Accession of the Baltic States and Poland to European Union

The thesis examines the accession of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to the European Union. The membership of these countries is defined in The Treaty of Accession 2003, and the thesis will systematize and clarify how the internal market is addressed in it. The purpose is to compare provisions, both permanent and transitional, that are made between EU and the applicant countries under investigation. The emphasis of the study is on first pillar of the European Union and especially on internal market. The main issues are the four freedoms of internal market; free movement of goods, freedom to provide services, freedom of movement of persons and free movement of capital. Copenhagen criteria state the membership requirements. These criteria are examined and each country is reviewed. It is examined how the country fulfilled the criteria just before accession. Special interest is put in the transitional provisions. These provisions are important because the provisions are made to each country individually based on country’s needs for further development in adopting the EU regulations. All the countries have the same permanent provisions. The subject has not been studied before. The base for this study is the accession treaty that can be found on the internet. Also literature and EU´s other internet pages are part of the research material.