Which is worse: H1B Visa Holders or Illegal Immigrants.

[pampango]

49. Very strict. It takes years of negotiation for new members to satisfy existing members.

The EU does not just open its door to any country that happens to be close by, but the process continues 6 countries lined up to join.

The funny thing is that those nearby countries all want to join the EU (even now in these bad times). The citizens of these countries want access to travel and jobs in Europe so that pressure their politicians to meet the conditions that the EU sets. Normally politicians are not really keen on meeting demands set by "foreign" organizations but this is an exception.

Croatia is the only country that has been approved for membership since 2007. The wiki article below shows that Iceland, Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey are "official candidates" while Albania and Serbia have submitted membership applications.

Croatia is an acceding country and will become the 28th member of the EU on 1 July 2013. It signed its accession agreement on December 9, 2011. Iceland, Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey are all official candidates states while Albania and Serbia have applied for membership. The EU plans to start accession negotiations with Montenegro in June 2012 if it continues its progress in fulfilling the Copenhagen Criteria. Bosnia and Herzegovina has concluded an association agreement and is preparing an application while Kosovo is beginning negotiations for an agreement.[citation needed] The Western Balkans have been prioritised for membership since emerging from war during the breakup of Yugoslavia; Turkey has been seeking membership since the 1980s and Iceland has lodged its application since suffering economic collapse in 2008.

The EU may also acquire new outermost regions in 2015 due to the integration of three Caribbean islands into the Netherlands following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_the_European_Union#Future_enlargement