Enlargement : extending European values and standards to more countries.
Date: 2015-08-05
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communication
Subjects: European Union, accession to the European Union, democracy, dissemination of EU information, enlargement of the Union, pre-accession aid, pre-accession strategy, public awareness campaign, single market

T H E   E U R O P E A N  
U N I O N  
E X P L A I N E D

Enlargement

Extending 
European 
values and 
standards to 
more countries

T he  E U’s  en lar ge m en t  po li c y m ake s 
Eu r op e  a  s afe r  an d  a  m o re  st abl e 
p lac e;  it   al l ows  u s  t o  g row  str o ng e r 
and   t o  p r o m ot e  o ur  value s,  and 
en ab le s  u s  t o  as su m e o ur   ro le   as   a 
gl o b al  p l ayer   o n  t he  wo rl d  s t age .

CONTENTS

Why the EU is enlarging  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . . 3

How the enlargement  
process works .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . . 5

What EU enlargement achieves  .  .  . 11

Outlook  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 16

Find out more  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 16

The European Union explained: Enlargement

European Commission
Directorate-General for Communication
Citizens information
1049 Brussels
BELGIUM

Manuscript updated in June 2015

Cover and page 2 picture:  
© Digital Vision/Getty Images

16 pp.  — 21 × 29.7 cm 
Print 
PDF 

ISBN 978-92-79-49191-7  doi:10.2775/408622
ISBN 978-92-79-49209-9  doi:10.2775/809205

Luxembourg: Publications Office  
of the European Union, 2015

© European Union, 2015
Reproduction is authorised. For any use or reproduction 
of individual photos, permission must be sought directly 
from the copyright holders.

THE EUROPEAN UNION 
EXPLAINED

This publication is a part of a series that explains  
what the EU does in different policy areas,  
why the EU is involved and what the results are. 

You can find the publications online:
http://europa.eu/pol/index_en.htm
http://europa.eu/!bY34KD

How the EU works
Europe in 12 lessons 
Europe 2020: Europe’s growth strategy
The founding fathers of the EU

Agriculture
Banking and finance 
Borders and security 
Budget
Climate action
Competition
Consumers
Culture and audiovisual
Customs
Digital agenda 
Economic and monetary union and the euro
Education, training, youth and sport 
Employment and social affairs
Energy

Enlargement

Enterprise
Environment
Fight against fraud
Food safety
Foreign affairs and security policy
Humanitarian aid and civil protection 
Internal market
International cooperation and development
Justice, fundamental rights and equality 
Maritime affairs and fisheries 
Migration and asylum
Public health
Regional policy
Research and innovation
Taxation
Trade
Transport

3

Why the EU is enlarging

The European Union was created in the 1950s to foster 
peace, prosperity and European values on the continent. 
Its purpose is as relevant today as it was then. 

The EU is open to all democratic European countries 
that wish to join. The EU’s enlargement policy 
accompanies this process.

Having grown from six to 28 members, stretching from 
the Atlantic to the Black Sea, the EU has become home 
to over 500 million people. 

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Benefits for all 

Croatia, which became an EU member in 2013, is well-known 
for its ancient coastal cities, such as Split.

Enlargement serves the interests of Member States 
as well as acceding countries. It makes Europe a safer 
and more prosperous place, in particular through its 
promotion of democracy and fundamental freedoms, 
the rule of law and the single market.

The benefits of the single market are considerable: 
economic growth leading to higher living standards, 
safer consumer goods, lower prices and greater choice 
in sectors such as telecommunications, banking and air 
travel, to name but a few. These benefits have been 

enjoyed by an increasing number of people as the EU 
has grown in size.

The EU is above all a community of values. We are a 
family of democratic European countries committed to 
working together for peace and freedom, prosperity and 
social justice. And we defend these values. We seek to 
deepen the solidarity between the peoples of Europe, 
while respecting and preserving our diversity.

