List of European Union member states by accession

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: European Geography; Recent History

██ The European Union as a single entity. ( world map)

This is a list of European Union member states, their dates of application and accession. It shows the growth of the European Union and its predecessors through enlargement from six members in 1952 to twenty-five in 2004 and twenty-seven members in 2007; as of 2006, at least seven (possibly even more) are expected to join in its future.

The European Union per se was created on 1 November 1993 when the Treaty on European Union came into effect. Twelve of the current 25 member states joined one of the Union's predecessors, either the European Coal and Steel Community (which came into existence on 23 July 1952 and ceased to exist exactly 50 years later), the European Economic Community (which came into existence on 1 January 1958), or the European Community (which came into existence on 1 July 1967 as a merger of ECSC, EEC and the European Atomic Energy Community, and is one of the three pillars of the European Union today).

Candidate countries

██ current members ██ acceding countries ██ candidate countries ██ potential candidate countries ██ application frozen ██ application rejected by EC ██ accession rejected in a referendum ( world map)

In addition to the current twenty-five member states, a number of other European states will join the European Union in the next two decades. Bulgaria and Romania have already finished accession negotiations and will join on 1 January 2007. The ratification process of the Treaty of Accession 2005, which forms the legal framework for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, was completed on 2006- 11-24 when the German Bundesrat voted in favour.

Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Turkey are officially candidate countries; Croatia and Turkey are currently in accession negotiations, while negotiations with the Republic of Macedonia are expected to start in 2007. The remaining states in the Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, including Kosovo under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 of 10 June 1999) are officially "potential candidate countries", which means they have a clear perspective for accession over the course of the next decade.

The European Union's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn originally stated that the next enlargement after Bulgaria and Romania would only happen after 2010, due to the European Union's need to sort out its institutional problems first, the European Commission's President José Manuel Durão Barroso later stated that the provisions in the Treaty of Nice were clear enough; while he considered institutional reform necessary, it was not intended to be a stumbling bloc for countries seeking to join the European Union. However, on 25 September 2006 (the day before the accession date of Bulgaria and Romania was officially made public), Barroso stated that a new treaty would be necessary before further enlargement could occur.

Countries who failed to join or left

The flag of the Council of Europe and the European Union.

Not all accession attempts have been successful, though, and on one occasion a territory even left the European Union (then European Community).

• While Norway had completed European Community/European Union accession negotiations twice already (with the proposed accession dates having been 1 January 1973 and 1 January 1995, respectively), the accession failed both times when the Norwegians rejected membership in referenda (on 25 September 1972 and 28 November 1994).
• The Danish autonomous territory of Greenland initially joined the European Community together with Denmark, but left on 1 February 1985 after it had acquired home rule and had held a referendum on the issue.
• Morocco applied to join in 1987, but was rejected by the European Council because it was not considered a European country and therefore not eligible to join. (Interestingly, the Copenhagen criteria had not yet been formally agreed upon at that time.)
• Although Switzerland applied to join in 1992, it froze its application after accession to the European Economic Area was rejected in a referendum on 6 December 1992.

Future prospects

██ member states ██ membership is declared goal ██ membership under discussion ( world map)

See also: Armenia and the European Union, Cape Verde and the European Union, Georgia and the European Union, Iceland and the European Union, Israel and the European Union, Moldova and the European Union, and Ukraine and the European Union

This section is incomplete. You can help by adding information about the current situation in the European microstates Monaco and Vatican City, as well as in associated territories (especially Greenland).

It is generally assumed that even with the accession of the states of southeastern Europe, the process of enlargement will not be finished.

European countries

Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have stated they would like to join the European Union; however, the European Union's response was lukewarm at best. European Union membership is also the subject of political debate in Andorra, Azerbaijan, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Liechtenstein and San Marino, and the debates in Norway and Switzerland are also still ongoing. While Belarus and Russia are also seen as eligible to join, and while accession to the European Union enjoys public support in Belarus, the lack of democratic structures makes these countries' accession impossible in the short term, especially as the European Union is supporting the Belarussian opposition and civil society in peacefully overthrowing Alexander Lukashenko's regime, which it regards as dictatorial, going so far as to offer concrete benefits for democratic reforms. Furthermore, the European Union is trying to bind Russia more strongly to its own policies and goals through partnership and cooperation agreements.

Non-European countries

Although the Treaty of Maastricht states that only European countries may apply, a number of countries not generally considered European have also considered membership bids.

The island nation of Cape Verde, part of the island region Macaronesia (which is comprised of Cape Verde, the Portuguese islands of the Azores and Madeira and the Spanish Canary Islands) has stated it wishes to join the European Union. Israel has considered applying for membership; while the European Union and Israel share a common culture, history and society, the ongoing Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts and Israel's location in one of the most conflict-ridden regions of the world would be major arguments against its accession. Finally, even Canada's accession has occasionally been proposed, though often rather in a tongue-in-cheek manner; the main arguments used are the very similar cultural standards and viewpoints on matters of international law, especially when juxtaposed with those of the United States. None of the three countries is a member of the Council of Europe, which is a de facto prerequisite for membership under the Copenhagen criteria and the Treaty of Maastricht.

It is generally expected that the states of southeastern Europe will be the next states to join the European Union, and that it will still take some time for Iceland, Norway and Switzerland to join, since public opinion is not yet in favour in those three states. On 19 May 2006, Olli Rehn said that he expected Iceland to join the European Union before Croatia would; he went back on his statement when he stated on 1 December 2006 that Croatia would likely become the European Union's 28^th member state.

Listed by accession date

#	State	Accession	Special territories
1–6	Belgium	23 July 1952 ( ECSC) 1 January 1958 ( EEC)	—
	France		incl.  French Guiana,  Guadeloupe,  Martinique,  Réunion excl.  French Polynesia,  New Caledonia,  Wallis and Futuna excl.  French Southern Territories,  Mayotte,  Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
	Italy		—
	Luxembourg		—
	Netherlands		excl.  Aruba, the  Netherlands Antilles
	West Germany		—
7–9	Denmark	1 January 1973 ( EC)	excl. the  Faroe Islands,  Greenland (see above)
	Ireland		—
	United Kingdom		incl.  Gibraltar excl.  Guernsey,  Jersey, the  Isle of Man excl. Akrotiri and Dhekelia excl.  Bermuda, the  Turks and Caicos Islands excl.  Anguilla, the  British Virgin Islands, the  Cayman Islands,  Montserrat excl. the  Falkland Islands, the  Pitcairn Islands,  Saint Helena excl. the  British Indian Ocean Territory,  South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
10	Greece	1 January 1981 (EC)	—
11–12	Portugal	1 January 1986 (EC)	—
	Spain		—
13–15	Austria	1 January 1995	—
	Finland		incl.  Åland Islands
	Sweden		—
16–25	Cyprus	1 May 2004	excl. Akrotiri and Dhekelia ( de iure and de facto) excl.  Cyprus area not under its effective control, the UN Buffer Zone (de facto)
	Czech Republic		—
	Estonia		—
	Hungary		—
	Latvia		—
	Lithuania		—
	Malta		—
	Poland		—
	Slovakia		—
	Slovenia		—
26–27	Bulgaria	1 January 2007	—
	Romania		—
TBD	Croatia	in accession negotiations	—
	Turkey		—
	Republic of Macedonia	candidate country	—
	Albania	potential candidate country	—
	Bosnia and Herzegovina		—
	Montenegro		—
	Serbia		—

Listed by application date

#	State	Application	Result/status
—	Belgium	—	founding members
	France
	Italy
	Luxembourg
	Netherlands
	West Germany
1	Ireland	1st: 31 July 1961 2nd: 11 May 1967	1st: withdrawn after Charles de Gaulle vetoed the United Kingdom's application 2nd: joined 1 January 1973
2–3	Denmark	1st: 10 August 1961 2nd: 11 May 1967
	United Kingdom	1st: 10 August 1961 2nd: 10 May 1967	1st: vetoed by Charles de Gaulle on 14 January 1963 2nd: joined 1 January 1973
4	Norway	1st: 30 April 1962 2nd: 21 July 1967 3rd: 25 November 1992	1st: withdrawn after Charles de Gaulle vetoed the United Kingdom's application 2nd: withdrawn after a referendum on 25 September 1972 3rd: withdrawn after a referendum on 28 November 1994
5	Greece	12 June 1975	joined 1 January 1981
6	Portugal	28 March 1977	joined 1 January 1986
7	Spain	28 July 1977
8	Turkey	14 April 1987	candidate country, in accession negotiations
9	Morocco	20 July 1987	rejected by the European Council (see geographic criteria)
10	Austria	17 July 1989	joined 1 January 1995
11–12	Cyprus	3 July 1990	joined 1 May 2004
	Malta
13	Sweden	1 July 1991	joined 1 January 1995
14	Finland	18 March 1992
15	Switzerland	25 May 1992	frozen after EEA membership was rejected in a referendum on 6 December 1992
16	Hungary	31 March 1994	joined 1 May 2004
17	Poland	5 April 1994
18	Romania	22 June 1995	acceding country, to join 1 January 2007
19	Slovakia	27 June 1995	joined 1 May 2004
20	Latvia	13 October 1995
21	Estonia	24 November 1995
22	Lithuania	8 December 1995
23	Bulgaria	14 December 1995	acceding country, to join 1 January 2007
24	Czech Republic	17 January 1996	joined 1 May 2004
25	Slovenia	10 June 1996
26	Croatia	21 February 2003	candidate country, in accession negotiations
27	Republic of Macedonia	24 March 2004	candidate country
TBD	Albania	not yet	potential candidate country, Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) signed on 12 June 2006; yet to be ratified by Albania, all twenty-five EU member states and the European Parliament (compare this for ratification progress)
	Montenegro		potential candidate country, in SAA negotiations since 10 October 2005 (as part of Serbia and Montenegro), mandate for separate negotiations confirmed on 24 July, negotiations restarted on 26 September 2006, negotiations finished 1 December 2006
	Serbia		potential candidate country, in SAA negotiations since 10 October 2005 (as Serbia and Montenegro), suspended since 3 May 2006 over non-arrest of Ratko Mladić, mandate for separate negotiations confirmed on 24 July without lifting the suspension
	Bosnia and Herzegovina		potential candidate country, in SAA negotiations since 25 October 2005, conclusion only possible after police reforms have been carried out

Timeline