In June 1993, the Copenhagen European Council recognised the right of the countries of central and eastern Europe to join the European Union when they have fulfilled three criteria:

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In 1995, it was decided to start negotiations with Cyprus. For the countries of central and eastern Europe, although the applications of the ten countries were given a favourable reception at the Luxembourg European Council (December 1997), it was nonetheless decided to proceed in two phases. On 30 March 1998, negotiations began with the six 'first wave' countries (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia). The other countries of central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia), the 'second wave', were allowed to join the 'first wave' in February 2000, as it was felt that their reforms had made rapid enough progress

Before negotiations opened, an evaluation of each applicant country's legislation was carried out to set up a work programme and define negotiating positions. After that, the negotiations proper began, in the form of bilateral Intergovernmental Conferences (European Union/applicant country), bringing the ministers together every six months and the ambassadors every month.

The political and economic reforms carried out by the applicant countries are monitored and assessed regularly, and the pace of negotiations is determined by the results. The commission provides up-to-date, comprehensive information on the internet at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/overview.htm

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Agenda 2000 is an action programme adopted by the Commission on 15 July 1997 as an official response to requests by the Madrid European Council in December 1995 that it present a general document on enlargement and the reform of the common policies and a communication on the Union's future financial framework after 31 December 1999. Agenda 2000 tackles all the questions facing the Union at the beginning of the 21st century. Attached to it are the Commission's opinions on the countries that have applied for Union membership. Agenda 2000 is in three parts:

Internet: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/agenda2000/index_en.htm

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Europe's economic and political stability is a magnet for many European countries, which have the right to apply to become members of the European Union (Article 49 of the EU Treaty, formerly Article O). The countries that have applied are:

In December 1997, the Luxembourg European Council decided to open negotiations in 1998 with six countries: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia. These six countries form the 'first wave' of applicant countries. A 'second wave' will be made up of Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Rumania and Slovakia. Opening negotiations with these applicants will depend on their political and economic progress.

After two years during which its application was put on ice (1996 to 1998), Malta has indicated that it intends to return to the negotiating table. A special report by the Commission on the progress made by Malta is due out soon. This will allow a decision to be taken on whether Malta can be included in the first or second wave of applicant countries. As far as Turkey is concerned, the Luxembourg European Council concluded that the political and economic conditions allowing accession negotiations to be envisaged were not yet satisfied, and that the European strategy to prepare Turkey for accession should be continued. A European Conference brings the first- and second-wave applicant countries together every year.

For the record it should be remembered that Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Norway also all applied for membership of the European Union at various times. However, Norway twice rejected accession following referenda in 1972 and 1994, while the applications by Switzerland and Liechtenstein were shelved after Switzerland decided by a referendum in 1992 not to join the European Economic Area.

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The assent procedure, whereby the Council must obtain Parliament's assent before certain important decisions can be taken, was introduced by the Single European Act. Parliament may accept or reject a proposal but cannot amend it.

The assent procedure mainly concerns the accession of new Member States and certain international agreements. It is also required for citizenship, the specific tasks of the European Central Bank, amendments to the Statute of the ESCB and of the ECB, the Structural and Cohesion Funds and the uniform procedure for elections to the European Parliament.

Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, Parliament's assent is also required in the event of sanctions being imposed on a Member State for a serious and persistent breach of fundamental rights under the new Article 7 of the EU Treaty.

The European Commission argued, in its opinion on the 2000 Intergovernmental Conference, in favour of extending the procedure to the conclusion of agreements with significant economic and commercial implications at a world level.

Following approval by the European Parliament, association agreements have been entered into with regard to state relationships and international organisations between the EC and third countries since July 1987. Rights and obligations are formulated in these agreements. They involve reciprocal arrangements for imports and exports within a customs union, closer economic cooperation and preparations for membership of the EU at a later date.

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All the Union's revenue and expenditure is entered in the Community budget on the basis of the annual forecasts. The operational expenditure involved in implementing Titles V and VI of the EU Treaty may, however, constitute an exception to this rule by being charged to the Member States. In 1998 the Community budget totalled EUR 91 billion in commitment appropriations. The Community budget is based on several principles, including:

The Commission is responsible for submitting a preliminary draft budget to the Council, which shares budgetary authority with the European Parliament. The nature of the expenditure determines which of the two institutions has the final say, depending on whether the expenditure is compulsory or not. However, quite apart from the classification of expenditure and the ensuing power-sharing, it should be remembered that it is the European Parliament that finally adopts or rejects the budget in its entirety.

