Continuing enlargement. Strategy paper and report from the European Commission on the progress towards accession by Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

Abstract

The European Union is on the eve of the one of the greatest developments in its history.In six months’ time it will extend its membership from 15 to 25 countries, bringing in theCzech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Sloveniaand Slovakia as new members on 1 May 2004. Moreover, negotiations are ongoing withBulgaria and Romania with a view to their membership in 2007 and a strengthened pre-accession strategy for Turkey is being implemented.This enlargement, the fifth to take place since the beginning of the European Community50 years ago, demonstrates once again the attraction of the European model for youngdemocracies.Yet this enlargement is unlike those that preceded it. Never before have so manyaccessions taken place at the same time. Never before have they been so thoroughlyprepared, with a sweeping transformation of the economies and societies of the applicantcountries. Stable democracies and functioning market economies are now wellestablished in Central and Eastern Europe, and the credit for this success lies mainly withthe governments and peoples of those countries, aided by the prospect of EUmembershi