Enlargement creates growth 

Economically, enlargement has benefited all EU Member States as it has broken down trade barriers in Europe 
and created a bigger and more prosperous internal market:

GDP of the 12 ‘new’ EU countries that joined in 2004 and 2007 

2004 

2013
billion euro  billion euro
1 026 

577 

+ 77 %

GDP of the 15 ‘old’ EU countries that were members of the EU before 2004 

10 047 

11 999 

+ 19 %

Trade between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ EU countries  

162 

300  + 185 %

Direct investments held by the ‘old’ EU countries in the ‘new’ EU countries ((*) 2012) 

173  

564 (*)   + 326 %

ENLARGEMENT 
 
 
4

Successive enlargements

UNSCR 1244/ ICJ 22.07.2010

Kıbrıs

1952

1973

1981

1986

1995

2004

2007

2013

Candidate countries and potential candidates

The European Economic Community, founded in the 
1950s and now known as the European Union, 
originally had six members: Belgium, Germany, 
France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

In 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom 
became Member States. Greece joined in 1981, and 
Spain and Portugal followed in 1986. Austria, 
Finland and Sweden joined in 1995.

In 2004, in the EU’s biggest-ever enlargement, 
Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, 
Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia 
became Member States. Three years later, in 2007, 
Bulgaria and Romania joined. 

Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013, bringing the 
total number of Member States to 28.

THE EUROPEAN UNION EXPLAINED5

How the enlargement process works

In the 1950s, leaders of six countries, still recovering 
from the ravages of war, started what we today call the 
European Union. 

1 . political: stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, 
the rule of law, human rights and respect for and 
protection of minorities; 

It was an unprecedented step, one that required much 
courage and vision: countries that had fought each 
other for centuries agreed to act together on essential 
questions concerning their common future.

They also agreed to transfer some of their powers to 
a new level, to what we now simply refer to as the 
European Union.

The EU has been a historic success. It has brought the 
longest period of peace and an unparalleled level of 
prosperity to its peoples. What began as a club of six 
now encompasses 28 countries with a population of 
more than 500 million. The founding fathers had an 
inclusive vision of Europe, leaving the door open for 
other democratic European countries to join. Helping 
countries that have the vocation to become members 
has been a constant task of the EU in the past five 
decades, promoting economic growth and solidarity 
and supporting democratic forces in countries emerging 
from dictatorship.

Who can join? 

Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union states 
that any European country may apply for membership 
if it respects the democratic values of the EU and is 
committed to promoting them.

A country can only become a member if it fulfils the 
criteria and conditions for accession as defined by the 
EU leaders at their summit in Copenhagen in 1993, and 
by a number of subsequent EU decisions. The so-called 
Copenhagen criteria are:

2 . economic: a functioning market economy and the 
capacity to cope with competition and market forces in 
the EU;

3 . the ability to take on the obligations of 
membership, including adherence to the aims of 
political, economic and monetary union. 

In addition, the EU must be able to integrate new 
members, so it reserves the right to decide when it is 
ready to accept them.

For the western Balkans, the membership candidates 
must also engage in regional cooperation and good 
relations with neighbouring countries (the so-called 
‘Stabilisation and association process conditionality’).

Article 2, Treaty on European Union

The Union is founded on the values of respect for 
human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the 
rule of law and respect for human rights, including 
the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These 
values are common to the Member States …

Article 49, Treaty on European Union

Any European State which respects the values 
referred to in Article 2 and is committed to 
promoting them may apply to become a member of 
the Union.

ENLARGEMENT6

Who decides? 

New members are admitted with the unanimous 
consent of the EU Member States. 

When a country applies to join the EU, the Member 
States’ governments, represented in the Council, first 
decide whether or not to accept the application. The 
Member States then decide, on the basis of an opinion 
from the European Commission, whether to grant 
candidate status to the applicant as well as to open 
accession negotiations. Similarly, the Member States 

Where do we stand?

decide when and on what terms to open and to close 
negotiations with the candidate on each policy area, in 
the light of recommendations from the Commission.

When accession negotiations have been satisfactorily 
completed, an accession treaty is drafted and signed 
by the Member States and the candidate concerned. 
The European Parliament, whose members are elected 
directly by the EU’s citizens, also has to give its consent. 
The treaty then has to be ratified by all the Member 
States and the acceding country, in accordance with 
their constitutionally established procedures. 

