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Friday, November 19, 2010

What will be the next country to join the EU in the coming years?

The Europen Union currently has 27 members. Among the nine candidate countries, Croatia should be the next to join the European Union. The accession negotiations could be finalized in 2011. As regards to others potential future EU members, they were the subject of a report presented by European Commissioner Stefan Fule on November 9.Croatia head of the queue

Croatia is expected to be the first to join the EU since the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007. Füle told MEPs the current theoretically possible date for completing negotiations should be the first half of 2011. After the successful conclusion of negotiations, the ratification process will start. This can be completed in one, possibly two years. The Commissioner added that the final leap was sometimes the most difficult.

Socialist MEP Hannes Swoboda is Parliament's rapporteur on Croatia and is optimistic about their future. She said that Croatia could complete its negotiations during the next EU presidency. However, Alexander Lambsdorff (ALDE) said that the EU should not mention any concrete date otherwise could be problematic to restore its credibility.

An issue that still needs to be tackled is Croatia's deficiencies in cooperation with International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The EC report said that the problems with access to important documents remain. The special task force set up by the government needs to continue its work to locate missing artillery documents requested by ICTY Prosecutor.

Iceland: "The EU would gain one of the oldest democracies"

Iceland opened negotiations to join the EU in July 2010. Rapporteur on Iceland, Cristian Dan Preda (EPP) noted that if Iceland became a member, the EU would gain one of the oldest democracies on the continent with well-functioning market economy.

Iceland has high social protection standards and top education and research systems, through which it can contribute to the attainment of the Europe 2020 objectives. Preda said that last but not least, Iceland would be the on, a region in which the EU wants to become more and more involved.

He said Iceland is starting from a favourable position, as it is a member of the European Economic Area, which covers 10 out of 33 chapters candidate countries must meet to join the EU and partially covers another 18. However, the report says progress is needed in agriculture, rural development, fisheries, food safety and veterinary policy. Preda said the timing of Iceland's accession to the EU is largely dependent on the Icelanders themselves.

Turkey and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)

Replying to questions raised by José Salafranca (EPP) on Turkey, the Commissioner believed that not many people could be satisfied with the current pace of negotiations with Turkey. He added that to avoid losing momentum, it was urgent that Turkey should implement in a non-discriminatory manner the additional protocol (on trade relations) to its association agreement with the EU.

Mr Füle could not give any guarantee on opening further EU accession negotiating chapters in the near future, but said that “any progress would accelerate the process”. He also said he had been impressed by the openness and enthusiasm on both sides in Cyprus. Mr Füle confirmed that the Commission fully supports efforts under way to reach a settlement on the Cyprus issue.

Several MEPs underlined that Ankara should respect the freedom of expression.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia achieved candidate status in 2009, but no solution has been reached with Greece as yet about the name.

The other five countries meeting the criteria as potential EU candidates (first stage to perspective membership) are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo (its independence has been proclaimed under a UN Security Council Resolution and has not been recognized by all EU member states).

Candidats et candidats potentiels

* Croatia, Zagreb, pop 4 m
* Iceland, Reykjavík, pop 0,32 m
* Macedonia, Skopje, pop 2,04 m
* Turkey, Ankara, pop 72,52 m
* Albania, Tirana, pop 3,15 m
* Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, pop 3,84 m
* Montenegro, Podgorica, 0,62 m
* Serbia, Belgrade, pop 7,43 m
* Kosovo, Priština, pop 2,07 m

Source  European Commission website

More information  Press room - European Parliament

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