The European Union
The States of the European Union
Prior to 1st May 2004, the EU comprised the
following 15 member States:
Austria - Belgium - Denmark - Finland
France - Germany - Greece - Irish
Republic
Italy - Luxembourg - Netherlands
Portugal - Spain* - Sweden - United Kingdom*
Following the
Irish Referendum vote to approve the
Nice Treaty the following 10 new States
joined the EU on 1st May 2004:
Cyprus - Czech Republic - Estonia -
Hungary
Latvia - Lithuania - Malta - Poland
Slovakia - Slovenia
Bulgaria and Romania are planning for EU
accession in 2007.
Turkey also wants to join, but its political
and economic situation means that its application
is on hold. Turkey is also involved in the
continuing long term political problems relating
to the entry of
Cyprus into the EU.
Note that
Switzerland and
Norway are NOT members of the EU, and at the
time of writing have no plans to join.
* When the EC was formed, some of the member
States brought with them continuing associations
with former colonial possessions, overseas
territories, island dependencies etc. To
accomodate these relationships, the EU has a
number of associated
Special Territories. These include the Channel
Islands
(
Jersey1
Jersey2
Guernsey - which are not members of the
UK or the EU), the
Isle of Man,
Gibraltar and the
Canary Islands. Gibraltar has a long running
political status and border
dispute with Spain.
The European Union also has a number of
relationships with other small European states,
principalties and "microstates" which are not
formally part of the Union, e.g. Andorra, San
Marino, Monaco, Vatican City etc.
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