As geopolitical pressures on the European Union keep growing, so does the need for expanding the bloc. The logic is simple: if the EU doesn’t bring its eastern neighbors closer, the door is open for hostile countries to push for more influence.
The EU, however, isn’t built for speed, with many accession states having spent more than a decade in the waiting room. While the EU is weighing ways to overhaul the system — especially as Ukrainian membership gains urgency — the current accession system is merit-based, and new memberships are contingent on unanimous support in the European Council.
Once a country’s EU accession application is approved, it receives candidate status and enters a screening phase. After screening, formal negotiations begin, requiring reforms across policy clusters and chapters. When negotiations conclude, EU institutions approve membership, and an accession treaty is signed.
Today, Montenegro is the closest to reaching the finishing line, with the European Commission expecting negotiations to be concluded by the end of 2026.
Here’s where the countries on the EU accession list stand today.
Albania
Albania submitted its application for membership in 2009, achieving candidate status in 2014, while accession negotiations were opened in 2024.
In the Commission’s 2025 enlargement package — which assesses progress made toward reforms required for accession — Albania’s pro-EU reforms were praised, with the report noting the country’s “significant progress.”
If Tirana continues with timely reforms, negotiations could conclude by 2027.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
A candidate since 2022, Bosnia and Herzegovina has passed several laws on conflicts of interest, anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing.
Yet the country still struggles with organized crime and corruption. It also contends with separatist sentiment, such as in the ethnically Serbian Republika Srpska region, which accounts for about one-third of the country’s population.
According to the Commission, the political instability in the Republika Srpska region has stalled accession.
Georgia
Georgia is the only candidate that doesn’t share a border with the EU. It has been partially occupied by Russian troops since 2008, and despite polls suggesting strong public support for EU alignment, Georgia's government has been pushing the country into Russia's orbit.
The EU granted candidate status at the end of 2023, only to put it on ice in 2024 following Georgia's passing of a law requiring organizations receiving funding from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence.”
The EU has called on Georgia to reverse anti-democratic laws and return to the reforms necessary for accession. In the 2025 enlargement report, Georgia was designated a “candidate country in name only.”
Montenegro
A NATO member and the smallest of the Balkan countries, Montenegro applied for EU membership in 2008 and officially started the accession process in June 2012.
In 2025, Montenegro was the negotiating candidate deemed closest to accession. It successfully opened all so-called negotiating chapters — policy areas ranging from free movement of goods and capital to education and culture — and finished negotiations on 12 out of 33 chapters. The Commission expects Montenegro to conclude accession negotiations by the end of 2026.
Moldova
A battleground of influence between the EU and Russia, Moldova took a clear turn towards the EU when it applied for membership in March 2022, in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine. The country's president, Maia Sandu, is pro-EU but contends with a Russian-leaning enclave, Transnistria, that currently houses 1,500 Russian troops. Nonetheless, the EU started accession talks with Moldova in 2024.
Moldova plans to conclude the accession negotiations by early 2028. The Commission report described the goal as “ambitious but achievable.”
However, Moldova’s accession is informally linked to that of Ukraine and is likely to face resistance from pro-Kremlin Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
North Macedonia
North Macedonia achieved candidate status in 2005, but accession negotiations didn’t begin until March 2020.
The delay was partly due to member state demands. Greece insisted the country change its name from Macedonia to North Macedonia, which it did in 2019. Bulgaria also raised issues over language and ethnic classifications which remain unaddressed.
Today, Skopje has completed the screening process but is yet to open its first policy cluster. Its accession was previously linked to that of Albania — similar to the package approach adopted for Ukraine and Moldova — but this was abandoned in 2024 due to the uneven pace of reforms in the two countries.
In its 2025 report, the Commission called on North Macedonia to keep reforming its judiciary, fight corruption and adopt constitutional changes more inclusive of ethnic minorities.
Serbia
Serbia applied for EU membership in 2009 and has been a candidate since 2012. However, President Aleksandar Vučić’s ties to Russia and anti-EU rhetoric have stalled progress. A 2023 poll by Demostat showed only one in three Serbians wished to join the EU. The same year, election manipulation and voter fraud were reported by The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Since the collapse of Novi Sad’s railway station canopy in November 2024, protests against Vučić’s government have intensified and been met with brutal repression.
The Commission warned that due to the polarization in Serbian society and the consequent erosion of trust, reforms have “significantly slowed down.”
Kosovo
The Commission included Kosovo in its 2025 report, even though it technically doesn’t have candidate status, for remaining “committed to its European path.” Kosovo was an autonomous province of Serbia before declaring independence in 2008. Five EU member states — Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain — don’t recognize its independence, preventing the Commission from finalizing an opinion on the application.
In May 2025, the EU began gradually lifting sanctions imposed on Kosovo in 2023 following violent unrest in the country’s north that left 30 NATO peacekeepers and 52 Serbs injured. It stressed that further progress toward accession hinges on sustained de-escalation between Kosovo’s Serb and Albanian communities and the normalization of relations with Serbia. The Commission also highlighted a delay in forming institutions after last year’s general elections.
Turkey
The EU has flirted with membership for Turkey since 1999, but progress has been stalled since 2018. In its 2025 Enlargement Package, the Commission reiterated that Turkey needs to address fundamental rights and the rule of law.
Despite those concerns, Turkey remains a "key partner” of the EU, particularly on migration. The bloc has given Ankara €9 billion to keep millions of people, many of whom have fled conflict and persecution, from trying to enter the EU.
Ukraine
Ukraine applied for EU membership just four days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. It received candidate status in June of that year, and in December 2023, EU leaders agreed to open accession negotiations. It marks the first time that a country at war has asked to join the bloc.
Ukraine completed the screening process in September 2025 and successfully opened the first negotiating clusters. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aims to be “technically ready” for accession by 2027. However, Orbán’s veto right poses a serious challenge.
Elections outcomes in Hungary in April 2026 might improve Ukraine's chances for Council approval, but Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar said in 2025 that, as the country’s leader, he would still put Ukraine's EU accession to a referendum vote.
At the Munich Security Conference on Feb.14, Zelenskyy asked for a fixed date for EU accession to be included in the 20-point peace plan negotiated with Washington last year. However, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, labelled it unrealistic since EU accession is a merit-based process and “there's a lot of work to be done.”
The EU, however, is weighing alternative accession procedures that could allow Ukraine and other candidates to become member states, which would include bypassing the unanimity requirement and also allow some form of membership while alignment is still being pursued.
But critics argue that a two-tier system would clash with the fundamental principles of the European project and risks undermining commitment to EU standards.
This article was updated on Feb. 20, 2026.
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