Along its history the European Union has accepted a
larger number of Member States: from six founder members
(Italy, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the
Netherlands) to nine in 1973 with the accession of Denmark,
Ireland and United Kingdom, ten in 1981 with the accession
of Greece, and then twelve Member States in 1986 when Spain
and Portugal joined the Community. In 1995 the adhesion of
Austria, Finland and Sweden brought the EU to the actual
fifteen Member States. This enlargement process hasn't
stopped yet and it finds now a new direction towards the
Mediterranean area.
The applications for membership of
the countries of Central and Eastern Europe after the fall
of the Berlin's wall, and the analogous determination
manifested in the previous years by Malt, Cyprus and Turkey
have persuaded the Member States to adopt a prudent and
progressive strategy based on the encouragement of the
market economies through the technical assistance and the
subsidies for the development of the infrastructure in the
applicant States. The conclusion of the so called "Europe
agreements" has marked the real beginning of integration
with the aim of creation of a political dialogue based on
the respect of democratic and constitutional States'
principles and on the guaranty of the fundamental human
rights and the ambition to expand the economic relationship.
Nevertheless, it is the Copenhagen European Council in 1993
that marks the decisive change in the perspective of the
enlargement. The Summit has individuated three accession
criteria: the political engagement for the achievement of
institutional stability in order to guarantee the democracy,
as well as the respect of fundamental human rights and the
protection of minorities (political criteria); the existence
of an open and accessible market economy in the European
Union (economical criteria); the capacity to respect the own
obligations and to approve the political, economical and
monetary Union objectives (adoption of the Community acquis
criteria).
The Luxembourg European Council (December
1997) marked a further step towards the enlargement
accepting the application for membership of ten States, but
it decided to proceed in two times: the adhesion
negotiations started on march 31st 1998 with a first group
of six countries including Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Check
Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus. With reference to Cyprus,
following a momentary suspension the negotiations have been
opened again on December the 3rd in New York but in the
perspective of the adhesion it is still necessary a solution
to the political and economic division of the Country.
Concerning the second group of six candidate countries -
which includes Romania, Slovak Republic, Latvia, Lithuania
and Bulgaria - the negotiations started officially on
February the 15th 2000. The negotiations are handled
separately and, in accordance with the realignment
principle, each applicant country is judged on its own
merits in stead of following a predetermined calendar.
With regard to Malt, in 1998 the government presented
again its candidature, suspended two years before, and it is
actually realising politics concerning the equality between
women and man, the treatment of refugees and the reform of
the administration in the view of the adhesion at the
European Union.
Regarding Turkey, the Helsinki European
Council (December 1999) accepted its application for
candidature at the condition that the Country will remedy
the anomalies of its political system, in particular the
performance of the public powers, the respect of human and
minorities rights. At the present time, advances have been
realised with regard to the respect of the political
criteria, in particular thanks to the recent modification of
the Constitution the consideration of new negotiations of
adhesion has been made possible.
Even if it's not
possible to foresee exactly how long each negotiation will
last, the Laeken European Council in December 2001 fixed the
intent to conclude the negotiations within the end of 2002
with the countries considered ready for the accession. It
might be Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malt,
Poland, Slovak Republic, Check Republic and Slovenia (it
have been appreciated the efforts of Bulgaria and Romania,
that have been invited to accelerate their processes for
economic reforms) that will participate that way, as
European Union Member States, at the elections for the
European Parliament in 2004.
For further information:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/enlargement/index_en.htm