Enlargement is the process whereby states join the European Union, after they have fulfilled a set of political and economic conditions. The road to accession for new members can take a long time and ...

Accession to the European Union is the rule, not the exception. Of today's 27 member states, 21 joined the original, founding members of 1958 — the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France ...

European Union leaders will discuss how to reform the 27-nation bloc to take in new members at a summit in Granada on Oct. 5-6, launching a long process to prepare the EU for enlargement by a ...