Enlargement of the European Union

thumb|upright=1.35|The territories of the member states of the European Union (European Communities pre-1993), animated in order of accession. Territories outside Europe and its immediate surroundings are not shown.

The European Union (EU) has expanded a number of times throughout its history by way of the accession of new member states to the Union. To join the EU, a state needs to fulfil economic and political conditions called the Copenhagen criteria (named after the Copenhagen summit in June 1993), which require a stable democratic government that respects the rule of law, and its corresponding freedoms and institutions. According to the Maastricht Treaty, each current member state and the European Parliament must agree to any enlargement. The process of enlargement is sometimes referred to as European integration. This term is also used to refer to the intensification of co-operation between EU member states as national governments allow for the gradual harmonisation of national laws.

The EU's predecessor, the European Economic Community, was founded with the Inner Six member states in 1958, when the Treaty of Rome came into force. Since then, the EU's membership has grown to twenty-seven, with the latest member state being Croatia, which joined in July 2013. The most recent territorial enlargement of the EU was the incorporation of Mayotte in 2014. Campione d'Italia joined the EU Customs Union in 2020. The most notable territorial reductions of the EU, and its predecessors, have been the exit of Algeria upon independence in 1962, the exit of Greenland in 1985, and the withdrawal of the United Kingdom in 2020.

Accession negotiations are currently ongoing with Montenegro (since 2012), Serbia (since 2014), Albania (since 2020), North Macedonia (since 2020), Moldova (since 2024), and Ukraine (since 2024). Negotiations with Turkey were opened in October 2005, but have been effectively frozen by the EU since December 2016, due to backsliding in the areas of democracy, rule of law, and fundamental rights.

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia were granted official candidate status respectively in December 2022 and December 2023, but were asked to complete additional reforms before qualifying for the formal start of membership negotiations. Kosovo submitted an application for membership in December 2022. For Kosovo to be granted official candidate status, the Council will need to unanimously agree to start Kosovo's accession process by requesting an opinion from the European Commission on its application. The EU however remains divided on its policy towards Kosovo, with five EU member states not recognising its independence.

Criteria

According to the EU treaties, membership of the European Union is open to "any European State which respects the values referred to in Article 2 and is committed to promoting them" (TEU Article 49). Those Article 2 values are "respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities." This is based on the 1993 "Copenhagen criteria" agreed as it became clear many former Eastern Bloc countries would apply to join:

In December 1995, the Madrid European Council revised the membership criteria to include conditions for member country integration through the appropriate adjustment of its administrative structures: since it is important that European Community legislation be reflected in national legislation, it is critical that the revised national legislation be implemented effectively through appropriate administrative and judicial structures.

Finally, and technically outside the Copenhagen criteria, comes the further requirement that all prospective members must enact legislation to bring their laws into line with the body of European law built up over the history of the Union, known as the acquis communautaire.

Process

thumb|The [[European Commission, which plays a central role in the enlargement process.]]

Today the accession process follows a series of formal steps, from a pre-accession agreement to the ratification of the final accession treaty. These steps are primarily presided over by the European Commission (Enlargement Commissioner and DG Enlargement), but the actual negotiations are technically conducted between the Union's Member States and the candidate country.

Before a country applies for membership it typically signs an association agreement to help prepare the country for candidacy and eventual membership. Most countries do not meet the criteria to even begin negotiations before they apply, so they need many years to prepare for the process. An association agreement helps prepare for this first step.

In the case of the Western Balkans, a special process, the Stabilisation and Association Process exists to deal with the special circumstances there.

When a country formally applies for membership, the Council asks the commission to prepare an opinion on the country's readiness to begin negotiations. The council can then either accept or reject the commission's opinion (The council has only once rejected the commission's opinion when the latter advised against opening negotiations with Greece).

If the Council agrees to open negotiations the screening process then begins. The commission and candidate country examine its laws and those of the EU and determine what differences exist. The Council then recommends opening negotiations on "chapters" of law that it feels there is sufficient common ground to have constructive negotiations. Negotiations are typically a matter of the candidate country convincing the EU that its laws and administrative capacity are sufficient to execute European law, which can be implemented as seen fit by the member states. Often this will involve time-lines before the Acquis Communautaire (European regulations, directives and standards) has to be fully implemented.

thumb|2010 population and GDP per capita of individual EU member states compared with those of non-member states in Europe.

A chapter is said to be closed when both sides have agreed it has been implemented sufficiently, however it can still be re-opened if the Commission feels that the candidate has fallen out of compliance.

To assess progress achieved by countries in preparing for accession to the European Union, the European Commission submits regular reports (yearly) to the European Council. These serve as a basis for the council to make decisions on negotiations or their extension to other candidates.

Once the negotiations are complete, a Treaty of Accession will be signed, which must then be ratified by all of the member states of the Union, as well as the institutions of the Union, and the candidate country. Once this has been completed it will join the Union on the date specified in the treaty.

