 This accreditation followed a visit by Commission President José Manuel Barroso who wished to create open full diplomatic relations between the two.Some of the more recent events in the relationship have been;

The Vatican City (the smallest state in the world) is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state, and as such does not have the democratic credentials to join the EU (Art.49 TEU) and is unlikely to attain them given its unique status.