Increased membership has long been a foreign policy objective for the European Union. Since its inception in 1957 as the European Economic Community, the European Union has grown from six members (West Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) to 27 members, and more are on the way. Croatia became an acceding country in 2012 — its formal accession is slated for July — while Iceland, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia and Turkey have been granted candidacy status. Brussels has also deemed Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo potential candidates. Once a country has been accepted as a candidate, it begins formal negotiations led by the EU Commission to implement the economic, political and institutional reforms required for EU membership. The designation of "candidate country" does not imply a specific timeline for accession; in fact, negotiations do not have particular deadlines.