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Member State of the European Union
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Member State of the European Union

A Member State of the European Union is any one of the twenty-seven sovereign nation states that have acceded the European Union (EU) since its de facto inception in 1951 as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). From an original membership of six states, there have been six successive enlargements, the largest occurring on 1 May 2004, when ten Member States joined. The EU is currently composed of twenty republics, six kingdoms and one grand duchy.

Following the addition of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007, the EU's membership now stands at twenty-seven. Negotiations are also under way with a number of other states. The process of enlargement is sometimes referred to as European integration. However, this term is also used to refer to the intensification of cooperation between EU Member States as national governments allow for the gradual centralising of power within European institutions. Before being allowed to join the European Union, a state must fulfil the economic and political conditions generally known as the Copenhagen criteria: these basically require that a candidate Member State must enjoy a secular, democratic system of government, together with the corresponding freedoms and institutions, and respect the rule of law. Under the terms of the Treaty on European Union, enlargement of the Union is conditional upon the agreement of each existing Member State as well as approval by the European Parliament.

Bulgaria and Romania comprise the second part of the EU's fifth enlargement, and joined the EU on 1 January 2007. This date was agreed upon at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003, confirmed at Brussels on 18 June 2004, and affirmed by the country reports of October 2004 and the final report delivered on 26 September 2006. Bulgaria and Romania signed their Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005 at a ceremony held at Neumünster Abbey in Luxembourg.

Contents

List

Flag
 CoA
 Common name
 Official name
 Accession
 Population
 Area (km²)
 Capital
 Special territories
Austria Republic of Austria [1] Vienna
Belgium Kingdom of Belgium [2] Brussels
Bulgaria Republic of Bulgaria [3] Sofia
Cyprus Republic of Cyprus [4][5] [4] Nicosia
3 excluded
Czech Republic Czech Republic [6] Prague
Denmark Kingdom of Denmark [7] Copenhagen
2 excluded
excludes:
Estonia Republic of Estonia [9] Tallinn
Finland Republic of Finland [10] Helsinki
Includes:
France French Republic [11][12] Paris
6 excluded
includes:
excludes:
Germany Federal Republic of Germany [13] [14] Berlin
Greece Hellenic Republic [15] Athens
Hungary Republic of Hungary [16] Budapest
Ireland[17] [18] Dublin
Italy Italian Republic [19] Rome
Latvia Republic of Latvia [20] Riga
Lithuania Republic of Lithuania [21] Vilnius
Luxembourg Grand Duchy of Luxembourg [22] Luxembourg
Malta Republic of Malta [23] Valletta
Netherlands Kingdom of the Netherlands[24] [25] Amsterdam
2 excluded
excludes:
Poland Republic of Poland [26] Warsaw
Portugal Portuguese Republic [27] Lisbon
Romania Romania [28] Bucharest
Slovakia Slovak Republic [29] Bratislava
Slovenia Republic of Slovenia [30] Ljubljana
Spain Kingdom of Spain [31] Madrid
Sweden Kingdom of Sweden [32] Stockholm
United Kingdom United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland		 [33][34] London
15 excluded
? EU-27 European Union total ? ?

Notes

  1. ↑
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ a b Includes the area (3,355 km²) but not the population (264,172 according to 2006 census) of the territory under control of the unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The Government of Cyprus estimates the total population at 867,600 including Turkish Cypriots entitled to EU citizenship but excluding TRNC citizens who immigrated from Turkey after the 1974 invasion.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ Greenland left the European Community in 1985.
  9. ↑
  10. ↑
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ The population figure for France includes the four overseas departments (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion), which are integral parts of the European Union, but does not include the overseas collectivities and territories, which are not part of the European Union. The population figure for Metropolitan France is 61,875,822.
  13. ↑ On , the constituent states of the former German Democratic Republic acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany, automatically becoming part of the EU.
  14. ↑
  15. ↑
  16. ↑
  17. ↑ The constitutional name of the country is Ireland, not Republic of Ireland. See names of the Irish state.
  18. ↑
  19. ↑
  20. ↑
  21. ↑
  22. ↑
  23. ↑
  24. ↑ "Kingdom of the Netherlands" is correct. See this article. However, only Netherlands (the European part) is fully subject to EU law.
  25. ↑
  26. ↑
  27. ↑
  28. ↑
  29. ↑
  30. ↑
  31. ↑
  32. ↑
  33. ↑
  34. ↑ The population figure for the United Kingdom includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland but not the Channel Islands or the overseas territories which are not part of the European Union.

