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European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR)

Accession partnership

European Commission - Enlargement - Accession partnership

Accession partnerships define the framework of the accession process. They set out:

  • key priority areas in which candidate countries need to make progress, i.e. priorities identified in the European Commission’s opinion on applications for European Union membership*;
  • pre-accession assistance.

Each candidate country draws up a national programme for the adoption of the acquis* (NPAA), which sets out a timetable for putting the partnership into effect. Each candidate country also draws up an action plan for strengthening its administrative and judicial capacities.

For more details, see the following sections on our website: