The EU Member States
At the end of 2012, the EU had 27 member states with Croatia expected to join the Union on 1 July 2013. States that were admitted into the Union had to fulfil political and economic conditions, collectively known as the Copenhagen criteria. These along the rule of law require from a candidate to have a democratically elected, free market government and corresponding institutions and freedoms.
Currently, the EU consists of the following member states:
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Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and France. They are the so-called Inner Six countries that created the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EES) which are traditionally considered the precursors of the EU. The Inner Six countries usually don’t have an entry date but are simply referred to as the founders. All EU founding states have adopted the euro as their currency in 2002.
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Ireland, Denmark and the UK. All three states joined the EU in 1973. But only Ireland adopted the euro as its currency. Denmark and the UK, on the other hand, refused to do so.
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Greece. The country joined the EU in 1981 and adopted the euro as its currency in 2002.
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Spain and Portugal. Both joined the EU in 1986 and both adopted the euro as their currency in 2002.
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Austria, Sweden and Finland. The countries joined the EU in 1995. Austria and Finland adopted the euro as their currency in 2002. Sweden, on the other hand, refused to give up its national currency.
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Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Malta and Cyprus. All countries joined the EU on 1 May 2004 when the biggest enlargement of the Union took place. They all bound themselves to adopt the euro as their currency but so far, the conditions were met only by Slovenia, Slovakia, Malta, Estonia and Abari. The fate of the euro in the remaining countries that joined the EU in 2004 remains uncertain also due to the current economic and financial crisis.
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Romania and Bulgaria. They were the last to join the EU. Both were admitted to the Union on 1 January 2007 but neither adopted the euro as their currency yet. Neither of both countries is within the Schengen Area either.
As mentioned earlier, Croatia is set to become a full member of the EU on 1 July 2013. But the Treaty of Accession (signed in 2011) needs to be ratified by all EU member states which hasn’t happened yet.