Enlargement

Animated map showing the enlargement;<!-- legend --><!-- legend -->
Animated map showing the enlargement;
Enlargement has been a principle feature of the Union's political landscape. The Union was founded by the "Inner Six", those countries willing to forge ahead with the Community while others remained sceptical. It was but a decade before the first countries changed their policy and attempted to join the Union, which led to the first scepticism of enlargement. French President Charles de Gaulle feared British membership would be an American Trojan horse and vetoed its application. Only after de Gaulle left office did Britian's third application succeed.[35]

Applying with Britain were Ireland, Denmark and Norway. Norway however saw the first rejection of membership, with the electorate voting against it[36] leaving just Ireland and Denmark joining along side the UK.[35] But despite the setbacks, and the withdrawal of Greenland from Denmark's membership in 1985,[37] three more countries would join the Communities before the end of the Cold War.[35] In 1987, the geographical extent of the project was tested when Morocco applied, and was rejected as it was not considered a European country.[38]

1989 saw the Cold War drawing to a close, and East Germany was welcomed into the Community as part of a reunited Germany. Shortly after the previously neutral countries of Austria, Finland and Sweden acceded to the new European Union,[35] though Switzerland, which applied in 2002, froze its application due to opposition from voters[39] while Norway, which had applied once more, had its voters reject membership again.[40]) Meanwhile, the members of the former Eastern bloc and Yugoslavia were all starting to move towards EU membership. 10 of these joined in a "big bang" enlargement on 1 May 2004 symbolising the unification of East and Western Europe in the EU.[41]

2007 saw the latest members, Bulgaria and Romania, accede to the Union and the EU has prioritised membership for the Western Balkans. Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey are all formal, acknowledged candidates.[42] Turkey, which applied in the 1980s, is a more contentious issue but entered negotiations in 2004 (see Accession of Turkey to the European Union).[43] There are at present no plans to cease enlargement; according to the Copenhagen criteria, membership of the European Union is open to any European country that is a stable, free market liberal democracy that respects the rule of law and human rights. Furthermore, it has to be willing to accept all the obligations of membership such as adopting all previously agreed law and joining the euro.[44]

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                     color:membership    from:01/04/2004  till:12/12/2008
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                     color:membership    from:01/01/2007  till:12/12/2008
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</timeline>

Representation

Each state has representation in the institutions of the European Union. Full membership gives the government of a member state a seat in the Council of the European Union and European Council. When decisions are not being taken by consensus, votes are weighted so that a country with a greater population has more votes within the Council than a smaller country (although not exact, smaller countries have more votes than their population would allow relative to the largest countries).

Similarly, each state is assigned seats in Parliament according to their population. However, members of the European Parliament have been elected by universal suffrage since 1979 (before which they were seconded from national parliaments), rather than being appointed by governments. Governments do however appoint one member each to the European Commission (in accord with its president), the European Court of Justice (in accord with other members) and the Court of Auditors.

Historically, larger member states were granted an extra Commissioner. However, as the body grew, this right has been removed and each state is represented equally. Yet the largest states are granted an Advocates General in the Court of Justice. Finally, the governing of the European Central Bank is made up of the governors of each national central bank (who may or may not be government appointed).

The larger states traditionally carry more weight in negotiations, however smaller states can be effective impartial mediators and citizens of smaller states are often appointed to sensitive top posts to avoid competition between the larger states.

Sovereignty

The founding treaties stated that all member states are indivisibly sovereign and of equal value. However the EU does follow a supranational system (similar to federalism) in European Community matters, in that combined sovereignty is delegated by each member to the institutions in return for representation within those institutions. Those institutions are then empowered to make laws and execute them at a European level. If an state fails to comply with the law of the European Union, it may be fined or have funds withdrawn. In extreme cases, there are provisions for the voting rights or membership of a state to be suspended. On issues outside the European Community (foreign policy, police and courts) less sovereignty is transferred, with issues being dealt with by consensus and cooperation.

However, as sovereignty still originates from the national level, it may be withdrawn by a member state who wishes to leave. Hence, if a law is agreed that is not to the liking of a state, it may withdraw from the EU to avoid it. This however has not happened as the benefits of membership are often seen to outweigh any negative impact of certain laws. Furthermore, in realpolitik, concessions and political pressure may lead to a state accepting something not in their interests in order to improve relations and hence strengthen their position on other issues.

See also

References

External links

ca:Estats membres de la Unió Europea cs:?lenové Evropské unie cy:Aelod-wladwriaethau yr Undeb Ewropeaidd de:Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Union et:Euroopa Liidu riikide loend es:Estado miembro de la Unión Europea eu:Europar Batasuneko estatu kideak fr:États membres de l'Union européenne ko:?? ??? ??? hy:????????? ???????? ????? ??????? it:Stati membri dell'Unione europea lt:S?ra?as:Europos S?jungos valstyb?s nar?s hu:Az Európai Unió tagállamai nl:Lijst van lidstaten van de Europese Unie ja:??????? pl:Pa?stwa cz?onkowskie Unii Europejskiej pt:Estados membros da União Europeia ru:?????? ????? ?? simple:European Union member state sk:?lenovia Európskej únie sr:?????? ??????? ???????? ????? th:??????????????????? tr:Avrupa Birli?i üyesi ülkeler uk:?????? ????? ????????????? ?????




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