A short overview about the history of EU expansions
Since its establishment in 1957, the European Union has constantly expanded its borders and welcomed new members.    Graph: EU-Enlargement history  (to enlarge click on the graph) Expansion of the European Union The European Union unites the western and eastern part of Europe between the Atlantic and the Black Sea, which had been divided by the Cold War into two camps 60 years ago. Since 1957 the European Union (then called European Economic Community) has grown step by step from 6 to 27 member states and a population of nearly 500 million people. Further entries will follow and the advantages are obvious: the EU has created the single European market, has introduced a common currency and has extended its economic and social policy agenda by the foreign affairs and security policy. One of the most important priorities of the union is to raise the standard of living to EU level for the countries which joined in the round of admittance in 2004 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Cyprus. Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in January, 2007. The round of admitance of the EU: 1957 Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands 1973 Denmark, United Kingdom and Ireland 1981 Greece 1986Portugal and Spain 1995 Finland, Austria and Sweden 2004 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, The Czech Rep., Hungary and Cyprus 2007 Bulgaria and Romania Criteria for EU-membership Every European state can basically seek membership of the European Union. The condition however is to be committed to the principles which are fixed in the Copenhagen criteria. According to article 49 of the Treaty of Maastricht (1992) new member states at the time of their entry must prove the following basic criteria for a membership: stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities; existence of a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union; the ability to take on the obligations of membership and to support the aims of the union. The candidate countries must dispose of a public management which can apply and implement the EU regulations in practice. The candidate countries On the 3rd of October, 2005 the European Union has opened negotiations with Turkey for membership, but Turkey must still carry out numerous reforms to be able to join the EU. Since the 3rd of October 2005 negotiations for membership are also held with Croatia. Other states of former Yugoslavia have also expressed interest in joining the EU. Macedonia is an official candidate country since the 17th of December, 2005. The status of potential candidate country applies to: Albania –they submitted their application for membership on the 28th of April, 2009 - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo. Find out more... Seite 2: Common currency and European neighbourhood politics (ENP)...

Common currency in the euro zone A common economic area also requires a common currency. Together the European central bank and the national central banks form the euro system whose job is to maintain price stability in the euro zone and the purchasing power of the euro. To introduce the euro as an official currency, a member state must fulfil the following convergence criteria: The inflation rate may not be more than 1.5 percentage points higher than that of the three best performing member countries last year. The annual government deficit (net borrowing) may not exceed 3% of GDP. The compliance with normal fluctuation margins of the exchange rate mechanism of the European exchange rate system for at least two years without devaluation compared to the currency of another member state. The long-term nominal interest rate may be a maximum of two percentage points higher than that of the three best performing countries last year. So far 16 of the 27 European Union member states have introduced the single currency. Slovakia was the last country, to introduce the euro on 1 January 2009. Cyprus and Malta did it one year before, on 1 January 2008. Slovenia was the first country in the 2004 EU-enlargement round, to adopt the euro on 1 January 2007. Eleven members of the European Union do not use the euro. These are: Denmark, Sweden, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. Introduction of euro           Country Introduction Population     Austria 1. Januar 1999    8.316.487     Belgium 1. Januar 1999  10.666.866     Cyprus 1. Januar 2008       766.400     Finland 1. Januar 1999     5.289.128     France 1. Januar 1999   63.392.140     Germany 1. Januar 1999   82.314.906     Greece 1. Januar 2001   11.125.179     Ireland 1. Januar 1999     4.239.848     Italy 1. Januar 1999   59.131.287     Luxembourg 1. Januar 1999        476.200     Malta 1. Januar 2008        404.962     Netherlands 1. Januar 1999   16.471.968     Portugal 1. Januar 1999   10.599.095     Slovakia 1. Januar 2009     5.389.180     Slovenia 1. Januar 2007      2.013.597     Spain 1. Januar 1999    45.116.894           Euro zone    325.714.137     European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) The ENP addresses the EU’s neighbouring countries and in particular those who are now closer as a result of the expansion. In Europe this applies to Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. In the Mediterranean the ENP addresses all of the non-EU members of the "European Mediterranean Partnership" the so-called "Barcelona Process" (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia). The European Commission suggests that the geographic scope of the ENP also be extended to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. If you would like to know more about the topic "EU Enlargement", we recommend you to take a look at the official EU homepage: Scope of function "Enlargement"... Scope of function "European Neighbourthood Policy"...