Lorenzo Macchi
Research expert covering society, economy, and politics for Italy
EU Enlargement - statistics & facts
Since its founding in 1957, the European Union has grown in size from six member states to 27 today, with the main waves of enlargement being in 1973, 1981-1986, 1995, and 2004-2013. As of 2025, nine countries have been granted candidate status and are undertaking accession talks. The future expansion of the Union is one of the most controversial topics in European policy today, with the European Commission seeing the integration of the remaining countries of south-eastern Europe into the bloc as an imperative to secure peace and stability on the continent, while euroskeptics are critical of this process, highlighting political instability and democratic backsliding in many candidate countries, that have sometimes led to the suspension of accession talks.
The negotiation process ensures that a candidate country has made sufficient efforts to converge towards the EU standards in terms of economy, politics, and the rule of law. After a country has satisfied the EU requirements, an accession treaty is then drafted and must be approved by the European Council and the Parliament before it is signed by the parties. After successful ratification, the country then becomes a full member.
Although EU institutions have proposed 2030 as an aspirational date for the next enlargement, candidate countries still need to make significant progress before joining the EU, ensuring a functioning market economy, strengthening the rule of law and securing fair democratic processes.
EU accession process
To join the EU, a country must first submit a membership application to the European Council, which then must be agreed upon by all EU member states before formal accession negotiations may begin. The country then becomes a candidate for membership and must fulfill a number of political, economic, and administrative/institutional conditions, known as the Copenhagen criteria. The public opinion in EU member states also plays a role in the process, with skepticism from many European publics being cited as a key reason for the slow negotiations with Turkey and some Balkan countries.The negotiation process ensures that a candidate country has made sufficient efforts to converge towards the EU standards in terms of economy, politics, and the rule of law. After a country has satisfied the EU requirements, an accession treaty is then drafted and must be approved by the European Council and the Parliament before it is signed by the parties. After successful ratification, the country then becomes a full member.
Candidate countries: developments and difficulties
As of 2025, the official candidates for future EU membership are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine. In addition, Kosovo has been recognized as a potential future member, but its sovereignty is contested by Serbia, and is not recognized by Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Spain, and Slovakia. Negotiations between the EU and Turkey have been suspended since 2018, mainly due to concerns with human rights and the rule of law in the country. However, dialogues on matters like health, migration, and trade resumed in 2024. Similarly, accession talks with Georgia came to a halt following the controversial legislation on foreign influence passed by the national government. As a reaction to Russia’s aggression, Ukraine was granted candidate status in 2023, but concrete developments seem possible only after the resolution of the conflict. Despite these tensions, public opinion in candidate countries largely support EU membership. Conversely, Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland repeatedly rejected membership, and the UK left the bloc in 2020.Although EU institutions have proposed 2030 as an aspirational date for the next enlargement, candidate countries still need to make significant progress before joining the EU, ensuring a functioning market economy, strengthening the rule of law and securing fair democratic processes.
