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Other EU institutions

Two other institutions play vital roles:

· the Court of Justice of the EU upholds the rule of European law

· the Court of Auditors checks the financing of the EU's activities.

The powers and responsibilities of all of these institutions are laid down in the Treaties, which are the foundation of everything the EU does. They also lay down the rules and procedures that the EU institutions must follow. The Treaties are agreed by the presidents and/or prime ministers of all the EU countries, and ratified by their parliaments.

The EU has a number of other institutions and interinstitutional bodies that play specialised roles:

· the European Central Bank is responsible for European monetary policy

· the European External Action Service (EEAS) assists the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, currently Catherine Ashton. She chairs the Foreign Affairs Council and conducts the common foreign and security policy, also ensuring the consistency and coordination of the EU's external action.

· the European Economic and Social Committee represents civil society, employers and employees

· the Committee of the Regions represents regional and local authorities

· the European Investment Bank finances EU investment projects and helps small businesses through the European Investment Fund

· the European Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration by EU institutions and bodies

· the European Data Protection Supervisor safeguards the privacy of people’s personal data

· the Publications Office publishes information about the EU

· the European Personnel Selection Office recruits staff for the EU institutions and other bodies

· the European School of Administration provides training in specific areas for members of EU staff

· a host of specialised agencies and decentralised bodies handle a range of technical, scientific and management tasks

Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union states that: «Any European state may apply to become a Member of the Union».

The Copenhagen European Council in 1993 agreed the following basic standards, often described as the «Copenhagen Criteria», that all countries must meet before membership of the EU:

• Stable institutions that guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities, (the Political Criteria)

• The existence of a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with market forces and competition within the EU (the Economic Criteria)

• Adoption and implementation of the entire body of EU law and adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union

• Another important consideration is that the EU, in turn, must have the capacity to absorb new members, while maintaining the momentum of European integration.

During the accession negotiations, the acquis is divided into separate chapters which cover areas such as free movement of goods, judiciary and fundamental rights, science and research and economic and monetary policy.

The first step of the negotiations (the screening process) is for the candidate country to familiarise itself with the acquis communitaire and for the European Commission to evaluate the extent of the candidate country’s preparations for each chapter.

The second step of the negotiations relates to the opening of each chapter. For each chapter, the Commission must either recommend the immediate opening of negotiations or it must set benchmarks for opening. These benchmarks must be met before the candidate country is able to open negotiations on the chapter. Benchmarks are designed to be flexible and may take different forms for different chapters.

Immediately following screening, the Commission may also recommend closing benchmarks. When the Commission judges that a candidate state has met these benchmarks, it will recommend the closure of that particular chapter.

When the Commission issues a recommendation for the opening or closure of a chapter, this proposal will then be discussed in the Enlargement Working Group and then passed upwards to the Council. The EU's decision will then be communicated to the candidate country through an Accession Conference.

With the assistance of the EU and member states, the candidate country must adopt and implement the entire acquis in each chapter, although transitional periods can also be negotiated to allow each candidate to reach full implementation in a longer timeframe.

Each country must also continue to work to meet the political and economic criteria and to meet any other outstanding treaty obligations.

The progress of each candidate country is closely monitored by the Commission and member states. The Commission publishes a comprehensive report on the progress of each country annually and meets the candidate countries regularly.

Negotiations are completed when all the chapters of the acquis have been closed. An Accession Treaty is drafted, which is submitted to the Council for approval and to the European Parliament for assent.

The Accession Treaty is then submitted to the member states and to the candidate country to ratify. In some states this may require a referendum, depending on individual national constitutions. The Treaty then becomes part of each country’s law and the candidate country becomes a member state on an agreed date.