The European Union's enlargement process

Abstract

[Conclusion]: .....one must bear in mind that enlargement is an open process. Its obvious complexity is commensurate with the historical impact that it carries with it, as determining factor for the future of our Continent and for the role that the EU has to play in the international sphere. Turkey is already enjoying the recognized statute of candidate country and the benefits of pre-accession facilities. Furthermore, the latest invitations to participate in the European Conference, which is a forum of political dialogue, provide an indicative list of potential and foreseeable candidates. Together with the traditional ones, which are part of the European Free Trade Association, the European Council of Nice included the Balkan countries that is to say, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Albania. More recently, in Gottemburg, Moldavia and the Ukraine were also invited. The process of integration and extension and, ultimately, of strengthening of the EU against the background of globalization, does not seem to end with the fifth enlargement. Other countries of Europe may follow the road of the current 13 candidates, engaging in a process that will one day culminate in the reunion of the Continent as a whole, within a framework of freedom, democracy, human rights, prosperity, justice, stability and security, as common values shared, for the first time, by all Europeans. Show more