Enlargement

The glossary is being updated given the recent signing of the Treaty of Lisbon.

The European Union currently has 27 Member States. In addition to the first six Member States — Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands — 21 countries have acceded to the Union. These are:

• 1973: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom;
• 1981: Greece;
• 1986: Spain and Portugal;
• 1995: Austria, Finland and Sweden;
• the fifth enlargement of 2004 and 2007: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, then Bulgaria and Romania.

Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey have the status of candidate countries. Accession negotiations with Croatia and Turkey opened on 3 October 2005.

The countries of the Western Balkans which are engaged in the stabilisation and association process have the status of potential candidate countries. Apart from Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which are candidate countries, these are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, including Kosovo, as defined by UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

See:

• Accession of new Member States to the European Union
• Deepening
• Accession criteria (Copenhagen criteria)
• Accession negotiations
• Candidate countries