EU Member States & Candidate Countries

The European Union (EU) comprises 27 Member States. Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands joined from the very beginning. Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the six founding countries in 1973. Greece joined in 1981, followed by Portugal and Spain in 1986. Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the EU in 1995. On 1 May 2004, the biggest enlargement took place with 10 countries – Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia – joining the EU. Two more countries – Bulgaria and Romania – joined the EU on 1 January 2007.

For further information on individual EU Member States, please access the following list of websites of governments and other official institutions of the EU Member States:

Belgium (B) - http://belgium.fgov.be
Bulgaria (BG) – http://www.government.bg
Czech Republic (CZ) – http://www.czech.cz
Denmark (DK) - http://www.sdn.dk
Germany (D) - http://www.bundesregierung.de
Estonia (EST) – http://www.riik.ee/et
Greece (EL) - http://www.mfa.gr
Spain (ES) - http://www.la-moncloa.es
France (F) - http://www.france.diplomatie.fr
Ireland (IRL) - http://www.irlgov.ie
Italy (IT) - http://www.aipa.it
Cyprus (CY) – http://www.pio.gov.cy
Latvia (LV) – http://www.am.gov.lv/lv
Lithuania (LT) – http://www.lrs.lt
Luxembourg (L) - http://www.restena.lu
Hungary (H) – http://www.meh.hu
Malta (M) – http://www.gov.mt
Netherlands (NL) - http://www.postbus51.nl
Austria (Ö) - http://www.austria.gv.at
Poland (PL) – http://www.poland.pl
Portugal (P) - http://www.portugal.gov.pt/Portal/EN/
Romania (RO) – http://www.guv.ro
Slovenia (SLO) – http://www.sigov.si
Slovakia (SK) – http://www.slovak-republic.com
Finland (SU) - http://www.vn.fi
Sweden (SV) - http://www.regeringen.se
United Kingdom (UK) - http://www.fco.gov.uk

In order to become a member of the EU, a country must meet the Copenhagen criteria. The Copenhagen European Council of June 1993 defined the criteria as:

Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Turkey are candidate countries. Croatia and Turkey are two candidate countries with which accession negotiations have started (in October 2005). FYROM is a candidate country with which accession negotiations have not started yet. The European Council granted FYROM the status of a candidate country in December 2005.