Enlargement policy and statistical cooperation

Article last updated: July 2025.

This article is part of a series of background articles which present the international statistical cooperation activities of the European Union (EU) with non-member countries (also known as non-EU countries or third countries), and focuses on enlargement policy, which is part of the Treaty on European Union.

Accession negotiations which are underway with some candidate countries concern the candidates’ ability to fulfil the obligations of EU membership. They focus on the conditions and the timing of the candidates’ adoption, implementation and application of EU rules, also known as the EU acquis. To facilitate accession negotiations, the entire body of EU laws is divided into chapters, each generally corresponding to a policy area. For candidate countries, this is essentially a matter of agreeing on how and when to adopt and implement the EU rules and procedures. For the EU, it is an important process, as it allows European institutions to obtain guarantees on the time schedule and the effectiveness of each candidate’s implementation plans.

The enlargement policy has proven to be a powerful tool for societal transformation. Countries that have recently become members of the EU and those on the road to join the EU have undergone far-reaching changes through accession-driven democratic, societal and economic reforms. The integration of new EU Member States from the last three waves of enlargement has created a much larger internal market, thereby expanding the EU's economy.

The enlargement process is a stated priority of the EU Commission (2024-2029), in order to reduce dependencies and to strengthen resilience and competitiveness in the present geopolitical context.

Eurostat’s priorities concerning the enlargement process include supporting the enlargement countries in the development of their statistical systems, monitoring progress on economic, social and institutional reforms and integrating the statistical data of enlargement countries in the Eurostat database.

Requirements for joining the EU

The Treaty on the European Union (Article 49) states that any European country may apply for membership if it respects the democratic values of the EU (respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights) and is committed to promoting them. A country’s application should be submitted to the European Council (gathering the EU Member States' heads of state or government), which has to unanimously adopt its decision after consulting the European Commission and after receiving the consent of the European Parliament. Countries wishing to join the EU must respect a number of conditions for membership:

political – stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights as well as respect for and protection of minorities;
economic – a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competition and market forces in the EU;
the ability to take on the obligations (of EU membership) – including adherence to the goals of political, economic and monetary union.

In addition, the EU must be able to integrate new Member States, so it reserves the right to decide when it is ready to accept them. In the case of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo^[1]), additional conditions for membership were set out in the so-called stabilisation and association process (SAP), mostly relating to regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations.

Countries with the perspective of EU membership

The EU Member States have granted the perspective of EU membership to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo – these six are all from the Western Balkans – as well as Moldova, Georgia, Türkiye and Ukraine. They are currently all at different stages of the enlargement process. Together with the potential candidate Kosovo, these countries are referred to as the enlargement countries. On 1 April 2016, a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Kosovo entered into force. A candidate country’s status is granted from the day that its application is officially accepted by the European Council. Negotiations about accession start at a later stage.

Accession negotiations

Accession negotiations were initiated with Montenegro in June 2012 and with Serbia in January 2014. The European Council decided to open accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania (March 2020), with Ukraine and Moldova (December 2023) and with Bosnia and Herzegovina (March 2024). The negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania officially began on 19 July 2022, with the first meeting of their respective intergovernmental conferences. The screening which precedes negotiations started in 2022 for both Albania and North Macedonia. Negotiations with Albania on the fundamentals cluster including statistics were opened at the second intergovernmental conference held on 15 October 2024. The first intergovernmental conference marking the launch of the accession negotiations with Moldova and Ukraine was held on 25 June 2024. Accession negotiations between the EU and Türkiye, which officially began in 2005, have been at a standstill since 2018, due to concerns about democratic backsliding and rule of law issues. While Türkiye has been a candidate country since 1999, the negotiations have stalled, and no new chapters have been opened or closed since then.

Strategy for the Western Balkans

In February 2018, the European Commission adopted a strategy for the Western Balkans to provide an enlargement perspective for an enhanced EU engagement with the region. The strategy sets out an action plan with six flagship initiatives targeting specific areas of common interest: rule of law, security and migration, socio-economic development, transport and energy connectivity, digital agenda, reconciliation and good neighbourly relations.