The entire process, from application for membership to membership has typically taken about a decade, although some countries, notably Sweden, Finland, and Austria have been faster, taking only a few years. The process from application for association agreement through accession has taken far longer, as much as several decades (Turkey, for example, first applied for association in the 1950s and has yet to conclude accession negotiations).

On 18 October 2019, France vetoed starting of negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, citing problems with the current enlargement process. In November 2019, France proposed a seven-stage accession plan for membership. The reformed accession strategy proposes participation in different programs, such as Erasmus, Banking Union, Capital Markets Union, Customs Union, etc.

Example

The following is an example of the accession process—Estonia's path to membership from its restoration of independence from the Soviet Union in November 1991 with recognition from the EU the same month to membership in May 2004. Ease of accession depends on the state: how integrated it is with the EU beforehand, the state of its economy and public institutions, any outstanding political issues with the EU and (historically) how much law to date the EU has built up that the acceding state must adopt. This outline also includes integration steps taken by the accession country after it attains membership.

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Estonia EU membership timeline

! Year

! style="width:120px;"| Date

! Event

! Notes

| 1991

| 20 August

| Restoration of independence from USSR

| Recognition from EU in same month.

| 1994

| 18 July

| Free trade agreement concluded

| 1999

| 17 chapters opened yet has equally suffered from considerable opposition from the start. French President Charles de Gaulle opposed British membership.

The reasons for the first member states to apply, and for them to be accepted, were primarily economic while the second enlargement was more political. The southern Mediterranean countries had just emerged from dictatorships and wanted to secure their democratic systems through the EEC, while the EEC wanted to ensure the same thing and that their southern neighbours were stable and aligned to NATO. These two principal forces, economic gain and political security, have been behind enlargements since. After the large enlargements in 2004, public opinion in Europe turned against further expansion.

Historical enlargements

{| class="sortable wikitable sticky-header col1left"

|+ Applications for accession to the EU, ECSC or EC

! Applicant

! Submitted

! Accession / failure rationale

| Albania

| style="background:#33D438" | ANegotiating

| Austria

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Belgium

| Founder

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Bosnia and Herzegovina

| style="background:#D6FF4E" | BCandidate

| Bulgaria

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Croatia

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Cyprus

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Czech Republic

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| rowspan=2 | Denmark

| style="background:#B39FFF" | Withdrawn

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Estonia

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Finland

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| France

| Founder

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Georgia

| style="background:#D6FF4E" | BCandidate

| West Germany

| Founder

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Greece

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Hungary

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Iceland

| style="background:#FF9459" | Frozen

| rowspan=2 | Ireland

| style="background:#B39FFF" | Withdrawn

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Italy

| Founder

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Kosovo

| style="background:#ffd617" | CApplicant

| Latvia

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Lithuania

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Luxembourg

| Founder

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| rowspan=2 | Malta

| rowspan=2 |

| style="background:#FF9459" | Frozen

| style="background:#003399; color:white; text-align:right" |

| Moldova

| style="background:#33D438" | ANegotiating

| Montenegro

| style="background:#33D438" | ARejected

| Netherlands

| Founder

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| North Macedonia

| style="background:#33D438" | AWithdrawn

| style="background:#B39FFF" | Withdrawn

| Poland

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Portugal

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Romania

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Serbia

| style="background:#33D438" | ARejected

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Sweden

| style="background:#003399; color:white" |

| Switzerland

| style="background:#B39FFF" | Withdrawn

| Turkey

| style="background:#FF6C09" | E Half of the project states, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, had already achieved a great degree of integration amongst themselves with the organs of Benelux and earlier bilateral agreements. These five countries were joined by Italy and they all signed the Treaty of Paris on 23 July 1952. These six members, dubbed the 'Inner Six' (as opposed to the 'outer seven' who formed the European Free Trade Association who were suspicious of such plans for integration) went on to sign the Treaties of Rome establishing two further communities, together known as the European Communities when they merged their executives in 1967.

In 1962, Spain, ruled by the military dictator Francisco Franco, issued its first attempt to join the European Communities. Spanish Foreign Affairs minister Fernando María Castiella sent the request form to French Prime Minister Maurice Couve de Murville.

The Community did see some loss of territory due to the decolonialisation occurring in their era. Algeria, which was an integral part of France, had a special relationship with the Community. Algeria gained independence on 5 July 1962 and hence left the Community. There would be no further efforts at enlargement until the early 1970s.

Enlargement of the European Communities

File:Evolution of the European Union SMIL.svg|thumb|Interactive map of the enlargement and evolution of the European Union, excluding Greenland and Algeria

default [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Enlargement_of_the_European_Union_SMIL.svg]

</imagemap>

The United Kingdom, which had refused to join as a founding member, changed its policy following the Suez Crisis and applied to be a member of the Communities. Other EEC members were also inclined to British membership on those grounds. French President Charles de Gaulle vetoed British membership. After Britain was accepted Prime Minister Edward Heath said: