Criteria of Copenhagen

The criteria of Copenhagen form a whole of conditions for the accession with the European Union of applicant country. These criteria were formulated by the European Council at the time of the top of Copenhagen in June 1993 to specify the conditions according to which the “countries associated with the Europe Central and Eastern which wish it will be able to become members of the European Union”. The modifying Traité of 2007 will take again the aforementioned criteria in a sentence inserted in article 49, first subparagraph of the treaty.

Context

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 quickly involved an opening of the old countries of the Communist bloc (Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Slovenia) on the occident. This opening was concretized by the establishment of diplomatic relations between the European Community and the Central European countries and Eastern (PECO). A programme of financial aid to the reform and the economic rebuilding of these countries was set up under the denomination of Programme HEADLIGHT (in the origin intended only for Hungary and Poland). With the beginning of the year 1990, agreements of association called European agreements were signed in order to intensify the economic exchanges. Similar agreements had already been concluded with the Turkey (1963) like Malta (1970) and Cyprus (1972).

Criteria of adhesion

The European Council of Copenhagen specifies that the adhesion of a new country is subjected to prerequisites:

the installation of “stable institutions guaranteeing the rule of law, the democracy, the human rights, the respect of the minorities and their protection”;
“a viable market economy as well as the capacity to face the competing pressure and with the forces of the market inside the Union”;
“capacity (...) to assume the obligations at the EU, and in particular to subscribe to the objectives of the political, economic and monetary union”.

The stating of these criteria (to which one refers since under name “criteria of Copenhagen”) seemed an acceptance of principle of the adhesion of PECO to the European Union and laid down the methods of them (and indirectly the calendar).

The community asset

The European Councils according to - in particular that of Madrid in 1995 - stressed that the applicant country must in addition have set up all the structures (in particular legal and administrative) making it possible to transpose in the national right the EU law and to make it apply (cf Community asset).

The follow-up of the criteria

In order to supervise the evolution of country towards these criteria, an annual report, published in the autumn as of 1997 was set up. These reports/ratios are used as a basis for control of the negotiations.

External bonds

communication strategy on the widening of the EU on the site '' europa ''
the widening of the EU on the site '' French life ''

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