EU Members

With the constant addition of new countries to the European Union and other similar organizations it can be confusing to know the geography of the EU. While at a table quiz I failed to recall if there were 27 or 28 countries in the EU. I have therefore decided to do this blog post on the membership status of different countries to the European Union and a brief history on when different states joined.

Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, France and Italy were the founding members of the European Coal and Steel industry. This group was set up to strengthen the ties between European countries to prevent another war in Europe, after what a disaster World War II left the continent in. In 1957 (four years later,) the European Economic Community was established under the Treaty of Rome. The purpose of the Treaty of Rome was to create a common market for goods, services, capital and workers, it also wanted to put in place agricultural and transport policies for the six above-mentioned nations. In 1965 these two communities merged together along with the European Atomic Energy Community, the name European Economic Community was kept.

EEC expansion was next on the agenda. Denmark, the UK and Ireland joined the community in 1973. Then came the Single European Act, this improved European Council Management to allow for a Single Market and for the Introduction of Spain and Portugal to the community. Spain and Portugal joined the group in 1986. The Maastricht Treaty came into place in 1993. This formerly set up the European Union and started some of the earliest plans for a European Monetary Union. This is a little complicated so I have attached a link to a YouTube video to help explain. Courtesy of CPG Grey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O37yJBFRrfg

Now there are twenty-eight members of the European Union. After Portugal and Spain, Greece, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and finally in 2013 Croatia. The Maastricht Treaty's plans for a European Monetary Union have been successful. Eighteen countries have adopted the euro, you can see these countries on the map below in blue, courtesy of wikipedia.org/wiki/euro