Enlargement

Since the start of the European project there have been six enlargements of the Union.  In return for implementing the acquis communautaire, the body of EU laws and standards, candidate countries are granted membership of the EU’s community of values based on peace and freedom, democracy and the rule of law.  

There are currently five candidate countries for EU accession: Turkey, Croatia, Iceland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro.  The EU has also extended a perspective for membership to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo (under UN Security Council Resolution 1244).  The EU's Enlargement policy is overseen by the Commission’s Directorate General for Enlargement.