In February 2020, the European Commission adopted the 2020 Communication ‘Enhancing the accession process – A credible EU perspective for the Western Balkans’. The Communication proposes changes to reinvigorate the process based on four principles: more credibility, a stronger political steer, a more dynamic process, and greater predictability. Already in October 2020, the Commission also adopted a comprehensive ‘Growth Plan for the Western Balkans’, which aims to spur the long-term recovery of the region, facilitate a green and digital transition, foster economic regional cooperation, boost economic growth and support reforms required to move forward on the EU path.

On 8 November 2023, the European Commission adopted a new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, with the aim of bringing the Western Balkan partners closer to the EU, by offering some of the benefits of EU membership to the region in advance of accession, boosting economic growth and accelerating socio-economic convergence. The plan is supported by financial assistance through the new Reform and Growth Facility, which entered into force on 25 May 2024 and complements the current financial assistance under the Instrument of Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III). Moreover, in June 2025 EU and Moldova signed the EU Reform and Growth Plan for Moldova, the largest EU financial support package since Moldova’s independence. The Plan will boost Moldova’s economy, provide significant financial assistance, and bring the country closer to EU membership by accelerating reforms. Additionally, the Ukraine Facility is the European Union’s financial assistance programme for Ukraine. During the period of 2024-2027, 50 billion euros from the EU will be allocated to finance the state budget, stimulate investment, and provide technical support in the implementation of the program.

On 23 October 2024 the EU Commission approved the Reform Agendas of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

The role of official statistics in the enlargement process

Official statistics play a double role in the enlargement process:

the EU acquis in the field of statistics (Chapter 18 of the 35 chapters in which the negotiation process is organised) defines the harmonisation of statistics with EU standards and rules which have to be achieved in the pre-accession period;
they serve other EU policy areas by providing data for monitoring progress and assessing the impact of policies.

The EU acquis in the field of statistics

The negotiation chapters encompassing the EU acquis are organised into six thematic clusters. Official statistics constitute Chapter 18, which is part of cluster 1, Fundamentals. Statistics are also an integral part of other chapters, as they facilitate the screening and monitoring of progress toward meeting the accession criteria. Before negotiations begin, the screening of each chapter enables the European Commission and the candidate country to assess the candidate country’s level of preparedness.

When negotiations on a chapter begin, the European Commission monitors the progress in applying EU legislation, and reports on it to the Council and the European Parliament. More specifically, the EU Commission services present an assessment of the progress in reforms towards the EU acquis in each candidate country and potential candidate, annually, in the so-called enlargement package country reports. The first enlargement package report on Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine was delivered in 2023.

For the EU, the Statistical Law established by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, as amended in 2015 and revised in 2024, provides the legal framework for the development, production, and dissemination of European statistics. It sets out the fundamental principles, procedures, and general provisions governing official statistics, as well as the division of responsibilities between national and EU statistical authorities. The EU statistical authority is Eurostat.

Confidence in official statistics largely depends on adherence to the widely accepted principles established in the European Statistics Code of Practice. This code sets out 16 principles for the development, production and dissemination of official statistics in the EU and the institutional environment under which national and EU statistical authorities operate. The code is based on the United Nations’ Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and the United Nations’ Principles governing international statistical activities. The code adjusts these principles to the EU context and provides indicators to measure their implementation.

The EU acquis in the field of statistics requires a robust statistical infrastructure and includes legal frameworks, methodologies and data requirements across various statistical domains. Since the EU acquis is dynamic and evolves over time, the statistical systems of the candidate countries and potential candidate must be reinforced to sustain their level of harmonisation and to integrate any updates to it. The final objective of the European Commission’s services, concerning the EU acquis in statistics, is to monitor and support the alignment of statistics produced by the statistical systems of the candidate countries and potential candidate with those of the ESS, ensuring consistency and quality of the statistics produced. Eurostat plays an active role in the enlargement process.

Ensuring that the national statistical systems comply with the EU acquis in the field of statistics (Chapter 18). The statistical authorities in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye, Ukraine and Kosovo, as well as Eurostat, regularly document the progress made towards the implementation of the EU acquis in statistics.
Providing technical assistance and support to national statistical authorities and other producers of official statistics. Several instruments have been established to achieve the objectives of Eurostat's strategy for statistical cooperation with the candidate countries and potential candidate. Some instruments – statistical training courses, traineeships, study visits, management training, and participation in meetings within the European Statistical System (ESS) – aim to reinforce the capacity of national statistical systems to develop, produce and disseminate harmonised, high-quality data in line with the European standards and to respond to user needs. This assistance can be structured either through multi-beneficiary programmes involving several recipient countries when synergies between countries can be established, or through bilateral national programmes tailored to address specific needs of individual countries.

