European Union member states - Definition and Overview

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)

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.

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, set to start negotiations in March 2005.
• 2004, Republic of Macedonia, currently in procedure to be recognized as a candidate country by EU institutions.

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.

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] (http://europa.eu.int/comm/mediatheque/multimedia/select/maps_en.html),

See also

• List of European Union pages
• for area, population, and population density figures, see area and population of European countries.