Union européenne

Plenary session and committee meetings, Strasbourg

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

« Le bloc n'a pas de réponse mature en matière de défense », a déclaré Christophe Gomart à Euractiv.

The post Christophe Gomart, vice-président de la commission de la sécurité et de la défense au Parlement européen, appelle à la nomination d’un nouveau chef d’état-major de l’UE appeared first on Euractiv FR.

« Ce projet permettra d'acquérir des connaissances nouvelles et plus approfondies sur notre géologie et n'est possible que grâce à la contribution française », a déclaré le gouvernement groenlandais.

The post Paris signe un accord pour exploiter les richesses minérales du Groenland appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Rapporteur Axel Voss will brief journalists on Tuesday 10 March at 15.00 on Parliament’s proposals to protect EU creative production in the age of artificial intelligence.
Committee on Legal Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Cette nouvelle pourrait expliquer la réticence de Kiev à autoriser les inspections de l'oléoduc Druzhba.

The post L’Ukraine peut survivre financièrement jusqu’après les élections en Hongrie, estime Bruxelles appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Les cosmétiques ont fait l'objet de près de 4 700 alertes de sécurité des produits dans l'UE en 2025.

The post L’UE enregistre le plus grand nombre d’alertes relatives à la sécurité des produits depuis plus de 20 ans appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Le contrôleur européen de la protection des données souligne la nécessité de fixer des limites claires qui doivent être respectées en matière de flux de données spécifiques aux frontières.

The post L’UE doit fixer des limites claires à l’accès des États-Unis aux données des Européens, selon le contrôleur européen de la protection des données appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Selon Europol, le risque de cyberattaques visant les infrastructures et les entreprises occidentales pourrait encore augmenter si le conflit persiste.

The post EXCLUSIF : Selon Europol, la menace terroriste dans l’UE s’est accrue en raison de la guerre au Moyen-Orient appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Également dans l'édition de vendredi : avantages accordés aux députés européens, retour des migrants, forces kurdes, autorité européenne de protection des données.

The post Crise énergétique : un sentiment de déjà-vu appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Female fighters recall how the conflict in the northern Tigray destroyed their lives, as fears grow that fighting could resume.

On Thursday, Parliament and Council negotiators agreed on new provisions to strengthen the contractual position of farmers to help stabilise their income.
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Spokespersons for Parliament and for the political groups will hold a briefing on the 9 - 12 March plenary session, on Friday at 11.00 in Parliament’s Anna Politkovskaya press room.

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Roblox pourrait être la première plateforme de jeux vidéo à être désignée dans le cadre de la loi sur les services numériques de l'Union européenne.

The post La Commission européenne envisage de soumettre les plateformes de jeux à ses règles numériques appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Sánchez durcit le ton et renforce l'opposition de l'Espagne à la guerre contre l'Iran.

The post Pedro Sánchez : « L’Espagne dit non à la guerre » appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Chypre accueille deux bases militaires britanniques qui ont déjà été la cible d'opérations liées à l'Iran et au Hezbollah.

The post Une attaque par drone du Hezbollah pourrait constituer une grave menace pour Chypre appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Cette décision a été vivement critiquée par le puissant Parti populaire européen (PPE), de centre-droit.

The post Le Parlement européen reporte à nouveau l’accord commercial entre l’UE et les États-Unis alors que les menaces tarifaires reprennent appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Countries wishing to join the European Union (EU) must meet a set of legal, economic and political requirements. The progress that a candidate country makes to implement EU law and fulfil these requirements is monitored during the ‘accession negotiation’ process. The European Parliament’s approval is needed before a country can join the EU.

Application and accession requirements

Any European country can apply for EU membership if it respects and undertakes to promote the values common to all EU countries, as defined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU).

Candidate countries must meet specific political and economic criteria, known as the Copenhagen criteria. These include:

• stable institutions that guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and the protection of minorities;
• a functioning market economy and the ability to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the EU;
• the ability to take on the obligations that come with EU membership and a commitment to the aims of the political, economic and monetary union.

