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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 and subsequently in the Western Balkans. It has also contributed to the stability and prosperity of these regions 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 also 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.”
These 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.
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 the framework of the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) set up for the Western Balkans, 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 also been offered to the potential EU candidates in the Western Balkans - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia, as well as Kosovo under UNSCR 1244/99.
For more information on EU enlargement, consult the Europa website.
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