The Mechanisms of the European Union Enlargement at the Present Stage
The article is dedicated to particularities of the accession of new countries to the European Union at the present stage. The policy of the EU enlargement is a comprehensive and complex process covering a wide range of issues. The article considers the membership conditions in the European Union, the procedure of submission and consideration of application for the EU accession, the phased process of accession, the legal basis for the relations between candidate countries and the EU, the assistance instruments for the state at the pre-accession stage. It is focused on monitoring scheme of the compliance of candidate countries to Maastricht and Copenhagen criteria. The membership criteria are represented by range of political, economic and legal conditions. It is analyzed the relationship of the enlargement policy and deepening of European integration. The research of the EU enlargement mechanisms provides an opportunity to examine the European Union strategy regarding the Western Balkan countries and Turkey, which today are candidates for accession to the EU.