Enlargement
The enlargement of the European Union is a key instrument for promoting peace, stability, prosperity, and security in Europe. Italy supports the accession of new countries to the European Union on the basis of merit and on an equal footing for all candidates. In this regard, Italy pursues a strategy to prepare candidates for EU membership based on three pillars:
- “Gradual integration,” meaning early access to the internal market and EU policies, with concrete benefits for our citizens and business opportunities for our companies.
- Simplification of the accession process, to ensure that the ambition of enlarging the European Union goes hand in hand with the need to simplify the procedures governing the accession process.
- Strategic communication, to disseminate to the public in EU Member States and candidate countries the added value of EU membership in terms of strengthening our competitiveness, safeguarding our security, and increasing our ability to address global challenges in an increasingly competitive world.
For years, Italy has been a European leader in the EU Twinning and TAIEX instruments, which are at the heart of the enlargement process as the main facilitators of accession negotiations. Through these instruments, Italy promotes the strengthening of candidate countries’ administrative abilities “on the ground,” thus providing a particularly valuable and useful contribution to the process of transposing the acquis communautaire and aligning with EU standards.
Accession Negotiations – Procedures to Follow
Each candidate country is required to fully align with EU rules and standards (so-called European Union acquis) through a process of reform. To facilitate this process, the acquis is divided into sectors (so-called “chapters”).
Every year, the European Commission publishes a strategic document (so-called “Enlargement Package”) assessing the candidate countries’ progress and formulating recommendations for each “chapter” of the acquis communautaire. Based on the “Package,” the Member States provide policy direction after discussion in the General Affairs Council and the European Council, while the candidate countries continue their reform process.
When the “alignment” process is completed, the Member States and the candidate country sign and ratify an Accession Treaty. Once all ratification procedures are completed, the European Union acquires a new Member State.