The standards on good goverance and the rule of law in chapter 23 on judiciary and fundamental rights and chapter 24 on justice, freedom and security are now at the centre of the EU accession process. Wolfgang Nozar, working for the European Commission in the Directorate General Enlargement, explains why these chapters are so important, what the new negotiation approach entails and why it is so hard for candidate countries to comply with the rule of law conditions. The prioritisation these chapters confirm the trend towards a 100% Union, with a strong emphasis on fully complying with all the criteria before the negotiations are completed. With this new enlargement strategy, the benchmarks for current candidate states are higher then ten years ago.