The European Union enlargement agenda covers the 
western Balkans and Turkey. All EU Member States 
have confirmed that these countries have a 
‘European perspective’. It means that they might join 
the EU if they fulfil all the necessary conditions. 
They are at different stages in the process. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are potential 
candidates. 

Iceland applied for membership in 2009, but 
negotiations were put on hold in 2013 at the request 
of the country itself.

Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of 
Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey are 
candidate countries. Accession negotiations are 
ongoing with Montenegro, 
Serbia and Turkey. The 
Commission has also 
recommended the opening of 
accession negotiations with 
the former Yugoslav 
Republic of Macedonia. 

1.  Bosnia and Herzegovina
2.  Serbia
3.  Kosovo 
4.  Montenegro
5.  Albania 
6.  The former Yugoslav 

Republic of Macedonia

7.  Turkey 

1

2
3344

66

55

77

THE EUROPEAN UNION EXPLAINED 
Countries in figures 

Candidate and 
potential candidate 
countries

Albania

Bosnia and 
Herzegovina

The former  
Yugoslav Republic  
of Macedonia

Kosovo (*) 

Montenegro 

Serbia 

Turkey

The 28 EU 
countries together

Area
(1 000 km)

Population
(million)

Per capita
gross domestic 
product (PPS (1))

27

51

25

11

13

77

770

4 290

2.9

3.8

2.1

1.8

0.6

7.1

76.7

508

7 800

7 800 

10 000

10 600 

9 500 

14 400 

25 700

Figures are for 2014. Source: Eurostat. 

(*) This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with 
UNSCR 1 244 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.  
(1) Gross domestic product is the total value of all goods and services produced 
within a country in a year. It is often used to express wealth. PPS, or purchasing 
power standard, is a unit representing an identical volume of goods and services 
in each country, irrespective of price levels. 

To ensure that enlargement brings maximum benefits to 
both the EU and the countries in the process of joining 
it, the accession process needs to be carefully managed. 
Candidates have to demonstrate that they will be able 
to fully play their part as members — something that 
requires support from their citizens, as well as political 
and technical compliance with the EU’s standards and 
norms. Throughout the process, the EU sets conditions for 
the countries to move from one stage to the next. 

7

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Albania uses hydropower to generate 90 % of its electricity. A 
new hydropower plant project on the Devoll River in southern 
Albania will increase the country’s electricity output by 17 % 
and provide power to 300 000 Albanian households.

depends on the candidate’s progress in meeting 
the requirements. Candidates consequently have 
an incentive to implement the necessary reforms 
rapidly and effectively. Some of these reforms require 
considerable and sometimes difficult transformations 
of a country’s political and economic structures. It 
is therefore important that governments clearly and 
convincingly communicate the reasons for these 
reforms to their citizens. Support from civil society is 
essential in this process. 

The opening of accession negotiations is decided on by 
the European Council upon a recommendation of the 
Commission, once the candidate country sufficiently 
meets the Copenhagen political criteria and possible 
other conditions.

Accession negotiations 

Screening 

Accession negotiations concern the candidate’s ability to 
take on the obligations of membership. They focus on 
the conditions and timing of the candidate’s adoption, 
implementation and application of the existing EU 
laws and rules — amounting to some 100 000 pages. 
The rules as such (also known as the acquis, French 
for ‘that which has been adopted’) are not negotiable. 
Negotiations are essentially a matter of agreeing on 
how and when the candidate will adopt and effectively 
implement EU rules and procedures. 

Negotiations are conducted between the EU Member 
States and the candidate country; their pace mostly 

To facilitate the negotiations, the whole body of EU law 
is divided into chapters, each corresponding to a policy 
area. The first step in negotiations is called screening; 
its purpose is to explain the acquis to the candidate and 
to identify areas in need of alignment in its legislation, 
institutions or practices.

As a basis for launching the negotiation process, the 
Commission establishes a screening report for each 
chapter. These reports are submitted to the Council. The 
Commission makes a recommendation on whether to 
open negotiations on a chapter, or require that certain 
conditions (or benchmarks) be met first.

ENLARGEMENT 
8

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Kosovo is home to the youngest population in Europe with a 
median age of around 27 years.

