Current Agenda
The present enlargement agenda of the European Union regards Turkey, the Western Balkans and Iceland. Turkey has a long standing application with the EU but the negotiations are expected to take many more years. As for the Western Balkan states, the EU had pledged to include them after their civil wars: in fact, one state has entered, one is acceding, three are candidates, one applied and the others have pre-accession agreements. Finally, Iceland has recently applied and, if sensitive negotiations over fishing can be overcome, is expected to complete negotiations rapidly due to its membership in the European Economic Area.
There are however other states in Europe which either seek membership or could potentially apply if their present foreign policy changes, or the EU gives a signal that they might now be included on the enlargement agenda. However, these are not formally part of the current agenda, which is already delayed due to bilateral disputes in the Balkans and difficulty in fully implementing the acquis communautaire (the accepted body of EU law).
| State |
Status |
Association Agreement |
Applied for Membership |
Candidate status |
Start of negotiations |
Screening completed |
Acquis Chapters open/closed |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | 3 !Applicant | 02006-06-1212 June 2006 (SAA) | 02009-04-2828 April 2009 | – | – | – | – | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 4 !Associate | 02008-06-1616 June 2008 (SAA) | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Croatia | 0 !Acceding | 02001-10-2929 October 2001 (SAA) | 02003-02-2121 February 2003 | 02004-06-1818 June 2004 | 02005-10-033 October 2005 | 02006-10-1313 October 2006 | 33/33 of 33 | |
| Iceland | 1 !Negotiating | 01992-05-022 May 1992 (EEA) | 02009-07-1616 July 2009 | 02010-06-1717 June 2010 | 02010-07-2727 July 2010 | 02011-06-2121 June 2011 | 21/10 of 33 | |
| Kosovo | 5 !Early talks | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Macedonia | 2 !Candidate | 02001-04-099 April 2001 (SAA) | 02004-03-2222 March 2004 | 02005-12-1717 December 2005 | – | – | – | |
| Montenegro | 1 !Negotiating | 02007-10-1515 October 2007 (SAA) | 02008-12-1515 December 2008 | 02010-12-1717 December 2010 | 02012-06-2929 June 2012 | – | – | |
| Serbia | 2 !Candidate | 02008-04-2929 April 2008 (SAA) | 02009-12-2222 December 2009 | 02012-03-011 March 2012 | – | – | – | |
| Turkey | 1 !Negotiating | 01963-09-1212 September 1963 (AA) | 01987-04-1414 April 1987 | 01999-12-1212 December 1999 | 02005-10-033 October 2005 | 02006-10-1313 October 2006 | 13/1 of 33 |
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Dates of signature of SAA agreements
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Dates of submission of membership application
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Dates of recognition of candidate status
Read more about this topic: Future Enlargement Of The European Union
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