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The prospect of joining the European Union has constituted an important factor in the steady pace of institution-building reforms in countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It has also contributed to the stability and prosperity of the region and to the establishment of modern, democratic states.
In 2004 the European Union successfully met the challenge of an unprecedented enlargement: from 15 to 25 Member States. Ten countries – Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia – joined the EU on 1 May 2004. This fifth enlargement was completed in January 2007, when Bulgaria and Romania became EU Member States.
Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the European Community (then 12 members) established diplomatic relations with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. In the decade that followed, the EC and its Member States concluded Association Agreements (referred to as “Europe Agreements”) with ten countries in the region. These agreements provided the legal basis for bilateral relations between these countries and the EU. Similar agreements had already been established with Turkey (1963), Malta (1970) and Cyprus (1972). At the Copenhagen European Council in 1993, the Member States opened the way to the fifth enlargement of May 2004 and January 2007. The Copenhagen agreement stated that “the associated countries in central and eastern Europe that so desire shall become members of the European Union”.
According to the Copenhagen European Council, accession could take place as soon as an applicant was able to “assume the obligations of membership by satisfying the economic and political conditions required.” Member States also set out the qualifying criteria for EU membership, referred to as the “Copenhagen criteria”, according to which a prospective member must:
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"be a stable democracy, respecting human rights, the rule of law, and the protection of minorities;
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have a functioning market economy; and
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adopt the common rules, standards and policies that make up the body of EU law.”
The “Copenhagen criteria” were reinforced in the European Councils of Madrid (1995), Luxembourg (1997) and Helsinki (1999), where particular stress was placed on the importance of building institutions, i.e. working administrations, capable of implementing the acquis and of strengthening public administration capacities, which underpin each of the three criteria.
The May 2004 / January 2007 enlargement was the fifth in EU history, bringing to 27 the total number of Member States. The six founding members (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) were joined by three countries in 1973 (Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom), Greece in 1981, Portugal and Spain in 1986, and again by three countries (Austria, Finland and Sweden) in 1995.
Further enlargement of the EU will depend on whether candidate countries meet the accession criteria and demonstrate that they can uphold the rigorous standards and requirements of an EU Member State. In October 2005 the EU opened accession negotiations with candidate countries Croatia and Turkey. Candidate country status was granted to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in December 2005. The prospect of EU accession has been offered to all other countries of the Western Balkans - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia including Kosovo under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 - which are considered as potential EU candidates.
For more information on EU enlargement, consult the Europa website.
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