Accession process

Application stage: A country that wishes to join the EU sends its application to the Council of the European Union, which asks the European Commission to submit an opinion.

Candidate status: If the Commission’s opinion is favourable, the Council may decide to grant the country candidate status. The Council must agree this unanimously.

Negotiations: The Commission carries out a detailed examination of 35 different policy fields (negotiating chapters), together with the candidate country, and either recommends opening negotiations immediately or asks for certain conditions to be met first. The Council then decides (by unanimity) to open negotiations, which take place between the governments of EU countries and the candidate country. Candidate countries may need to undergo a rigorous reform process, with a focus on the functioning of democratic institutions, judicial independence, media pluralism and the fight against corruption and organised crime.

Accession treaty: Once negotiations have been closed, an accession treaty containing the conditions and deadlines of membership is formally drawn up. The treaty is subsequently submitted to the Commission, the Parliament and the Council for approval. Each EU country and the candidate country must ratify (sign)  the accession treaty according to their own procedures.

European Parliament’s role

Parliament monitors the accession process throughout the negotiations with candidate countries. Specifically, the Committee on Foreign Affairs is responsible for coordinating the work on enlargement. The committee regularly exchanges views with the Commissioner responsible for enlargement negotiations, government representatives, experts and civil society actors.

Parliament gives its opinion on the annual Commission reports on individual candidate countries. It adopts resolutions on the accession process and comments on the progress of countries’ reforms.

Parliament also maintains bilateral relations with the parliaments of candidate and potential candidate countries through joint parliamentary committees and inter‑parliamentary meetings which take place once or twice per year.

Parliament’s budgetary powers give it direct influence over the financial aspects of accession, such as the EU funds allocated to support reforms in candidate countries (Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance).

Finally, Parliament must give its consent, by an absolute majority vote of more than half of all Members, before a country can join the EU (Article 49 TEU).

EU enlargement developments

As of early 2026, there are nine candidate countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Albania and Montenegro have made significant progress on the EU accession path by closing certain negotiating chapters and promoting an anti‑corruption and reform agenda.

In the case of North Macedonia, the opening of the first negotiating chapter depends on constitutional reform, progress on the anti‑corruption agenda and improved relations with neighbouring Bulgaria and Greece.

Ukraine and Moldova were granted candidate status in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and Moldova successfully completed the examination of their alignment with EU law in 2025. Once all EU countries agree, the negotiating chapters can be opened.

As regards Serbia, political turmoil and reform stagnation have slowed down the negotiations on matters that remained unresolved.

Accession negotiations with Turkey have been on hold since 2018, as the Turkish government has failed to address backsliding on democracy and the rule of law. In May 2025, Parliament said that Turkey’s accession process could not be re-started under the current circumstances as the accession process requires the fundamental values of the Union to be fully respected.

Political instability and institutional challenges inBosnia and Herzegovina have halted the opening of formal negotiations.

In 2024, the EU found that Georgia was backsliding on the rule of law and fundamental rights and therefore conditions to open negotiations had not been met.

Kosovo applied to join the EU in December 2022 but has not been granted candidate status. In May 2025, Parliament called on the five EU countries [CJ1] (Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia) that have not yet recognised Kosovo to do so, so that Kosovo can progress its accession process.

Keep sending your questions to the Citizens’ Enquiries Unit (Ask EP)! We will reply in the EU language in which you write to us.

La Commission souhaite promouvoir les aliments biologiques et locaux dans les marchés publics

The post La campagne de l’UE en faveur de cantines durables risque de susciter une réaction hostile aux légumes appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Même si le prêt de 90 milliards d'euros de l'UE actuellement bloqué par la Hongrie était accordé, Kiev serait toujours confrontée à un déficit de financement important.

The post L’UE exhorte ses partenaires à contribuer à combler le déficit de financement de 30 milliards d’euros de l’Ukraine appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Alors que l'attention politique se concentre sur la crise énergétique, le ciblage direct des pétroliers menace de noircir la mer.

The post Les craintes d’une marée noire s’intensifient alors que le conflit iranien affecte le transport maritime dans le Golfe appeared first on Euractiv FR.