Since 1993, the budget has been the subject of an interinstitutional agreement between Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improving the budgetary procedure. In 1998, the Commission presented a plan to renew the 1993 interinstitutional agreement in the light of experience gained in implementing it and to consolidate all the joint declarations and interinstitutional agreements on the budget concluded since 1982.

As part of the reforms proposed by the Commission in July 1997 in 'Agenda 2000', a new financial perspective will be adopted by the Member States to define the growth of the budget between 2000 and 2006. Internet: http://europa.eu.int/pol/financ/index_en.htm

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Following the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 1998, the Cologne European Council of 3 and 4 June 1999 decided to begin work on drafting a charter of fundamental rights to be completed by the end of 2000. The European Council considered that the fundamental rights applicable at Union level should be consolidated in a Charter to raise awareness of them. The charter is to be based on the Community Treaties, international conventions such as the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights and the 1989 European Social Charter, constitutional traditions common to the Member States and various European Parliament declarations.

The work has been entrusted to a special body - known today as the Convention - made up of sixty-two members including representatives of the Heads of State or Government and of the President of the European Commission and members of the European Parliament and national parliaments. Four representatives of the European Court of Justice, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights participate as observers. The composition, working methods and practical arrangements of the Convention were adopted at the Tampere European Council (15-16 October 1999).

During the course of the work, which began on 17 December 1999, opinions were heard from the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the Ombudsman and any other body, social group or expert invited to put forward their views. Discussions were also held between the drafting body and the applicant countries.

A drafting committee made up of the chairperson and vice-chairpersons of the Convention and the Commission representative proposed a preliminary draft charter in consultation with the other members. On the basis of this text, the December 2000 European Council proposed that the European Parliament and the Commission jointly declare a European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Approval of the Charter and the question of its incorporation in the Treaties form part of the debate on adopting a European constitution.

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The term "closer cooperation" was laid down in the Treaty on European Union (Title VII) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (Article 11). It is in place to encourage closer cooperation between countries of the European Union who wish to go further than the degree of integration provided for by the Treaties (for example in the fields of social affairs, elimination of border controls etc.), various instruments have been introduced (e.g.: Social Policy Agreement, Schengen Accords etc.). This has allowed Member States who so wish to make progress at a different pace or on different objectives outside the institutional framework of the European Union. Closer cooperation must meet a number of conditions. In particular it must:

Closer cooperation under the EC Treaty is authorised by the Council, acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament.

The objective of closer cooperation under the EU Treaty is to develop the area of freedom, security and justice more swiftly. At the request of the Member States concerned, it is authorised by the Council, acting by a qualified majority after obtaining the Commission's opinion and after submitting the request to the European Parliament.

A Member State can always refuse to allow closer cooperation in a particular area for reasons of national political importance. However, a qualified majority in the Council can refer the matter to the Heads of State or Government or the European Council, which must act unanimously.

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The codecision procedure (Article 251 of the EC Treaty, formerly Article 189b) was introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht. It gives Parliament the power to adopt instruments jointly with the Council. In practice, it has strengthened Parliament's legislative powers in the following fields: the free movement of workers, right of establishment, services, the internal market, education (incentive measures), health (incentive measures), consumer policy, trans-European networks (guidelines), environment (general action programme), culture (incentive measures) and research (framework programme).

The Treaty of Amsterdam has simplified the codecision procedure, making it quicker, more effective and more transparent. And it has been extended to new areas such as social exclusion, public health and the fight against fraud affecting the European Community's financial interests.

Since the codecision procedure is regarded as a complement to qualified majority voting, the Commission argued, in its opinion on the Intergovernmental Conference launched in February 2000, in favour of extending the procedure to legislative acts for adoption by qualified majority.

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Set up by the Maastricht Treaty, the Committee of the Regions consists of 222 representatives of local and regional authorities appointed by the Council for four years on the basis of proposals from the Member States. It is consulted by the Council or the Commission in areas affecting local and regional interests, such as education, youth, culture, health and social and economic cohesion. The Committee has to be consulted on an even wider range of fields - the environment, the Social Fund, vocational training, cross-border cooperation and transport.

