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A country's application to become an EU Member State is submitted to the European Council, which then instructs the European Commission to assess the country's capacity to meet the requirements of EU membership. If the Commission gives a positive opinion, the Council may then grant candidate country status to the applicant country.
The pre-accession strategy prepares candidate countries for future membership. It includes several frameworks and mechanisms: Accession Partnerships, Stabilisation and Association Agreements, pre-accession assistance, etc.
The European Council must unanimously agree on the opening of negotiations with a candidate country. The first step in the negotiation process is referred to as "screening", when the various chapters of the acquis communautaire (the body of detailed law and rules of the EU) are explained and areas requiring reform are identified. The Commission prepares a "screening report" for each country and for each chapter of the acquis.
Following submission of the candidate country's negotiating position, the Commission prepares and transmits to the Council a Draft Common Position (DCP). Once the DCP has been adopted by the Council, the chapters of the acquis are opened and negotiations begin.
A draft Accession Treaty is established once the negotiations for all chapters of the acquis have been closed, and it is transmitted to the Commission for its opinion. If the Commission's opinion is positive, the draft Treaty is then submitted to the European Parliament for its approval and subsequently ratified by all EU Member States and the acceding country. Once this ratification process has been completed, the candidate country becomes a Member State on the date agreed in the Accession Treaty.
Accession negotiations for two candidate countries - Croatia and Turkey - were opened in October 2005. Negotiations have not yet begun with the third candidate, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
For more information on the accession process, consult the Europa website.
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