Enlargement of the European Union

The European Union originally consisted of 6 member states. It has since grown to 15 member states, and several more states plan to join: 10 new members in 2004, 2 new members in 2007, and possibly more after that. In order to join the Union, a state needs to fulfil the economic and political conditions generally known as the Copenhagen criteria.

Table of contents

1 Summary of past enlargements 2 The 2004 enlargement 3 The 2007 enlargement 4 Further enlargement 5 External links

Summary of past enlargements

For details see History of the European Union.

• In 1951, the EU's forerunner, the European Coal and Steel Community, was founded by Belgium, West Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
• In 1973, Britain, Ireland and Denmark joined.
• In 1981, Greece joined.
• In 1986, Spain and Portugal joined.
• In 1990, the two German states, West Germany and East Germany reunified, adding the former East Germany to the union. This increased the area and population of the union, but not the number of member states.
• In 1995, Austria, Sweden and Finland joined.

The 2004 enlargement

The European Commission's Strategic Report of October 9, 2002 recommended 10 candidate members for inclusion in the EU in 2004: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus. Their combined population is roughly 75 million, their combined Gross Domestic Product is about 840 billion US dollars (purchasing power parity; CIA World Factbook 2003), similar in size to that of Spain.

After negotiations between the candidates and the member states, the final decision to invite these nations to join was announced on December 13, 2002 in Copenhagen, with the European Parliament voting in favour of this on April 9, 2003.

On April 16, 2003 the Treaty of Accession was signed by the 10 new members and the 15 old ones in Athens [1].

(The Treaty's full name is: Treaty between the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Hellenic Republic, the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic, Ireland, the Italian Republic, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Austria, the Portuguese Republic, the Republic of Finland, the Kingdom of Sweden, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Member States of the European Union) and the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia, the Slovak Republic, concerning the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic to the European Union)

The final remaining step is the ratification of the treaty by the current member states and by each of the candidate nations. Ratification in the former is to be done by the parliaments of the member states alone, whereas in the latter the ratification is first subject to a referendum, except for Cyprus where the parliament will be solely responsible. The 2003 referenda dates (in many countries a two-day ballot is held) and the outcome in each of the candidate countries are as follows:

• Malta - March 8 (54% in favour)
• Slovenia - March 23 (90% in favour)
• Hungary - April 12 (83% in favour)
• Lithuania - May 10-11 (91% in favour)
• Slovakia - May 16-17 (92% in favour)
• Poland - June 7-8 (77% in favour)
• Czech Republic - June 13-14 (77% in favour)
• Estonia - September 14 (67% in favour)
• Latvia - September 20 (67% in favour)

In the event that one of the referenda did not return an affirmative result, provision had been made for the enlargement to carry on without that country. Now the referenda have turned out in favour of joining, ratification is expected to proceed without further problems and the candidate countries will become full members of the EU on May 1, 2004.

2004 enlargement

country	Pop	Area	GDP	GDP per cap
Estonia	1.4	45226	15.5	11000
Latvia	2.3	64589	21.0	8900
Lithuania	3.6	65200	30	8400
Poland	38.6	312685	373.2	9700
Czech Republic	10.2	78866	157.1	15300
Hungary	10.0	93030	134	13300
Slovakia	5.4	48845	67.3	12400
Slovenia	1.9	20253	37.1	19200
Malta	0.4	316	6.8	17200
Cyprus	0.8	9250	9.4	15000
Subtotal	74.6	738260	851.4	11413

Notes (for this and later tables):

• Pop is population in millions
• Area is in km²
• GDP in billions of USD, at purchasing power parity, 2001 figures
• GDP per cap is per capita GDP in USD, year as in previous column

The 2007 enlargement

Bulgaria and Romania have been recommended to join the EU on January 1, 2007, and these dates have been firmly set at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003.

2007 enlargement

country	Pop	Area	GDP	GDP per cap
Bulgaria	7.5	110910	49.2	6500
Romania	22.3	238391	169.3	7600
Subtotal	29.8	349301	218.5	7332
Incl.2004	104.4	1087561	1069.6	10245

Further enlargement

Croatia applied for EU membership in 2003 and is in the process of becoming an official candidate.

Turkey has officially been recognised as a candidate for enlargement after having been an Associate Member since 1963, but it has not yet been permitted to start negotiations due to concerns about its human rights record and about the involvement of the military in Turkish politics. It is however encouraged to continue its reform process. Critics of Turkish membership oppose several reasons, including that most of Turkey's territory is not European, but Asian. A prevalent point of view in Turkey is that some in the EU are reluctant to accept a Muslim state, albeit a strongly secular one, into what is seen by some as a Christian club.

possible enlargement past 2007

country	Pop	Area	GDP	GDP per cap
Turkey	68.1	780580	489.7	7300
Croatia	4.4	56542	43.1	9800
Subtotal	72.5	837122	532.8	7349
TOTAL	176.9	1924683	1602.4	9058

Source: CIA World Factbook 2003

External links

• EU enlargement website