Once the Member States decide, on the basis of a 
Commission assessment, that the opening benchmarks 
are met, the candidate country submits a negotiating 
position. The Council then adopts an EU common 
position based again on a Commission proposal 
allowing the opening of the negotiations on the chapter. 
The EU common position also includes the conditions 
(benchmarks) for closing the chapter.

When the closing benchmarks have been met, the 
Member States adopt a new common position (always 
on the basis of Commission drafts) that concludes that 
the chapter can be closed — but only provisionally. EU 
accession negotiations operate on the principle that 
‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’, so the 
definitive closure of chapters occurs only at the end of 
the entire negotiating process.

Reporting and monitoring

The Commission keeps the European Parliament and 
the Council informed about the aspiring countries’ 
progress, through annual strategy papers and 
individual country progress reports. It also monitors 
the respect by the candidate of the commitments it has 
undertaken during the negotiations. 

Monitoring continues until accession. This makes 
it possible to give additional guidance as countries 
assume the responsibilities of membership, and also 
guarantees to the current Member States that new 
entrants meet the conditions for accession.

Accession treaty

When negotiations on all the chapters have been 
completed to the satisfaction of both sides, the 
results are incorporated into a draft accession treaty. 
The Commission is then consulted and the European 
Parliament has to give its consent. The treaty is then 
signed and ratified by the candidate country and all the 
Member States

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Lake Ohrid, located on the 
border between the former 
Yugoslav Republic of 
Macedonia and Albania, is 
the oldest lake in Europe. It 
is home to a great number of 
species of plants and 
animals that cannot be 
found anywhere else.

THE EUROPEAN UNION EXPLAINED 
 
9

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The Sarajevo Film Festival 
(in Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
is the largest film festival in 
south-east Europe and one 
of the largest in Europe.

From signing the accession treaty to 
accession

Once the accession treaty has been signed, the 
acceding state is entitled to certain provisional 
privileges. It acquires ‘active observer status’ in most 
EU bodies and agencies, where it is entitled to speak, 
but not to vote; it can comment on draft EU proposals, 
communications, recommendations or initiatives. Once 
the ratification process is complete, the accession 
treaty enters into force on its scheduled date, and the 
acceding state becomes an EU Member State.

Helping future members prepare 

To help the countries prepare for future membership, 
the EU has a pre-accession strategy. Key elements 
of this strategy are the association agreements 
(stabilisation and association agreements in the case 
of the western Balkans), EU financial assistance and 
participation in EU programmes.

The EU assists the enlargement countries to become 
competitive market economies. As part of that, the EU 
supports economic reforms. Enlargement countries need 
to carry out significant reforms to ensure that EU rules 
are adopted, but also properly implemented. They may 
also have to set up new bodies, such as an independent 
competition authority or a food standards agency. 
Or they may need to restructure existing institutions: 
demilitarising the police, upgrading environmental 
watchdogs or giving prosecutors more autonomy in 
combating corruption.

These reforms imply major investments in both 
know-how and funds. The EU offers a wide range of 
programmes and mechanisms to provide financial 
and technical assistance in carrying out these 
reforms. Aware of the challenges that reforms can 
present to citizens in the countries concerned, the EU 
also promotes public understanding of the accession 
process. This is done, for instance, through dialogues 
with civil society, such as trade unions, consumer 
associations and other non-governmental organisations.

The enlargement countries’ contractual framework for 
relations with the EU is established through association 
agreements. For example, Turkey’s formal links with 
the EU are enshrined in an association agreement 
signed in 1963 (the Ankara Agreement) and extended 
to a customs union in 1995. For the countries of the 
western Balkans, a special process, the stabilisation and 
association process (SAP), was established in 1999. 

An important aspect of the EU’s assistance is 
strengthening the ‘institutional capacity’. This 
essentially means ensuring that the public sector in the 
aspiring country knows in practice how to work with EU 
matters — and to work effectively and democratically 
in general. The EU helps by developing the structures 
or training the staff responsible for applying EU rules. 
Advice on implementing the acquis is often provided. 

ENLARGEMENT 
10

via ‘twinning’ arrangements, in which experts are 
seconded from EU Member States, or by means of short 
workshops.

