APPENDIX 4: GLOSSARY
Absorption capacity The EU's ability to integrate
new Member States without affecting the institutions' capacity
to act, or the Union's capacity to respect budgetary limits and
implement common policies
Acceding country A country that has completed
accession negotiations and signed a treaty of accession with the
EU
Acquis communautaire The
body of common rights and obligations that is binding on all EU
Member States, currently divided up into 35 chapters
Aspirant countries The set of candidate
and potential candidate countries
Candidate country A country that has been granted
EU candidate status
by unanimous decision of the Council
CAP Common Agricultural Policy
Chapters Thematic sections of the acquis that
are individually negotiated during the accession process
Conditionality The principle whereby progressing
to the next step of
the enlargement process is made dependent upon meeting certain
prior conditions
Copenhagen criteria The criteria for membership
of the EU set out by the Council in June 1993 in Copenhagen
CVM Cooperation and Verification
Mechanism
Eastern Partnership The partnership between the
EU on the one hand and
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine on
the other as part of the European Neighbourhood Programme
ECSC European Coal and Steel
Community
EFTA European Free Trade
Association
ENP European Neighbourhood
Policy
ERM II Exchange Rate Mechanism
II
Euro area The group of 17 EU Member
States who use the euro
FDI Foreign direct investment
FYROM Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia
ICTY International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia
IPA Instrument for Pre-Accession
Assistance
Potential candidate country The Western Balkan
countries that have not yet
achieved candidate status: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
Kosovo
SAP Stabilisation and Association
Process
Schengen area The borderless area comprised of
26 European
countries, including all EU Member States excepting the UK and
Ireland, alongside four non-EU countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein,
Norway and Switzerland
Schengen States The 26 European countries
forming the Schengen area
TEU Treaty on European Union
UNMIK UN Interim Administration
in Kosovo
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