European Union Enlargement - An historic opportunity

Glossary
ACCESSION CRITERIA
See below under "Copenhagen criteria"
ACCESSION NEGOTIATIONS
Take the form of a series of bilateral inter-governmental conferences between each of the candidate
countries and the EU Member States. Determine the conditions under which each candidate country
will join the EU and focus specifically on the terms under which candidates adopt, implement and
enforce the acquis. In certain cases, the granting of transitional arrangements is possible, but these
must be limited in scope and duration. The pace of each negotiation depends on the degree of preparation
by each candidate country and the complexity of the issues to be resolved.
ACCESSION PARTNERSHIP
Key feature of the pre-accession strategy. Each Partnership mobilises all forms of Community assistance
within a single framework for each country. This covers in detail the priorities for membership preparations,
in particular adopting the acquis communautaire, as well as the financial resources available for
that purpose.
ACCESSION TREATY
The results of the accession negotiations, once these have been concluded, are incorporated into one
draft Accession Treaty, covering the accession of all countries that are to accede simultaneously. This
draft Accession Treaty as agreed between the Council and the acceding countries is submitted to the
Commission for its opinion and to the European Parliament for its assent. Once the draft Accession
Treaty has been signed, it is submitted for ratification by both the existing Member States and each
acceding State. Once the ratification process has been concluded, the Treaty takes effect.
ACQUIS
The expression acquis (or acquis communautaire) is used to describe the EU’s rules and policies. It comprises
the entire body of European Community legislation that has accumulated, and been revised, over
the last 40 years. It includes the founding Treaty of Rome as revised by the Single Act and the
Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties; all the regulations and directives passed by the Council of
Ministers; and the judgements of the European Court of Justice.
ACTION PLANS FOR REINFORCING ADMINISTRATIVE AND JUDICIAL CAPACITY
In spring of 2002, the Commission launched Action Plans for reinforcing administrative and judicial capacity
for each of the negotiating countries. The purpose of the Action Plans is to identify with each country
the remaining steps required to achieve an adequate level of administrative and judicial capacity by the
time of accession, and to jointly ensure that all necessary measures are taken in the appropriate timeframe.
AGENDA 2000
Framework in which the European Commission outlined in 1997 the perspective for the development of
the EU and its policies beyond the turn of the century: the impact of enlargement on the EU as a whole;
the Opinions on membership applications from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe; and the
future financial framework for 2000-2006.