Bulgaria and Romania comprise the second part of the EU's fifth enlargement, and joined the EU on 1 January 2007. This date was agreed upon at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003, confirmed at Brussels on 18 June 2004, and affirmed by the country reports of October 2004 and the final report delivered on 26 September 2006. Bulgaria and Romania signed their Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005 at a ceremony held at Neumünster Abbey in Luxembourg.
List
| Flag | CoA | Common name | Official name | Accession | Population | Area (km²) | Capital | Special territories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Republic of Austria | Vienna | ||||||
| Belgium | Kingdom of Belgium | Brussels | ||||||
| Bulgaria | Republic of Bulgaria | Sofia | ||||||
| Cyprus | Republic of Cyprus | Nicosia | 3 excluded | |||||
| Czech Republic | Czech Republic | Prague | ||||||
| Denmark | Kingdom of Denmark | Copenhagen | 2 excluded | |||||
| Estonia | Republic of Estonia | Tallinn | ||||||
| Finland | Republic of Finland | Helsinki | | |||||
| France | French Republic | Paris | 8 excluded | |||||
| Germany | Federal Republic of Germany | Berlin | ||||||
| Greece | Hellenic Republic | Athens | ||||||
| Hungary | Republic of Hungary | Budapest | ||||||
| Ireland | Dublin | |||||||
| Italy | Italian Republic | Rome | ||||||
| Latvia | Republic of Latvia | Riga | ||||||
| Lithuania | Republic of Lithuania | Vilnius | ||||||
| Luxembourg | Grand Duchy of Luxembourg | Luxembourg | ||||||
| Malta | Republic of Malta | Valletta | ||||||
| Netherlands | Kingdom of the Netherlands | Amsterdam | 2 excluded | |||||
| Poland | Republic of Poland | Warsaw | ||||||
| Portugal | Portuguese Republic | Lisbon | ||||||
| Romania | Romania | Bucharest | ||||||
| Slovakia | Slovak Republic | Bratislava | ||||||
| Slovenia | Republic of Slovenia | Ljubljana | ||||||
| Spain | Kingdom of Spain | Madrid | ||||||
| Sweden | Kingdom of Sweden | Stockholm | ||||||
| United Kingdom | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | London | 15 excluded | |||||
| – | EU-27 | European Union total | – | – |
Notes
Enlargement
Enlargement has been a principal feature of the Union's political landscape. The Union was founded by the "Inner Six", those countries willing to forge ahead with the Community while others remained sceptical. It was but a decade before the first countries changed their policy and attempted to join the Union, which led to the first scepticism of enlargement. French President Charles de Gaulle feared British membership would be an American Trojan horse and vetoed its application. Only after de Gaulle left office did Britian's third application succeed.
Applying with Britain were Ireland, Denmark and Norway. Norway however saw the first rejection of membership, with the electorate voting against it leaving just Ireland and Denmark joining along side the UK. But despite the setbacks, and the withdrawal of Greenland from Denmark's membership in 1985, three more countries would join the Communities before the end of the Cold War. In 1987, the geographical extent of the project was tested when Morocco applied, and was rejected as it was not considered a European country.
1989 saw the Cold War drawing to a close, and East Germany was welcomed into the Community as part of a reunited Germany. Shortly after the previously neutral countries of Austria, Finland and Sweden acceded to the new European Union, though Switzerland, which applied in 2002, froze its application due to opposition from voters while Norway, which had applied once more, had its voters reject membership again.) Meanwhile, the members of the former Eastern bloc and Yugoslavia were all starting to move towards EU membership. 10 of these joined in a "big bang" enlargement on 1 May 2004 symbolising the unification of East and Western Europe in the EU.
2007 saw the latest members, Bulgaria and Romania, accede to the Union and the EU has prioritised membership for the Western Balkans. Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey are all formal, acknowledged candidates. Turkey, which applied in the 1980s, is a more contentious issue but entered negotiations in 2004 (see Accession of Turkey to the European Union). There are at present no plans to cease enlargement; according to the Copenhagen criteria, membership of the European Union is open to any European country that is a stable, free market liberal democracy that respects the rule of law and human rights. Furthermore, it has to be willing to accept all the obligations of membership such as adopting all previously agreed law and joining the euro.
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There are a number of countries with strong links with the EU, similar to elements of membership. Following Norway's failure to join the EU, it became one of the members of the European Economic Area which also includes Iceland and Liechtenstein (all former members have joined the EU and Switzerland rejected membership). The EEA links these countries into the EU's market, extending the four freedoms to these states. In return, they pay a membership fee and have to adopt most areas of EU law (which they do not have direct impact in shaping). The democratic repercussions of this have been described as "fax democracy" (waiting for new laws to be faxed in from Brussels rather than being involved).
A different example is Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has been under international supervision. The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina is an international administrator who has wide ranging powers over Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure the peace agreement is respected. The High Representative is also the EU's representative, and is in practice appointed by the EU. In this role, and since a major ambition of Bosnia and Herzegovina is to join the EU, the country has become a de facto protectorate of the EU. The EU appointed representative has the power to impose legislation and dismiss elected officials and civil servants, meaning the EU has greater direct control over Bosnia and Herzegovina than its own member states. Indeed the state's flag was inspired by the EU's flag.
Representation
Each state has representation in the institutions of the European Union. Full membership gives the government of a member state a seat in the Council of the European Union and European Council. When decisions are not being taken by consensus, votes are weighted so that a country with a greater population has more votes within the Council than a smaller country (although not exact, smaller countries have more votes than their population would allow relative to the largest countries).Similarly, each state is assigned seats in Parliament according to their population. However, members of the European Parliament have been elected by universal suffrage since 1979 (before which they were seconded from national parliaments), rather than being appointed by governments. Governments do however appoint one member each to the European Commission (in accord with its president), the European Court of Justice (in accord with other members) and the Court of Auditors.
Historically, larger member states were granted an extra Commissioner. However, as the body grew, this right has been removed and each state is represented equally. Yet the largest states are granted an Advocates General in the Court of Justice. Finally, the governing of the European Central Bank is made up of the governors of each national central bank (who may or may not be government appointed).
The larger states traditionally carry more weight in negotiations, however smaller states can be effective impartial mediators and citizens of smaller states are often appointed to sensitive top posts to avoid competition between the larger states.
Sovereignty
The founding treaties state that all member states are indivisibly sovereign and of equal value. However the EU does follow a supranational system (similar to federalism) in European Community matters, in that combined sovereignty is delegated by each member to the institutions in return for representation within those institutions. Those institutions are then empowered to make laws and execute them at a European level. If a state fails to comply with the law of the European Union, it may be fined or have funds withdrawn. In extreme cases, there are provisions for the voting rights or membership of a state to be suspended. On issues outside the European Community (foreign policy, police and courts) less sovereignty is transferred, with issues being dealt with by consensus and cooperation.However, as sovereignty still originates from the national level, it may be withdrawn by a member state who wishes to leave. Hence, if a law is agreed that is not to the liking of a state, it may withdraw from the EU to avoid it. This however has not happened as the benefits of membership are often seen to outweigh any negative impact of certain laws. Furthermore, in realpolitik, concessions and political pressure may lead to a state accepting something not in their interests in order to improve relations and hence strengthen their position on other issues.
See also
- Countries bordering the European Union
- Special Member State territories
- List of Member States of the European Union in the official languages
References
External links
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Last updated on Sunday September 28, 2008 at 05:47:26 PDT (GMT -0700)
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