The European Union took big strides towards further enlargement at the end of 2004. It closed accession talks with Bulgaria and Romania, which will allow them to join the EU in 2007 provided they are ready. And later this year, the Union will open accession negotiations with Croatia and Turkey.

Enlargement is one of the EU's most successful policies and a powerful foreign policy tool. The EU has progressively extended its zone of peace and democracy across the European continent. Following the entry of 10 new members last May, the EU stretches from the Atlantic to the Carpathian mountains, and from northern Lapland down to the coast of the Levant in the eastern Mediterranean.