Chronology of Estonia’s Accession to the EU

1991
August	Establishment of official relations between Estonia and the European Union, after the EU had recognised the independence of the Republic of Estonia

1992
May 11	Conclusion of the Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement between the Republic of Estonia and the EU

1993
December	The European Union approved the so-called Copenhagen criteria for the admission of candidate countries: stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities the existence of a functioning market economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union the ability to take on the obligations of membership including adherence to the EU legislation and policies

1994
Juli 18	Conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Estonia and the EU
December 14	Beginning of the negotiations on concluding the Association Agreement between Estonia and the EU

1995
January 1	Entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement
June 12	Conclusion of the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities, their Member States and the Republic of Estonia
August 1	The Riigikogu unanimously ratified the Europe Agreement
November 15	The European Parliament ratified the Europe Agreement
November 28	The Government of the Republic of Estonia submitted the application for the accession to the European Union

1997
January 23	The 8th Riigikogu formed the European Affairs Committee (EAC) in the status of a select committee
December 13	At the 1997 Luxembourg European Council, the decision was made on the basis of the Progress Reports of the EC to start accession negotiations with five Central and East European countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia) and Cyprus
1998
January	31 working groups, formed for defining negotiation positions, began their work
February 1	Entry into force of the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities, their Member States and the Republic of Estonia
March 31	Opening of the accession negotiations between Estonia and the EU (Inter-governmental Conference)
November 10	Beginning of negotiations between the EU and Estonia on the actual terms of accession The negotiations had been made possible by the willingness of Estonia to adhere to the principles respected in the EU and to accept the acquis communautaire and implement it from the moment of accession. In order to facilitate the negotiations, the EU acquis (comprising about 12,000 legal acts) had been divided into 31 Chapters. Estonia simultaneously conducted accession negotiations with the 15 Member States of the EU. Official negotiations were conducted at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs or Deputy Heads (the Deputy Heads of the negotiations were the permanent representatives of the 15 Member States to the EU and the Deputy Secretary General of the of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia Alar Streimann). The European Union was represented by the Presidency, rotating every six months. In addition to the EU Member States, the European Commission was also represented at the negotiations.

1999
May 1	Entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty
May 18	The 9th Riigikogu re-established the EAC
June	Elections to the European Parliament
September	Approval by the European Parliament of the new composition of the European Commission headed by Romano Prodi
December 10-11	The European Council in Helsinki decided to invite Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Malta to accession negotiations and granted Turkey the status of Candidate Country.

2000-2004
January 15, 2000	Beginning of the accession negotiations with Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Malta
December 7-9, 2000	Structural changes made necessary by the enlargement of the EU were decided upon at the meeting of the European Council in Nice
February 26, 2001	The Treaty of Nice was signed
May 8, 2003	The 10th Riigikogu re-established the EAC and assigned it an additional task to prepare, prior to the referendum on the accession to the European Union, an analysis of the impact of the accession. It also assigned the EAC and the Foreign Affairs Committee a task to prepare proposals for amendments to be made in the procedure of the Riigikogu and its committees in connection with the accession to the EU.
April 16, 2003	Completion of the Estonia-EU accession treaty
September 14, 2003	Referendum in Estonia on the accession to the EU
May 1, 2004	Entry into force of the Accession Treaty for the accession of the 10 candidate countries, incl. Estonia, to the European Union

11.10.2005