What is the European Union. Which countries are part of the European Union

The EU is a commonwealth of a number of countries (on how many countries enter the European Union specifically, you will learn a little later), forming a single, from an economic point of view, space. However, each of the countries has its own governing bodies, which are subordinate to the central authorities. But the members of the community have unified laws (there are possible, however, small differences) and a common currency called the euro. At the same time , there are only administrative borders between EU countries , but each language has its own, state language.

Before answering the question, which countries are members of the European Union, let's try to throw aside political demagogy about the "commonwealth of democratic states", as stated on the organization's website, to see that the EU is somewhat reminiscent of the good old USSR.

The European Union in its time was the result of the merger of three other European communities - Euratom, EEC, ECSC. These organizations, which controlled the European economy, nuclear energy and the steel and coal industry, had a common budget and a single governing body. The EU's prospective goal was the need to form a political federation of federative or confederal type.

The EU is already pursuing a policy of the so-called "customs union", under which customs duties are abolished and quantitative restrictions in the mutual trade of the EU countries are lifted. In relation to the states that did not join the community, the organization introduced a uniform tariff at the customs. The EU also maintains a unified foreign trade activity and jointly implements a regional policy on the development of depressed and backward regions. And, of course, scientific and technical programs are implemented jointly by the member states of this Union (how many countries and which are included in the European Union - read on).

The following five organizations are the governing bodies in the EU:

• The Council of the EU (it represents the governments of the member states of the Union).
• The European Parliament.
• The European Commission, which is the executive body.
• The European Court, which stands guard over the law.
• Auditor community, which exercises control over the EU budget.

It should be noted that to date the EU has 27 member states. This figure was not the original one. The expansion of the Union took place gradually, in groups. Therefore, when asked which countries are members of the European Union, one can give a detailed answer (by years).

So, for 1957 in the EU there were only six participants (Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy, France, the Netherlands). In 1973, Ireland, Great Britain and Denmark were added to the list. Eight years later, Greece joined the European Union, and after another 5 years - Portugal and Spain.

In 1995, when asked which countries are members of the European Union, it was already possible to answer the figure of 15, since the Union included Sweden, Austria and Finland. But in 2004, the list of participants was replenished as much as 10 countries - Cyprus, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia, Malta, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Estonia became safely members of the EU. Include a list of EU countries Romania and Bulgaria, who came to the community in 2007.

Remarkably, no other state has left the EU, although the wave could do it. Unless Greenland, the Danish autonomy, in 1985 chose to leave this organization. To date, Turkey, Iceland, Croatia, Macedonia and Montenegro are claiming to be a part of this European whole. Therefore, the question of which countries are members of the European Union can be answered quite differently after a few years. The requirements for all who want to get into the EU are extremely simple: the state should respect the principles of democracy, human rights should be respected, the market economy must be present.