EU Enlargement

Accession negotiations are currently underway with Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. Further candidate countries are Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia. The screening process determining the extent to which the current legislation of the candidate countries already complies with the acquis communautaire went according to plan and has been formally completed for these countries. This process is followed by the negotiation of individual chapters, which is still on-going.

Croatia acceded to the EU on 1 July 2013 and is the newest EU member state. 

Negotiations with Turkey began in March 2007, with Montenegro in December 2012 and with Serbia in January 2014. Eight chapters will not be opened in the negotiations with Turkey and no chapter will be provisionally closed until Turkey agrees to apply the Additional Protocol to the Ankara Association Agreement with regard to Cyprus. On 24 March 2020, the EU ministers responsible for European affairs reached a political agreement to open accession negotiations with Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia.

With the decisions of the European Council in Thessaloniki (2003), the EU provided the Western Balkan states with prospects for accession, which it reaffirmed in 2006. These states are to be brought closer to the EU through Accession Partnerships and the conclusion of Stabilisation and Association Agreements. Accession Partnerships and Stabilisation and Association Agreements are designed to help the countries comply with important political and economic criteria that come with an EU membership before accession negotiations are opened.

Over the past year, the Western Balkan states have come closer to EU membership. These countries have made further, albeit unequal progress in the implementation of reforms and compliance with the specified criteria and requirements. The number of Stabilisation and Association Agreements has grown. If the respective Western Balkan countries continue to make further progress, they could be granted candidate status once they have proved they are ready for accession. The progress of an individual country on its path to accession is therefore especially dependent on its satisfactory track record of compliance with the requirements stipulated in the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (including trade-related provisions).

Compliance with certain criteria is a prerequisite for the accession of new member states. These accession criteria include compliance with political and economic requirements. Candidate countries also have to be able to fully adopt and implement existing EU legislation, at the latest on accession, and to comply with EU obligations at international level (the ‘acquis’). Accession negotiations focus mainly on adopting and implementing Community law.

The European Council held on 15 and 16 December 2005 awarded candidate status to the Republic of North Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). However, no date for opening accession negotiations was set. The European Commission recommended opening accession negotiations with the Republic of North Macedonia. On 24 March 2020, the responsible EU ministers agreed to open accession negotiations with the country.

The Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Albania entered into force in April 2009. In the same month, Albania applied for EU membership. On 27 June 2014, the European Council awarded candidate status to Albania. The Council of the European Union also reached a political agreement on accession negotiations with Albania on 24 March 2020.

In February 2016, Bosnia and Herzegovina applied for EU membership and is currently a potential candidate country along with Kosovo. In 2016, the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Kosovo entered into force.

Visa requirements for citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia were lifted in December 2009, and in November 2010 for Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Iceland: On 23 July 2009, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland, Össur Skarphéðinsson, officially submitted his country’s application for EU membership to the EU Council Presidency. The Foreign Ministers of the EU Member States subsequently decided on 27 July 2009 to forward the application to the European Commission and requested an opinion. They thus initiated the formal accession procedure in accordance with Article 49 of the Treaty on the European Union. In May 2013, the Icelandic government suspended accession negotiations. In March 2015, it requested that its candidate status be lifted. Last updated: 24 June 2020