Since the Treaty of Amsterdam has come into force the Committee of the Regions also has to be consulted on issues concerning the environment, social funding, education, across-boarder cooperation and transport. It may also issue opinions on its own initiative and may be consulted by the European Parliament. Internet: http://www.cor.eu.int

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The Common foreign and security policy (CFSP) was established and is governed by Title V of the EU Treaty. It replaced European Political Cooperation (EPC) and provides for the eventual framing of a common defence policy which might in time lead to a common defence.

The objectives of this second pillar of the Union are set out in Article 11 (former Article J.1), and are to be attained through specific legal instruments (joint action, common position) which have to be adopted unanimously in the Council. With the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Union also has a new instrument at its disposal - the common strategy, which is referred to in the new Article 12.

At several European Council sessions held since 1999, triggered by external challenges such as the war in Kosovo and terrorist attacks, it has been decided to develop further moves towards European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). These changes are reflected in the Treaty of Nice. Internet: http://europa.eu.int/pol/cfsp/index_en.htm

Communitisation means transferring a matter which, in the institutional framework of the Union, is dealt with using the intergovernmental method (second and third pillars) to the Community method (first pillar).

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The Community acquis or Community patrimony is the body of common rights and obligations which bind all the Member States together within the European Union. It is constantly evolving and comprises:

Thus the Community acquis comprises not only Community law in the strict sense, but also all acts adopted under the second and third pillars of the European Union and, above all, the common objectives laid down in the Treaties.

Applicant countries have to accept the Community acquis before they can join the European Union. Exemptions and derogations from the acquis are granted only in exceptional circumstances and are limited in scope. The Union has committed itself to maintaining the Community acquis in its entirety and developing it further. There is no question of going back on it. The Community acquis is thought to comprise of 80,000 pages.

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The Commission is currently made up of at least one national of each Member State (two for France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy). However, the question of the composition of the Commission in the light of enlargement was the subject of much discussion at the Intergovernmental Conference that drafted the Treaty of Amsterdam, although no immediate decision was taken. The problem is to determine what is the optimum number of Commissioners needed to guarantee the legitimacy, collective responsibility and efficiency of an institution whose purpose is to represent the general interest and whose Members are completely independent.

The discussion about the composition of the Commission is closely linked to the question of collective responsibility, a term used to describe a particular feature of the Commission structure whereby positions adopted by the Commission reflect the views of the Commission as a whole, not those of individual members. With the prospect of future enlargements, there are fears that a large increase in the number of Commissioners will lead to nationalisation of the office at the expense of collective responsibility. Conversely, should the number be limited, the fear is that some nationalities will not be represented among the Commissioners.

To resolve the institutional problems created by enlargement, a Protocol on the institutions annexed to the EU Treaty by the Treaty of Amsterdam provided that one year before the membership of the European Union exceeded twenty, a new Intergovernmental Conference would be convened.

These plans have been overtaken by the speed of the enlargement process and the launch of an Intergovernmental Conference on 15 February 2000. It falls to this Conference to definitively settle the question of the composition of the Commission. Two Commission proposals are currently under examination:

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A congress at The Hague from May 7th to 10th, 1948. It was attended by some 750 persons of almost every European nationality. The Congress resolution declared the need for a united and democratic Europe. These demands found wide agreement and trigged the move towards negotiations, which were to culminate in the establishment of the Council of Europe in 1949. The Congress of Europe at The Hague, then, was the birth place of the European movement.

Under this procedure the Council must consult the European Parliament and take its views into account. However, it is not bound by Parliament's position but only by the obligation to consult it. The procedure applies in particular to the common agricultural policy.

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Coreper, the French acronym by which the Permanent Representatives Committee is known, consists of the Member States' Permanent Representatives (Ambassadors) and is responsible, at a stage involving preliminary negotiations, for assisting the Council of the European Union in dealing with the items on its agenda (proposals and drafts of instruments put forward by the Commission). It occupies a pivotal position in the Community decision-making system, in which it is at one and the same time a forum for dialogue (among the Permanent Representatives and between them and their respective national capitals) and a body which exercises political control (by laying down guidelines for, and supervising, the work of the expert groups). It is in fact divided in two to enable it to deal with all the tasks it has to carry out:

The smooth running of the Council is dependent on the standard of the work done in Coreper.

