Following the accession of Romania and Bulgaria on 1 January 2007, the European Union has grown to include 27 Member States comprising nearly 500 million citizens, which makes it the largest single market in the world.

However, this does not mean that EU enlargement has come to an end:

• Negotiations on the accession of Croatia were concluded by the end of June 2011 and will lead into Membership as from July 2013. Accession negotiations with Turkey have been under way since 2005, and with Iceland since 2010.
• Accession candidate status was granted to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia by the European Council in December 2005 and to Montenegro by the European Council in December 2010
• Applications for accession have been submitted by Albania and Serbia

The European Union also aims to strengthen and expand relations with its neighbours in the East as far away as Central Asia within the framework of the Eastern Partnership and the Central Asia Strategy.

The Russian Federation is another important partner both for the European Union and Austria.