In addition, Eurostat conducts peer reviews and sector reviews. Peer reviews are assessments of how a country's statistical system adheres to the European Statistics Code of Practice. The peer reviews result in a set of improvement recommendations, the implementation of which is followed up and monitored by Eurostat. The objective is to enhance the integrity, professional independence, and accountability of the statistical authorities. A new round of peer reviews in the enlargement countries, and Armenia will be implemented between 2025 and 2027. The methodology for the upcoming peer reviews in these countries was developed based on the third round of peer reviews which took place in the ESS between 2021 and 2023.

The instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA) and the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans are the financing instruments for assistance to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Kosovo on their way to membership. Specific EU financial assistance programmes were recently established for Ukraine and Moldova: the Ukraine Facility (2024-2027) and the Reform and Growth Facility for Moldova (2025-2027). Global Europe: Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI – Global Europe) is the EU’s main development assistance programme for 2021–2027, supporting external action by promoting stability, sustainable development, and international partnerships. The new NDICI- Global Europe instrument merges several former EU external financing instruments. It aims to support countries most in need to overcome long-term developmental challenges and will contribute to achieving the international commitments and objectives that the Union has agreed to, in particular the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.

Statistical requirements compendium

The legal basis, methodologies and data requirements of the EU acquis are presented in the Statistical requirements compendium. It summarises the key reference information for European statistical production in all statistical domains, grouped, since 2024, by an adapted version of the Classification of statistical activities (CSA) Rev. 2.0 2023:

Demographic and social statistics;
Economic statistics;
Sectoral statistics;
Environmental statistics;
Cross-cutting statistics;
Statistical infrastructure and methodology.

It also includes the EU acquis related to basic legal acts.

Eurostat’s IPA strategy with the enlargement countries for the period 2021 – 2027

The enlargement countries are not at the same level of development and are progressing towards an efficient and modern statistical system at different speeds. Basic principles are being followed and the institutional framework for producing statistics is already in place for most of them. Efforts must therefore focus on enhancing the availability, quality and comparability of statistics, especially in the areas that are indispensable for the accession negotiations and for the society to measure progress in the development of the country. The IPA strategy with the enlargement countries for the period 2021 – 2027 aims to ensure an efficient use of resources by focusing cooperation on those areas where improvements are most needed and by helping to make these achievements sustainable. The strategy, prepared in 2021, does not cover the three new enlargement countries: Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. The timeframe for this strategy corresponds to the EU's multi-annual financial framework for 2021-2027 and to the implementation period for the IPA III; the latter is a unified instrument for EU pre-accession funding to the Western Balkans and Türkiye. The objectives of the strategy are to:

increase the production and dissemination of high-quality statistical data;
implement the European Statistics Code of Practice;
strengthen the administrative and management capacity of the national statistical systems;
enhance regional statistical cooperation.

Data sources and publications

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye, Ukraine and Kosovo, are expected to increase the volume and quality of their data progressively, and to transmit the data to Eurostat in the context of the EU accession process. Most of the enlargement countries already provide a large set of data which are disseminated through various channels:

Validated statistics, which are uploaded to Eurobase, Eurostat's free online reference database. The data of the enlargement countries are published in the same tables as the data from the Member States as soon as they pass the validation.
Statistics Explained articles covering specific statistical domains.
In addition, when available, harmonised data from the candidate countries (and sometimes also the potential candidate) are also published along with data for EU Member States and EFTA countries in major Eurostat publications such as the Eurostat regional yearbook.

Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine also provide data to Eurostat. However, at present, most of the data are not yet submitted to and validated by Eurostat’s subject-matter units, following the same process as data from Member States. Hence only data for some statistical domains from these three countries are published together with EU data (this integration is expected to increase in coming years). However, data for Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine is collected and validated by an Eurostat contractor and disseminated in Eurobase, through the ENP-East domain and in a series of statistical articles on Statistics Explained.

Footnotes

This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence. ↑

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Database

Available data on the candidate countries and potential candidate are disseminated with the data of the EU Member States in Eurostat's database

Thematic section

Enlargement countries

[1] This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence. ↑

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