• European Commission
• Enlargement
• The policy
• The process of Enlargement

Closure of negotiations and Accession Treaty

Compliance with commitments is closely monitored throughout the process, and negotiations on any chapter are closed – provisionally - only when all the Member States are satisfied with the candidate's progress.

Definitive closure of negotiations occurs only at the end of the process. There is such extensive interdependence between different chapters of the acquis that negotiations are conducted on the principle that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed".

When negotiations on all the chapters are completed to the satisfaction of both sides, the detailed terms and conditions are incorporated into a Draft Accession Treaty, which lists all transitional arrangements and deadlines, as well as details of financial arrangements and any safeguard clauses. If the Treaty wins the support of the Council, the Commission, and the European Parliament, it is signed by the candidate country and the representatives of all the Member States, and then submitted to the Member States and the candidate country for Ratification, according to their respective constitutional rules.

Once the Accession Treaty is signed, the candidate country becomes an "Acceding State", and is entitled to interim privileges until accession makes it a member state. It can comment on draft EU proposals, communications, recommendations or initiatives, and it acquires “active observer status” on EU bodies and agencies, where it is entitled to speak, but not to vote. Once the ratification process is complete, the treaty enters into force on its scheduled date, and the accession state becomes a member state.

• The mandate and the framework
• Screening and monitoring
• Closure of negotiations and Accession Treaty