Enlargement of EU?

Article 49 of the Maastricht Treaty (as amended) says that any European state that respects the "principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law", may apply to join the Union. The Copenhagen European Council set out the conditions for EU membership in June 1993 in the so-called Copenhagen criteria. The Western Balkan states had to sign Stabilisation and Association Agreements before either applying for and gaining candidate status, and all have already done so. The countries prioritised for membership are those in the Western Balkans, Turkey, and Iceland with three of these — Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia[1] — gaining candidate status. However in June 2008, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the EU cannot enlarge beyond 27 states without reform of the institution of the current Treaty of Nice rules. Such a reform would happen if the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, however as yet this is by no means guaranteed. If the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles goes ahead, there would be a minor enlargement (within the Netherlands) from the three Caribbean islands that chose to integrate with the Netherlands. The Netherlands has suggested that the proposed Treaty of Lisbon allow the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba to opt for the status of outermost regions if they wish.[12] However, this is dependent on the Lisbon Treaty coming into force. A referendum on Mayotte becoming an overseas department of France in 2011 was held on 29 March 2009.[13] The outcome was "yes" (95.2%).[14] This will mean that there will be another minor enlargement of the European Union to Mayotte. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/EU27-candidate_countries_map.svg/680px-EU27-candidate_countries_map.svg.png Source: Enlargement of the European Union, Wikipedia.org