Applicant Countries

Applicant countries and the Treaties of the European Union

Description of Applicant countries provided by the European Union Commission: Europe's economic and political stability is a magnet for many European countries, which have the right to apply to become members of the European Union (Article 49 of the EU Treaty). Following the accession of ten new Member States on 1 May 2004 (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland,Slovakia and Slovenia), four official applicant countries remain:

• Turkey: application received on 14 April 1987 and applicant country status formally granted by the EU at the Helsinki European Council of 10 and 11 December 1999;

• Romania: application received on 22 June 1995 and applicant country status formally granted by the EU at the Luxembourg European Council of 12 and 13 December 1997;

• Bulgaria: application received on 14 December 1995 and applicant country status formally granted by the EU at the Luxembourg European Council of 12 and 13 December 1997;

• Croatia: application received on 21 February 2003 and applicant country status formally granted by the EU at the Brussels European Council of 17 and 18 June 2004.

As far as Bulgaria and Romania are concerned, negotiations are underway and the goal is to enable them to join on 1 January 2007. Accession negotiations with Croatia are scheduled to open sometime in 2005, however this is dependent upon the Croatian authorities' full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In its recommendation of 6 October 2004, the Commission concludes that Turkey satisfied the Copenhagen political criteria and recommends that accession negotiations begin. Accordingly, the December 2004 European Council has scheduled to open accession negotiations with Turkey on 3 October 2005. The Council expressed its wish that these negotiations be based on the strategy set out by the Commission in its recommendation of October 2004. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia submitted its accession application on 22 March 2004 but has not yet obtained official applicant country status. For the record, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland have also all applied for membership of the European Union at various times. However, Norway twice rejected accession following referenda in 1972 and 1994, while the applications by Liechtenstein and Switzerland were shelved after Switzerland decided by a referendum in 1992 not to join the European Economic Area.

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