Brussels – The EU accession process follows a series of formal stages that involve a candidate country, EU institutions, and Member States.
The EU accession process begins when a country wishing to join the EU formally applies for membership to the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. Membership requires an evaluation of the Copenhagen criteria (established in 1993).
Once the European Commission recommends granting candidate status, the unanimity of the Member States is required for the potential candidate to become an official candidate for EU membership. After that, the European Commission may recommend opening negotiations, which also require the unanimous approval of the Member States.
The European Commission prepares the negotiating strategy, including a varying number of negotiating chapters, and the Council of the European Union unanimously agrees on the negotiating framework or mandate for negotiations with the candidate, who is now a negotiating candidate.
Together with the negotiating candidate, the European Commission carries out a detailed screening process of the 33 chapters of the EU acquis, before negotiations under each chapter can take place in intergovernmental conferences (IGCs).
The whole negotiation process is only concluded definitively once every chapter has been closed. The European Commission gives its opinion on whether the candidate is ready to become a Member State, and the Accession Treaty is prepared.
The Accession Treaty must be approved by the European Commission, the European Council, and the European Parliament. It is then signed by the candidate country and representatives of all EU Member States. Finally, it is ratified by the candidate country and every EU Member State, according to their own constitutional procedures.
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