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Statistical cooperation with candidate and potential candidate countries

A gradual and carefully managed enlargement policy is in the interest of the EU. Future enlargements will concern the countries of south-eastern Europe. These countries are at various stages on their road towards the EU.

Croatia and Turkey are candidate countries. They started accession negotiations on 3 October 2005. In December 2005, the European Council granted the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia the status of a candidate country.

All the other Western Balkan countries are potential candidate countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia, as well as Kosovo under UNSC Resolution 1244/99. The EU has repeatedly reaffirmed at the highest level its commitment for eventual EU membership of the Western Balkan countries, provided they fulfil the accession criteria.

The role of Eurostat is to follow the progress of the candidate and potential candidate countries in the area of statistics and to support them in their efforts to align their statistical data with EU and international standards by providing assistance and collecting data from those countries.

The Commission prepares every year Progress Reports (with Statistical Annexes) on each country. These reports describe the political and economic developments in the candidate and potential candidate countries. They assess the ability of the candidate countries to transpose and implement EU legislation and the progress of the potential candidate countries in adopting EU standards and in fulfilling other specific conditions, such as regional cooperation and cooperation with the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia). They highlight the main achievements and pinpoint the shortcomings.

Please find more detailed information in the Library section of this Interest Group, or by following directly one of these links:

  1. MGSC meetings
  2. PGSC meetings
  3. Strategic management seminar

    4. Eurostat website on candidate and potential candidate countries
    Pocketbook on candidate and potential candidate countries, 2009 edition
    Statistical Requirements Compendium, 2009 edition