Member State of the European Union
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A Member State of the European Union is any one of the twenty-seven nation states that have acceded the European Union (EU) since its de facto inception in 1958 as the European Economic Community (EEC). From an original membership of six states, there have been six successive enlargements, the largest occurring on 1 May 2004, when ten member states joined. The EU is currently composed of twenty republics, six kingdoms and one grand duchy.
Following the addition of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007, the EU's membership now stands at twenty-seven. Negotiations are also under way with a number of other states. The process of enlargement is sometimes referred to as European integration. However, this term is also used to refer to the intensification of cooperation between EU member states as national governments allow for the gradual centralising of power within European institutions. Before being allowed to join the European Union, a state must fulfil the economic and political conditions generally known as the Copenhagen criteria: these basically require that a candidate member state must enjoy a secular, democratic system of government, together with the corresponding freedoms and institutions, and respect the rule of law. Under the terms of the Treaty on European Union, enlargement of the Union is conditional upon the agreement of each existing member state as well as approval by the European Parliament.
Bulgaria and Romania comprise the second part of the EU's fifth enlargement, and joined the EU on 1 January 2007. This date was agreed upon at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003, confirmed at Brussels on 18 June 2004, and affirmed by the country reports of October 2004 and the final report delivered on 26 September 2006. Bulgaria and Romania signed their Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005 at a ceremony held at Neumünster Abbey in Luxembourg.
[edit] List
| Flag |
CoA |
State |
Official name |
Accession |
Population |
Area (km²) |
Capital |
MEPs |
ccTLD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
Austria | Republic of Austria | 1 January 1995 | 8,199,783 | 83,871 | Vienna | 18 | .at |
 |
 |
Belgium | Kingdom of Belgium | 25 March 1957 | 10,392,226 | 30,528 | Brussels | 24 | .be |
 |
 |
Bulgaria | Republic of Bulgaria | 1 January 2007 | 7,322,858 | 110,910 | Sofia | 18 | .bg |
 |
 |
Cyprus | Republic of Cyprus | 1 May 2004 | 766,400 | 9,251 | Nicosia | 6 | .cy |
 |
 |
Czech Republic | Czech Republic | 1 May 2004 | 10,306,709 | 78,866 | Prague | 24 | .cz |
 |
 |
Denmark | Kingdom of Denmark | 1 January 1973¹ | 5,457,415 | 43,094 | Copenhagen | 14 | .dk |
 |
 |
Estonia | Republic of Estonia | 1 May 2004 | 1,342,409 | 45,226 | Tallinn | 6 | .ee |
 |
 |
Finland | Republic of Finland | 1 January 1995 | 5,289,128 | 338,145 | Helsinki | 14 | .fi |
 |
 |
France | French Republic | 25 March 1957 | 63,392,140 | 674,843 | Paris | 78 | .fr |
 |
 |
Germany | Federal Republic of Germany | 25 March 1957² | 82,314,906 | 357,050 | Berlin | 99 | .de |
 |
 |
Greece | Hellenic Republic | 1 January 1981 | 11,125,179 | 131,990 | Athens | 24 | .gr |
 |
 |
Hungary | Republic of Hungary | 1 May 2004 | 10,066,158 | 93,030 | Budapest | 24 | .hu |
 |
 |
Ireland | Ireland³ | 1 January 1973 | 4,239,848 | 70,273 | Dublin | 13 | .ie |
 |
 |
Italy | Italian Republic | 25 March 1957 | 59,131,287 | 301,318 | Rome | 78 | .it |
 |
 |
Latvia | Republic of Latvia | 1 May 2004 | 2,281,305 | 64,589 | Riga | 9 | .lv |
 |
 |
Lithuania | Republic of Lithuania | 1 May 2004 | 3,373,991 | 65,303 | Vilnius | 13 | .lt |
 |
 |
Luxembourg | Grand Duchy of Luxembourg | 25 March 1957 | 476,200 | 2,586 | Luxembourg | 6 | .lu |
 |
 |
Malta | Republic of Malta | 1 May 2004 | 404,962 | 316 | Valletta | 5 | .mt |
 |
 |
Netherlands | Kingdom of the Netherlands4 | 25 March 1957 | 16,372,715 | 41,526 | Amsterdam | 27 | .nl |
 |
 |
Poland | Republic of Poland | 1 May 2004 | 38,116,486 | 312,683 | Warsaw | 54 | .pl |
 |
 |
Portugal | Portuguese Republic | 1 January 1986 | 10,599,095 | 92,391 | Lisbon | 24 | .pt |
 |
 |
Romania | Romania | 1 January 2007 | 22,276,056 | 238,391 | Bucharest | 35 | .ro |
 |
 |
Slovakia | Slovak Republic | 1 May 2004 | 5,396,168 | 49,037 | Bratislava | 14 | .sk |
 |
 |
Slovenia | Republic of Slovenia | 1 May 2004 | 2,013,597 | 20,273 | Ljubljana | 7 | .si |
 |
 |
Spain | Kingdom of Spain | 1 January 1986 | 45,116,894 | 506,030 | Madrid | 54 | .es |
 |
 |
Sweden | Kingdom of Sweden | 1 January 1995 | 9,142,817 | 449,964 | Stockholm | 19 | .se |
 |
 |
United Kingdom | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 1 January 1973 | 60,587,300 | 244,820 | London | 78 | .uk |
| – | – | Total | – | 497,198,740 | 4,324,782 | – | 785 | – | |
1 Greenland left the European Community in 1985.
2 On 03 October 1990, the constituent states of the former German Democratic Republic acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany, automatically becoming part of the EU.
3 The constitutional name of the country is Ireland, not Republic of Ireland. See the country article.
4 "Kingdom of the Netherlands" is correct. See this article.
[edit] See also
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- Countries bordering the European Union
- Enlargement of the European Union
- Special member state territories
