Term used to refer to the four successive waves of accessions to the European Community, so far bringing nine more countries to join the six founder countries, namely Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The successive enlargements have been as follows: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom in 1973; Greece in 1981; Spain and Portugal in 1986; Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995. Since the collapse of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, and given the growing numbers of candidates seeking accession, the concept of enlargement has taken on a special meaning because of the prevailing conviction that the system set up by the Rome Treaty will be unable to function efficiently in a Union of 25-30 members. Thus a debate has developed over the terms "enlargement" and "deepening". On the one hand it is argued that enlargement cannot be envisaged without an in-depth reform of the institutions and functioning of the European Union. On the other, it is argued that enlargement is the priority (often with the underlying idea that this will water down the political ambitions of the Union). The question of enlargement is thus the central issue of the Intergovernmental Conference.
Glossary of the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference