Enlargement Of The European Union
The Enlargement of the European Union is the process of expanding the European Union (EU) through the accession of new member states. This process began with the Inner Six, who founded the European Coal and Steel Community (the EU's predecessor) in 1952. Since then, the EU's membership has grown to twenty-seven with the most recent expansion to Bulgaria and Romania in 2007. A scheduled expansion in 2013 will add Croatia to the union.
Currently, accession negotiations are under way with several states. The process of enlargement is sometimes referred to as European integration. This term is also used to refer to the intensification of co-operation between EU member states as national governments allow for the gradual harmonisation of national laws.
To join the European Union, a state needs to fulfil economic and political conditions called the Copenhagen criteria (after the Copenhagen summit in June 1993), which require a stable democratic government that respects the rule of law, and its corresponding freedoms and institutions. According to the Maastricht Treaty, each current member state and the European Parliament must agree to any enlargement.
Read more about Enlargement Of The European Union: Criteria, Process, Success and Fatigue, Historical Enlargements, Future Enlargement
Famous quotes containing the words enlargement of, enlargement, european and/or union:
“We go on multiplying our conveniences only to multiply our cares. We increase our possessions only to the enlargement of our anxieties.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)
“We go on multiplying our conveniences only to multiply our cares. We increase our possessions only to the enlargement of our anxieties.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)
“Assassination is the perquisite of princes.”
—19th-century European court cliché.
“Every good cause gained a victory when the Union troops were triumphant. Our final victory was the triumph of religion, of virtue, of knowledge.... During those four years, whatever our motives, whatever our lives, we were fighting on God’s side. We were doing His work. What would this country have been if we had failed?”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)