The European Union (EU) has not seen an enlargement for almost thirteen years, when Croatia became the 28th.e Member State. Since then, she has even lost the United Kingdom. Its next expansion could be towards the east.
How was the EU born?
Another organization preceded the European Union: the European Economic Community (EEC). When it was created in 1957, this supranational organization focused on economic integration brought together six members: Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
In 1973, the EEC expanded to include Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom, whose membership had been rejected due to the opposition of Charles de Gaulle. The French president rewinded to 2003 The Guardian, “had other ideas in mind. The EEC worked very well for France and he did not want that [Londres] comes to sow trouble by calling into question [ses politiques]by competing with French leadership or by blurring political boundaries [de la CEE]†by its alignment with the United States.
The EEC then integrated Greece in 1981, then Spain and Portugal in 1986. These countries have in common that they are in a phase of democratic transition, after the fall of the dictatorship.
Signed in 1992, the Maastricht Treaty enters into force on 1er November 1993. It was the birth certificate of the EU, which then had twelve members, in the west and south of the continent.
Comment l’UE s’est-elle élargieÂ?
Accession is a long process, which requires being granted candidate status before starting negotiations, recalls the EU on its site devoted to European law. The candidate must respect the Treaty on European Union (TEU) as well as the Copenhagen criteria, and its membership must be unanimously approved by the Council of the EU.
Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU on 1isJanuary 1995. We then had to wait until 2004 for the largest enlargement of the Union: the 1isIn May, it increased from 15 to 25 members with the accession of Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. An event all the more important as “eight of the countries that have joined […] were fifteen years previously on the other side of the Iron Curtain, in the communist bloc… underlined in 2014 the Croatian newspaper Morning paper.
The Treaty of Luxembourg then confirms the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, on 1isJanuary 2007. The 1isIn July 2013, the latest enlargement to date, Croatia joined the EU. Between 1993 and 2025, the EU population increased from 365 to 450 million inhabitants.
Who are the candidates for future membership?
The EU plans to continue its eastward enlargement, with a time horizon of 2030 being mentioned. As the agency points out Associated Press, the President of the European Council, António Costa, recalled this by mentioning his “intérêt géostratégique†before the EU-Western Balkans summit organized on June 5 in Montenegro. It will discuss the prospect of accession of the six countries represented: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo – “potential” candidate –, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Two other countries have acquired candidate status in recent years: Moldova and Ukraine. If a rapprochement of the latter with the EU was already at work, the process has accelerated since the war launched by Russia in 2022. On the other hand, it is on hold for Turkey, although recognized as a candidate since 1999. Just as for Georgia, whose Prime Minister has announced the suspension of the accession process in 2024.
Given Donald Trump’s desires on the Arctic, Iceland is also considering reopening discussions on membership, which it had interrupted in 2013. Its Parliament approved the organization of a referendum on the question, which must be held on August 29, reports Iceland Monitor. The geopolitical context has also relaunched the debate in Norway.
A return of the United Kingdom, which left the EU at the beginning of 2020 following the 2016 referendum on Brexit, is also being discussed across the Channel, but would encounter numerous obstacles.
