Future enlargement possibilities

In the Treaty of Maastricht (Article 49), it is stated that any European country that respects the principles of the European Union may apply to join. The Copenhagen European Council set out the conditions for EU membership in June 1993 in the so-called Copenhagen criteria. Whether a country is European or not is a subject to political assessment by the EU institutions, but countries in the Council of Europe that fall onto the border (between Europe and Asia) all have a significant claim for EU membership (as shown with the accession of geographically Asian, but culturally European, Cyprus).

The European Union has tended to enlarge along regional lines, adding groups of nearby nations. (A notable exception was the accession of Greece.) Currently, the EU is very interested in the integration of the Balkan states. Of Eastern Europe, Heather Grabbe of the Centre for European Reform has said, "Belarus is too authoritarian, Moldova too poor, Ukraine too large, and Russia too scary for the EU to contemplate offering membership any time soon." Due to the 2004 "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine, and the "Rose Revolution" in Georgia in 2003, both countries have started and already implemented extensive reform programs, and the perspectives for both countries have become more positive.