Brussels – The potential EU enlargement currently includes ten candidate countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye, and Ukraine.
Of the six Western Balkan countries on the path to EU membership, four—Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia—have begun formal accession negotiations. After an eight-year wait, Albania began negotiations in July 2022 alongside North Macedonia, which had waited 17 years. Montenegro and Serbia have been negotiating since 2012 and 2014, respectively.
Six years after applying for EU membership, Bosnia and Herzegovina received candidate status on 15 December 2023. Kosovo’s path is more complex, as five EU Member States—Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Spain, and Slovakia—still do not recognise Kosovo’s sovereignty following its 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia, highlighting an ongoing challenge within EU enlargement efforts.
A significant shift in potential EU enlargement began just days after Russia’s armed invasion, when Ukraine submitted its application for “immediate” EU membership on 28 February 2022. On 3 March, Georgia and Moldova followed suit. On 25 June 2024, Ukraine and Moldova began accession negotiations, while Georgia has been granted candidate status on 14 December 2023.
Türkiye’s EU accession negotiations began in 2005, but have been on hold since 2018 due to concerns over democracy, rule of law, fundamental rights, and judicial independence.
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