Jan.2,2008.– The European Union (EU) was created by six founding states in 1958 (following the earlier establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952) and has grown to 27 member states. There have been six enlargements, with the largest occurring on May 1, 2004, when 10 states joined. The last two states entered the EU on January 1, 2007: Rumania and Bulgaria.
In addition to the current twenty-seven member states, a number of other European states will join the European Union in the next two decades. Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Turkey are officially candidate countries; Croatia and Turkey are currently in accession negotiations, while negotiations with the Republic of Macedonia are expected to start in 2007.
In order to join the European Union, a state needs to fulfill the economic and political conditions generally known as the Copenhagen criteria (after the Copenhagen summit in June 1993). That basically requires a secular, democratic government, rule of law and corresponding freedoms and institutions. According to the Maastricht's EU Treaty, each current member state and also the European Parliament have to agree to any enlargement.
Under current legislation the EU is limited to 27 members. Ratification of the new Constitution would have allowed for further expansion but French and Dutch citizens rejected the issue. To expand the EU further would have required ratification of the Constitiution by all members or other extensive legislation be adopted.
for an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), which found agreement on the text of the Reform Treaty text in October 2007. EU leaders signed the new treaty at a Special Summit in Lisbon on 13 December 2007. Ratification would come in time for the 2009 European elections. The new Reform Treaty has some significant differences from the original EU Constitution. Most strikingly, the Treaty will allow Britain to choose whether to take part in EU co-operation on policing and criminal justice. It contains a Britain-specific, legally binding protocol on the Charter of Fundamental Rights. In addition, it keeps foreign and defence policy in a separate treaty and contains new language excluding the jurisdiction of the European Counrt of Justice. It also gives national parliaments new powers to scrutinize draft EU laws and force their review. And, for the first time ever, the Treaty will state that national security is the sole responsibility of national governments.
[Read A Comparative Text of both documents here (PDF format)]
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