Criteria for accession to the EU

In 1989, the European Community's Phare program was created. It aimed to provide financial support for potential accession countries so that they could expand and reform their economies. To join the EU an applicant country must meet the following Copenhagen criteria established by the European Council in 1993:

Political criteria: institutional stability which guarantees existence of the democratic and legal political system at the observance of fundamental human rights and defence of national minorities.

Economic criteria: normally functioning market economy and ability of country to maintain a hard competition in the European Union.

Property criteria: ability of national government to undertake obligations, which follow from membership in the EU and to arrive at the purpose of political, economic and currency Community which requires considerable material and financial charges.

In December, 1995 in Madrid the European Council revised the membership criteria to include conditions for member country integration through the appropriate adjustment of its administrative structures: since it is important that European Community legislation be reflected in national legislation, it is critical that the revised national legislation be implemented effectively through appropriate administrative and judicial structures.

In order to assess progress achieved by countries in preparing for accession to the European Union, the European Commission submits 'Regular Reports' to the European Council. These serve as the basis upon which the Council takes decisions on negotiations or their extension to other candidates. Since 1993, the Commission has presented a complete set of Regular Reports on a yearly basis, covering the 10 associated countries in Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia) as well as Cyprus, Malta and Turkey.

Table 1

Enlargement criteria of the EU