kandidatsländer

Kandidatländer are countries that have formally applied to join the European Union and have been granted official candidate status. This status signifies that the EU recognizes their potential for membership and is willing to engage in a structured accession process with them. The process is rigorous and requires the candidate country to meet a set of political and economic criteria known as the Copenhagen criteria. These criteria include having stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and respect for and protection of minorities; a functioning market economy capable of coping with the competitive pressure within the EU; and the ability to take on the obligations of membership, including adherence to the aims of political, economic, and monetary union.

The decision to grant candidate status is made by the European Council based on a recommendation from the European Commission. Once a country becomes a candidate, it enters into a period of negotiation with the EU, during which it must align its legislation and administrative practices with the EU's body of law, known as the acquis communautaire. This alignment process is often lengthy and involves opening and closing negotiation chapters covering various policy areas. The ultimate goal is full membership, which requires unanimous approval from all existing EU member states. Countries that have achieved candidate status are not guaranteed membership; the accession process can be stopped at any stage if the candidate country fails to meet the required criteria or if member states raise objections.