Preparing countries for membership also means helping 
them to upgrade their infrastructure, such as building 
solid-waste disposal plants or improving transport 
networks by means of a combination of EU grants and 
loans from international financial institutions. 

Enlargement countries are allowed to participate in EU 
programmes, for example, in the areas of public health, 
research or education. This experience allows them to 
learn how to handle the kind of funding they will be 
entitled to after accession, also helping to familiarise 
them with EU policies and instruments.

EU support

EU financial assistance helps the countries to build 
their capacity to adopt and implement European 
standards. From 1991 to 2011 the EU provided over 
€16 billion in assistance to the western Balkans, some 
of the highest per capita assistance in the world. Since 
2007, candidate countries and potential candidates 
have been receiving EU funding and support through 
the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, or IPA. 
The EU and national authorities of the countries in 
question decide on the areas where the funds should be 
invested. 

IPA-supported projects aim to strengthen democratic 
institutions and the rule of law, reform public 
administration, support economic reforms, promote 
respect for human as well as minority rights and gender 
equality, support the development of civil society 
and advance regional cooperation, and contribute to 
sustainable development and poverty reduction. IPA 
funding thus supports the adoption and implementation 
of the requirements for membership.

The total pre-accession funding for the period 2014–20 
is expected to be about €11.7 billion, with precise 
allocations decided year by year.

Pre-accession assistance from the EU in 
2013, million € 

Albania

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Croatia

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Kosovo

Montenegro

Serbia

Turkey

Multi-beneficiary programme

95.3

108.8

93.5

113.2

71.4

34.5

208.3

902.9

177.2

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The Tara River canyon, located in northern Montenegro, is the longest in Europe. 

THE EUROPEAN UNION EXPLAINED 
11

What EU enlargement achieves

The EU delivers considerable economic and social 
benefits for both ‘old’ and ‘new’ Member States. 

The ‘new’ countries have generally had higher economic 
growth than the ‘old’ ones. This enabled them to move 
from a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita that 
was 40 % of the 15 ‘old’ countries in 1999 to 60 % in 
2012.

Economic growth in the 'new' Member States was about 
4 % a year over a long period of time. It is estimated 
that this had the effect of adding 0.5 % growth per 
year to the ‘old’ Member States, because they profited 
from increased trade with the new countries and from 
investing in companies in these countries. 

Whilst the free movement of people is controversial 
in some countries, the GDP in the ‘old’ EU countries is 
estimated to have increased by almost 1 % in the long 
term as the result of post-enlargement mobility. Mobile 
EU workers pay more in taxes than they claim in social 
benefits. There is no evidence that ‘benefit tourism’ is 
widespread or systemic. The EU does not harmonise 
national security or social assistance schemes, so that 
each EU country can freely decide which benefits it 
grants, to whom, under what conditions and for how 
long. 

In addition to increased prosperity, the enlargement 
process also promoted stability, security and the rule of 
law to those countries joining the EU. 

Enlargement policy played a very important role 
in transforming those former communist countries 
that have joined the EU since 2004 into states with 
functioning market economies and democratic political 
institutions. This process was the fulfilment of a 
pledge made by the EU at the end of the Cold War 
to the former communist countries of central and 
eastern Europe. The guidance provided by the European 
Commission and other institutions, as well as the 
institutional and legal know-how offered by the existing 
Member States, helped these countries to undergo one 
of the most rapid modernisation processes in history.

‘NEW’ EU COUNTRIES CATCH UP IN WEALTH 

70

60

50

40

40 %

1999

60 %

52 %

2008

2012

GDP per capita in the 12 ‘new’ countries that joined the EU in 2004 
and 2007 as share of the GDP per capita in the 15 ‘old’ countries that 
were members of the EU before 2004.

Free movement of persons
The free movement of goods, services, capital and 
persons is a basic principle of the EU. This means 
that all EU citizens have the right to work in other 
EU countries. They can live in other EU countries 
when they have a job or have enough money to 
take care of themselves. At the same time, in a 
recent case of a Romanian woman who moved to 
Germany for the sole purpose of claiming social 
benefits, the Court of Justice of the European Union 
made it clear that the free movement of persons 
does not include benefit tourism. It concluded that 
she was not entitled to these German benefits 
(‘Elisabeta Dano against Jobcenter Leipzig’, 
November 2014).

