Next Wave of EU Expansion

[Frodo]

And here is the map of the European Union as it currently stands:



Light Green: Current members
Dark Blue: Candidate countries
Light Blue: Potential candidate countries
Yellow: Application for membership frozen as negotiations were rejected in a referendum
Red: Application for membership rejected
Pink: Accession rejected in two referenda

[Frodo]

Serbia Applying to European Union
 
By REUTERS
Published: December 22, 2009
Filed at 5:40 a.m. ET

BELGRADE/STOCKHOLOM (Reuters) - Serbia will formally apply for European Union membership on Tuesday and take a major step in its efforts to turn its back on the war, poverty and international isolation of the 1990s.

President Boris Tadic will submit the application to Sweden, which holds the rotating EU presidency, a decade after the end of the Balkan wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia and kept it away from mainstream Europe.

Although analysts said this was only the start of a long accession process that could take years, Serbian politicians were jubilant and the news dominated all local media.

"This is a turning point and a new phase, which will require deep and painful reforms but will eventually benefit our citizens," Tadic said.

The move came amid concrete signs that the EU was warming up to the biggest ex-Yugoslav republic, which had suffered United Nations sanctions in the 1990s and was bombed by NATO in 1999 to halt Belgrade's crackdown on the breakaway Kosovo province.

Earlier this month, the EU unblocked an interim trade deal with Serbia and lifted the visa requirements for Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, allowing their citizens to travel freely to the 27-nation bloc.