General Information

• EU Vision of Enlargement
• European Council Decision on Enlargement
• EU Enlargement Criteria
• EU Major Objectives
• Aims of the Accession Negotiations
• Procedure of the Negotiations

1. EU Vision of Enlargement

Though only six countries, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg signed the Treaties establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (1951), the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (1957), the member states have been true to the vision of the founders, and have continually striven to both «deepen» and «enlarge» the Union.

The process of deepening involves the continuous efforts to qualitatively upgrade the Union and bring the member states closer together within it. The concept of deepening is demonstrated most clearly by the European Single Market (1993)- which brought about freedom of circulation for people, goods, capital and services. the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the Cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs, and most vividly the European Economic and Monetary Union and the «Euro», that is the Single European Currency (1999). Deepening, therefore, extends the functions and activities of the European Union.

The concept of enlargement is the acceptance of more countries as members and the extension of EU boundaries so that today there are 15 member states. In 1973 Denmark, Ireland and the UK joined what was then the European Community, followed by Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, the eastern part of Germany in 1990, and in 1995 Austria, Finland and Sweden in what was now the European Union . The process of enlargement is continuing through the procedure described in this section.

2. European Council Decision on Enlargement

The European Council, at its Luxembourg meeting (December 1997), decided to initiate a comprehensive enlargement process with the ten applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus on 30 March 1998, and to convene, on 31 March 1998, bilateral intergovernmental conferences for the purpose of accession negotiations with Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. The enlargement process was, therefore, initiated for eleven states, but in the case of Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia, the European Council decided that accession negotiations will be opened as soon as these countries have made sufficient progress in satisfying the criteria.

3. EU Enlargement Criteria

The criteria for accession for all applicant states were established by the European Council at Copenhagen (June 1993) which established that all European states who wish to join the Union shall become members if they meet the following conditions:

1. Stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities;
2. The existence of a functioning market economy, as well as the ability to cope with competitive pressures and market forces within the Union;
3. The ability to take on the obligations of membership, including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union.

The European Council in Cardiff (June 1998) clarified that all candidate countries will have to :

« make progress towards taking on the obligations of membership, including the Copenhagen critera. Each of these candidate countries will be judged on the basis of the same criteria and will proceed in its candidature at its own rate, depending on its degree of preparedness. Much will depend on the efforts made by the candidate countries themselves to meet the critera. All will benefit from strengthened relations with the EU including through political dialogue and tailored strategies to help them prepare for accession. »

4. EU Major Objectives

The EU has set three major objectives for the next few years:

1. The completion of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) through the introduction of the «Euro», the common currency. The procedure began on 1 January 1999 and is planned to be completed in June 2002.
2. The restructuring of the EU Budget in view of the Agenda 2000 recommendations on the Budget changes that are made necessary by the enlargement of the Union. The German Presidency has set March 1999 as the target for achievement of an agreement on Budget reform.
3. The enlargement of the Union . A target date for this has not been set in part because it depends on the degree of progress achieved by candidate countries. As a working hypothesis, Cyprus considers that accession will take place on 1 January 2003. For all practical purposes the accession negotiations are carried out on the basis of this assumption. It is stressed however that this is nothing more than an assumption imposed by the need for Cyprus to have a target in its effort to harmonise its legislation and practice with the acquis communautaire.

5. Aims of the Accession Negotiations

The purpose of the accession negotiations is to:

1. Reach an agreement on the institutional aspects of accession (i.e. participation in the institutions of the EU, contribution to the Budget etc).
2. Reach an agreement on the transitional arrangements with respect to the adoption of the acquis communautaire by the future member state.
3. Allow the EU to supervise / monitor the EU of the full implementation of the acquis communautaire by the future member state, with the only exceptions being in the sections where temporary derogations or transitional periods apply.

6. Procedure of the Negotiations

The negotiation procedure of the EU with Cyprus is similar to that of the other candidate states, and consists of two phases, that of «acquis screening» and «substantive negotiations».

The former refers to the examination in great detail of the degree to which the body of law, institutions and procedures of the candidate country comply with those of the EU, that is with the acquis communautaire. The latter refers to the negotiation of transitional arrangements or derogations. The enlargement procedure is described in greater detail in the sections on the acquis communautaire and the negotiation procedure below.