Potential candidate countries will only benefit from the first two proposed IPA components: can you ensure that this differentiation will not weight unfavourably the level of funding available for the Western Balkans?
  5. Isn’t there also a risk that the differentiation increases the delays for the Western Balkans to accede?

Diagonal cumulation of origin

  1. What is Diagonal cumulation of origin?
  2. What are the benefits of diagonal cumulation?
  3. What is the Commission’s approach to extend diagonal cumulation to the Western Balkans?