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ENLARGEMENT 
 
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Growing organically — from lower Austria to the Czech Republic

Johannes Gutmann is the founder and director of ‘Sonnentor’, an organic herb, tea and spice company in 
Austria. The company grows and collects products from over 150 organic farmers, packaging and selling them 
under one logo. Sonnentor has a strict policy with regard to sustainable regional development and supports 
small rural holdings which have a long tradition in the Waldviertel district of lower Austria. 

Johannes Gutmann: ‘The 2004 EU enlargement was a milestone in our development. We had already had a 
subsidiary in the Czech Republic since 1992, but with border restrictions gone, both companies could grow much 
faster. Over the past 10 years, the number of employees has risen from 45 to 225 here in Austria and from 20 
to 85 in the Czech Republic.’ Since 2004 Sonnentor has been able to export to all new EU Member States and 
buy a lot from them as well. Mr Gutmann further commented: ‘Relations have really developed over time and 
enlargement has very much contributed to a better mutual understanding, trust and appreciation.’

Business changes that sit well with a Latvian manufacturer 

Normunds Bremers is the director of ‘Wenden Furniture’, a company based in Jaunpiebalga, a small village in 
Latvia. The company was founded in 2005, shortly after Latvia joined the European Union. Wenden Furniture 
mainly produces chairs made of wood, and has reached a capacity of over 10 000 chairs a month. The 
company strives to expand and develop the range of products to cater to different customers in different 
countries.

Normunds Bremers: ‘Joining the EU has had many benefits, not only for me personally, but also for the 
company. We export 98 % of our products, mainly to other European countries. Now that we are a part of the 
EU, we have less bureaucracy and don’t have to fill in as many documents, but can instead concentrate on our 
work. It also means that our products reach our customers much more quickly and easily. Business partners and 
investors see us as a reliable partner, with whom it’s safe to work. Due to the fact that we are in the European 
Union, business development is sustainable. Latvia might be a small country, but together with others in the EU 
it offers many opportunities. The EU guarantees stability and development.’

You can find out more about some of the people you have met 
on these pages by watching these videos.

THE EUROPEAN UNION EXPLAINED 
 
13

Collaborating today for cleaner energy tomorrow 

At Sabanci University, graduate students and staff are currently researching cleaner ways of using coal. This 
entails decreasing the levels of sulphur dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by removing the sulphur content of 
coal before combustion. Researchers are combining genetic engineering methods with microbial desulfurisation 
to improve the organic sulphur removal from Turkish and Bulgarian coal. The Bulgarian Academy of Science 
also participated in the earlier phase of the research. The new process produces coal that is more 
environmentally friendly and cheaper than the chemical and physical desulfurisation.

Professor Yuda Yurum from Sabanci University and Dr Gizem Dinler Doğanay of Istanbul Technical University 
commented: ‘The research is still at the laboratory stage and is currently being tested. The next step will be the 
pilot phase. The Bulgarian team, led by Professor Stefan Marinov, worked on two projects that have been 
integrated into the study. It has been a fruitful collaboration and we hope to work with them again in the 
future.’

Breakthroughs in this area could help the EU make its coal consumption cleaner, especially now as this fuel is 
seeing a resurgence in use in some EU countries.  

A Serbian start-up with a bright idea 

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‘Strawberry Energy’ is a start-up from Belgrade that 
has developed a unique global technological 
innovation — a portable mini solar charger called 
the ‘Strawberry Tree Mini’. Converting pure solar 
power into electrical energy, this innovative product 
can be used to charge small portable devices on the 
go, such as mobile phones, cameras and MP3 
players. 

Strawberry Energy is one of many new enterprises 
supported by the Innovation Serbia Project (funded 
through the EU’s Instrument for Pre-accession 
Assistance), which aims to stimulate innovation by 
funding early-stage, private, micro and small 
enterprises. The team of young entrepreneurs is 
currently looking to expand in the EU, stating: ‘We 
truly believe that unlimited mobility of ideas, 
knowledge and people are essential for everyday 
processes. Not only can we gain new ideas, but we 
also feel that we have so much to offer to people 
across the European Union.’ The first Strawberry 
Tree to be constructed in the European Union will be 
installed in front of the European Parliament in 
Brussels.

