European Union member states

Current members

There are currently 25 member states in the European Union. Together with their dates of accession, these are:

• Austria (1995)
• Belgium (founding member: 1952/58)
• Cyprus (2004)
• Czech Republic (2004)
• Denmark (1973)
• Estonia (2004)
• Finland (1995)
• France (founding member: 1952/58)
• Germany (founding member: 1952/58)
• Greece (1981)
• Hungary (2004)
• Ireland (1973)
• Italy (founding member: 1952/58)
• Latvia (2004)
• Lithuania (2004)
• Luxembourg (founding member: 1952/58)
• Malta (2004)
• The Netherlands (founding member: 1952/58)
• Poland (2004)
• Portugal (1986)
• Slovakia (2004)
• Slovenia (2004)
• Spain (1986)
• Sweden (1995)
• United Kingdom (1973)

Future and prospective members

Main article: Enlargement of the European Union

Acceding nations

Acceding countries (with year of submitting and accession):

• 1995, Bulgaria, completed negotiations, set for membership in 2007.
• 1995, Romania, completed negotiations, set for membership in 2007.

Candidate nations

The following states have submitted applications for EU membership (with year of submitting):

• 1987, Turkey, expected to start negotiations in October 2005. (EU-Turkey Customs Union is in force since 1995)
• 2003, Croatia, was set to start negotiations in March 2005, but they have been postponed.
• 2004, Republic of Macedonia, currently in the process of being recognized as a candidate country by EU institutions.
• 2005, Ukraine, is seeking membership, though no formal negotiations have begun yet.

Other nations

• Technically speaking, Switzerland also has a long-standing EU membership application, but the country has shown no interest in furthering the application, so it has been left to 'lie on the table'.
• Norway has previously submitted applications, but twice rejected membership in referenda.

Special member state territories

• For information about EU territories and dependents outside continental Europe, see Special member state territories and their relations with the EU.

Maps

European Commission maps of the EU are available: [1],

See also

• List of European Union pages
• European Union Statistics