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The Council of Europe was founded as an intergovernmental organisation in 1949 following the Europe Congress in The Hague (1948). The Council of the European Union does not require member states to surrender sovereignty. The Council's work is mainly concerned with encouraging the development of Europe's cultural identity, as well as upholding human rights and democracy. It adopts agreements and resolutions. The most important of these was the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). After operating in the shadow for many years, the importance of this organisation as a forum for Europe grew following the end of the Cold War between East and West. Internet: http://www.coe.int.

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The Council of the Union (Council, sometimes referred to as the Council of Ministers) is the European Union's main decision-making institution. It consists of the ministers of the fifteen Member States responsible for the matters on the agenda: foreign affairs, farming, industry, transport or whatever. Despite the existence of these different ministerial compositions depending on the matter in hand, the Council is nonetheless a single institution.

Each country in the Union in turn holds the chair for six months. Decisions are prepared by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States (Coreper), assisted by working parties of national government officials. The Council is assisted by its General Secretariat.

Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Secretary-General acts as High Representative for the common foreign and security policy. He is assisted by a Deputy Secretary-General appointed by unanimous decision of the Council, who is responsible for running the Council's General Secretariat.

Qualified majority voting in the Council now applies to most of the new provisions (incentive measures in employment and social policy, public health and fraud prevention) and for the adoption of the framework programme on research. Some observers feel that qualified majority voting should have been extended further to avoid the risk of stalemate that is always present when decisions are taken unanimously. Given the prospect of the enlargement of the Union, Belgium, France and Italy considered that extension of qualified majority voting was a matter of crucial importance and made a declaration to that effect which is attached to the Final Act of the Intergovernmental Conference. The debate will continue at a new intergovernmental conference that is due to be convened at least one year before the membership of the Union exceeds twenty in order to carry out a comprehensive review of the composition and functioning of the institutions.

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(Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe) 55 European nations (including USSR), the USA and Canada met in Helsinki in 1972 on an initiative instigated by Finland. The objective of this conference was to improve European relationships between East and West. The Final Act of Helsinki (1975) and the Charta 77 (1977) represent the major milestones in the CSCE’s history. In 1995, the CSCE became the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe). As a Europe-wide organisation, the OSCE plays an important if often underestimated role in Europe's security structure. Internet: http://www.osce.org

A customs union is an agreement between several states to form a joint customs area. Internal tariffs are abolished and uniform external tariffs established. The Union completed the customs union as provided for by the EEC treaty in 1968.

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The primary interplay between the Union’s three main bodies (European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission) is referred to as the consultation procedure. The council makes decisions on proposals made by the Commission after consulting Parliament. The Council, however, is not bound to its opinion. The role of the European Parliament in this institutional triangle has been gradually strengthened. Major landmarks in this gradual strengthening process have been the transferral of budget responsibilities during the early 70s, the first direct elections (1979), the introduction of the co-decision procedure with the Single European Act (1986/87) and the co-decision procedure with the Maastricht Treaty (1993/93), whose scope was expanded considerably by the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997/99) and the Treaty of Nice (2001).

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A decree is the strongest form of Community law: A decree is universally valid. It is valid in all its parts and becomes law in every member state after it has been passed.

Deepening refers to the integration dynamic present from the outset of the European venture. Through the customs union, the common market, and then the Euro zone, the European Communities have grown into what aspires to be an "ever closer union" among the peoples of Europe (Article 1 of the EU Treaty). Deepening is a process parallel to, and often viewed as a necessary step prior to, enlargement.

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The democratic deficit is a concept invoked principally in the argument that the European Union suffers from a lack of democracy and is becoming remote from the ordinary citizen because its method of operating is so complex. The view is that the Community institutional set-up is dominated by an institution combining legislative and government powers (the Council) and an institution that lacks democratic legitimacy (the Commission - even though its Members are appointed by the Member States, subject to a vote of approval by the European Parliament, and collectively accountable to Parliament).

The view that the Community suffers from a democratic deficit should diminish after the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, which provides for an extension of the European Parliament's powers and a regular supply of information to national parliaments. The Treaty also states that it "marks a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen".

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