A Serbian start-up company has produced a portable solar 
energy charger.

ENLARGEMENT 
14

From a small farm to an online business with EU support 

When Poland joined the European Union in 2004, many feared that small and medium-sized family farms 
would be crushed by global competition. They are still standing firm, however, and probably more so than ever. 
Tomasz Obszański has a farm of 21 hectares which is located in Tarnogród, close to the Ukrainian border. 

Tomasz explains his journey since Poland became a member of the EU. ‘I wasn’t sure, in fact, if it would have a 
real effect on my daily life or not,’ he says. ‘After a few months, however, I began to appreciate that Poland’s 
membership was a positive thing for me, especially when I realised I was eligible for funds to help develop my 
farm.’

Tomasz wisely used these funds to turn his farm into a flourishing enterprise. He participated in an EU 
programme in 2010 which allowed him to set up a new company to grow organic grain and produce high 
quality organic oils.

‘Thanks to this fund I bought a grain press to produce organic oil in line with the European standards on organic 
agriculture,’ he explains. ‘This made me stronger and ready to rise up to the challenge of an open economy.’ 
With sales steadily rising, he now sells his products from a local organic food shop to regional fairs, markets, 
pharmacies and over the Internet. 

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The EU is Turkey’s number one import and export partner while Turkey ranks 7th in the EU’s top import and 5th in export 
markets.

THE EUROPEAN UNION EXPLAINED 
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The EU helps to fight crime 
in the Balkans. 

Prosecutors in partnership: fighting organised crime and corruption 

Organised crime is a worldwide problem: to tackle it, strong international cooperation is required. In the western 
Balkans, countries need to build the appropriate structures and experience to investigate and prosecute complex 
criminal groups in an international context.

The EU helps with projects where prosecutors from EU Member States are seconded to the region in order to 
provide their counterparts with ongoing advisory services. ‘International criminal gangs have efficient, well-
organised and adaptable processes with strong cross-border networks and are able to transmit information very 
quickly. In general, we are always one step behind the criminals, but with well-functioning and strong networks 
we can minimise this gap,’ says a representative of Austria’s Criminal Intelligence Service.

The impact of the project was felt across the western Balkans in April 2013 when special police forces from 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia carried out operation ‘Šetač’ (‘the walker’). The operation hit hard 
the structures of a drug mafia operating in these countries. Dozens of suspects were successfully apprehended 
and a large quantity of weapons and explosives were seized.

This project will not only benefit the prosecutors in the western Balkans — it will ultimately protect citizens who 
have been affected by organised crime anywhere. 

ENLARGEMENT 
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5
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6
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E
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16

Outlook 

U
E
©

Successive enlargements have played a crucial role 
in safeguarding democracy and bringing stability to 
the European continent. This was highlighted in the 
reasons cited for the awarding of the 2012 Nobel Peace 
Prize to the EU. Today, the policy continues to have a 
stabilising effect in the western Balkans, and it is an 
anchor for democratic reforms in Turkey. This political 
transformation brings about real change on the ground. 
Croatia’s accession is the best example: torn by conflict 
only two decades ago, the country is now a stable 
democracy, capable of taking on the obligations of EU 
membership and of adhering to EU standards.

Of course, EU accession is not automatic: the process 
is based on strict conditionality, with each step forward 
based on real progress achieved on the ground and 
agreed by all the actors. This is to ensure that a 
candidate country is fully prepared for membership 
before it is able to join. EU-related reforms are not 
limited to the aligning of local laws to EU standards. 
Respect for the rule of law, democratic principles and 
human rights remain the focal point of the enlargement 
process. 

Serbia has grown into one of the premier investment locations 
in central and eastern Europe. Nearly 90 % of investments by 
foreign companies in Serbia are made by European 
companies.

Find out more

 X The European Commission’s website on enlargement:  http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/
 X Questions about the European Union? Europe Direct can help: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 

http://europedirect.europa.eu

THE EUROPEAN UNION EXPLAINED