Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union states that: "Any European state may apply to become a Member of the Union."   After receiving an application the European Commission delivers a recommendation (or avis) to the European Council, which then decides whether or not to grant the applicant official candidate status.

Copenhagen Criteria

The Copenhagen European Council in 1993 agreed the following basic standards, often described as the "Copenhagen Criteria", that all countries must meet before membership of the EU:

Stable institutions that guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities, (the Political Criteria).
The existence of a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with market forces and competition within the EU (the Economic Criteria)
Adoption and implementation of the entire body of EU law (the acquis communautaire) and adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union.
Another important consideration is that the EU, in turn, must have the capacity to absorb new members, while maintaining the momentum of European integration.  Impact assessments at key stages in the process assess this capacity.

How do negotiations work?

The accession negotiations split the body of EU law (the acquis communautaire) into 35 ‘chapters’.  These cover issues ranging from the free movement of goods and protection of intellectual property rights to reform of the judiciary, protection of fundamental rights and implementation of EU environmental standards.  Click here for more detail on the individual chapters.

Negotiations are taken forward based on the merits of the individual candidates.  The pace of the negotiations depends on the candidate’s progress in meeting the requirements of membership.

The first step of the negotiations is the screening process, where the Commission works with the candidate to evaluate their alignment with each chapter and identify reform priorities.

The second step of the negotiations relates to the opening of each chapter.  For each chapter, the Commission must either recommend the immediate opening of negotiations or it must set benchmarks for opening.  These benchmarks must be met before the candidate country can open negotiations on the chapter.  The benchmarking system aims to ensure candidates fully meet EU standards in each chapter.

Immediately following screening, the Commission may also recommend closing benchmarks.  These must be met before a chapter can be closed.   It is also at this stage that transitional periods can be negotiated to allow each candidate to reach full implementation in a longer timeframe.

The Council must endorse each decision to open or close chapters by unanimity.  The EU’s decision will then be communicated to the candidate country through an Accession Conference.

The progress of each candidate country is closely monitored by the Commission and member states (via the Council Working Group on Enlargement).  Each country must also continue to work to meet the political and economic criteria and to meet any other outstanding treaty obligations.  The Commission publishes a comprehensive report on the progress of each country annually and meets the candidate countries regularly.

Negotiations are completed when all the chapters have been closed. An Accession Treaty is drafted, which is submitted to the Council for approval and to the European Parliament for assent.

The Accession Treaty is then submitted to the member states and to the candidate country to ratify. In some states this may require a referendum, depending on individual national constitutions. The Treaty then becomes part of each country’s law and the candidate country becomes a member state on an agreed date.
More information on accession negotiations

Supporting the Process

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Global Opportunities Fund (GOF) includes a Reuniting Europe programme, which funds projects in the field of enlargement. GOF aims to bolster and extend the success of enlargement by supporting countries through the EU integration process. £6m is available for projects under the Reuniting Europe programme for 2007/8.

Other UK Government departments involved in providing transitional support include the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the DTI, the Home Office and DEFRA.

The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance is the source of funding for all European Commission pre-accession activities. IPA will provide a total amount of €11.5 million over the 2007-2013 period.

Twinning

Twinning projects administered by the EU provide the opportunity and funding for experts from member states to work with officials from candidate countries on the practical challenges of preparing to join the EU.

Experts from the UK are actively involved in many twinning projects across the candidate countries and new member states. The UK has been a strong supporter of twinning since it started in 1998 and has supported over 200 projects across Europe. The assistance offered by the UK has included legal advice, private sector consultancy, exchange visits and guidance on issues such as integration into the internal market.

'Twinning Light'

In 2001, a modified form of Twinning was introduced by the Commission to address areas where there are only small gaps to be filled before accession and candidate countries reach full compliance with the acquis communautaire. Twinning Light projects are intended to be limited in scope, duration and budget, for example the creation of an insurance supervisory authority or roads inspectorate, rather than general administrative or legal reform.