European Union member state

From Includipedia, the inclusionist encyclopedia

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A European Union member state is any one of the twenty-seven countries that have joined the European Union (EU) since its 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.

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	State	Official name	Accession	Population	Area (km²)	Capital	MEPs
Image:Flag of Austria.svg	Austria	Republic of Austria	01995-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1995	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Vienna	18
Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg	Belgium	Kingdom of Belgium	01957-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[25 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1957	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Brussels	24
Image:Flag of Bulgaria.svg	Bulgaria	Republic of Bulgaria	02007-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2007	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Sofia	18
Image:Flag of Cyprus.svg	Cyprus	Republic of Cyprus	02004-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2004	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Nicosia	6
Image:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg	Czech Republic	Czech Republic	02004-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2004	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Prague	24
Image:Flag of Denmark.svg	Denmark	Kingdom of Denmark	Template:Nowrap begin01973-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1973²Template:Nowrap end	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Copenhagen	14
Image:Flag of Estonia.svg	Estonia	Republic of Estonia	02004-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2004	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Tallinn	6
Image:Flag of Finland.svg	Finland	Republic of Finland	01995-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1995	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Helsinki	14
Template:Country data France	France	French Republic	01957-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[25 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1957	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Paris	78
Image:Flag of Germany.svg	Germany	Federal Republic of Germany	01957-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[25 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1957¹	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Berlin	99
Image:Flag of Greece.svg	Greece	Hellenic Republic	01981-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1981	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Athens	24
Image:Flag of Hungary.svg	Hungary	Republic of Hungary	02004-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2004	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Budapest	24
Image:Flag of Ireland.svg	Ireland	Ireland	01973-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1973	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Dublin	13
Image:Flag of Italy.svg	Italy	Italian Republic	01957-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[25 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1957	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Rome	78
Image:Flag of Latvia.svg	Latvia	Republic of Latvia	02004-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2004	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Riga	9
Image:Flag of Lithuania.svg	Lithuania	Republic of Lithuania	02004-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2004	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Vilnius	13
Image:Flag of Luxembourg.svg	Luxembourg	Grand Duchy of Luxembourg	01957-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[25 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1957	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Luxembourg	6
Image:Flag of Malta.svg	Malta	Republic of Malta	02004-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2004	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Valletta	5
Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg	Netherlands	Netherlands	01957-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[25 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1957	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Amsterdam	27
Image:Flag of Poland.svg	Poland	Republic of Poland	02004-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2004	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Warsaw	54
Image:Flag of Portugal.svg	Portugal	Portuguese Republic	01986-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1986	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Lisbon	24
Image:Flag of Romania.svg	Romania	Romania	02007-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2007	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Bucharest	35
Image:Flag of Slovakia.svg	Slovakia	Slovak Republic	02004-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2004	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Bratislava	14
Image:Flag of Slovenia.svg	Slovenia	Republic of Slovenia	02004-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 2004	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Ljubljana	7
Image:Flag of Spain.svg	Spain	Kingdom of Spain	01986-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1986	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Madrid	54
Image:Flag of Sweden.svg	Sweden	Kingdom of Sweden	01995-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1995	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	Stockholm	19
Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg	United Kingdom	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	01973-Template:MONTH-Template:0expr [[1 Template:MONTHNAME]] 1973	Template:Nts	Template:Nts	London	78

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[edit] See also

• Special member state territories
• Enlargement
• Bordering countries

[edit] Lists of European Union member states

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Template:European Union-related topicsca:Estats membres de la Unió Europea cs:Členové Evropské unie cy:Aelod-wladwriaethau yr Undeb Ewropeaidd de:Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Union et:Euroopa Liidu riikide loend el:Κράτη Μέλη της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης fr:États membres de l'Union européenne hy:Եվրոպական Միության անդամ երկրներ it:Paesi membri dell'Unione europea hu:Az Európai Unió tagállamai nl:Lijst van lidstaten van de Europese Unie ja:欧州連合加盟国 pt:Estados membros da União Europeia ru:Список стран ЕС simple:European Union member state sr:Државе чланице Европске уније th:ประเทศสมาชิกสหภาพยุโรป uk:Список країн Європейського Союзу