Glossary:EU enlargements

From Statistics Explained

The European Union was established on 1 November 1993 with 12 Member States. Their number has grown to the present 27 through a series of enlargements:

• EU-12 (1 November 1993 - 31 December 1994):

Belgium (BE), Greece (EL), Luxembourg (LU), Denmark (DK), Spain (ES), Netherlands (NL), Germany (DE), France (FR), Portugal (PT), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), United Kingdom (UK) 

• EU-15 (1 January 1995 - 30 April 2004):

EU-12 + Austria (AT), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE)

• EU-25 (1 May 2004 - 31 December 2006):

EU-15 + Poland (PL), Czech Republic (CZ), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Slovenia (SI), Estonia (EE), Slovakia (SK), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT)

• EU-27 (from 1 January 2007):

EU-25 + Bulgaria (BG), Romania (RO)

The 6 founding Member States of the EU's predecessor, the European Communities, established by the 1957 Treaties of Rome, were Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). In 1973 Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined, enlarging the Communities to 9 Member States. The accession of Greece in 1981 brought their number up to 10 and it grew to 12 in 1986 when Spain and Portugal joined. By the 1990 German reunification the Communities also came to include the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

Overview of present EU Member States

Belgium	(BE)	France	(FR)	Austria	(AT)
Bulgaria	(BG)	Italy	(IT)	Poland	(PL)
Czech Republic	(CZ)	Cyprus	(CY)	Portugal	(PT)
Denmark	(DK)	Latvia	(LV)	Romania	(RO)
Germany	(DE)	Lithuania	(LT)	Slovenia	(SI)
Estonia	(EE)	Luxembourg	(LU)	Slovakia	(SK)
Ireland	(IE)	Hungary	(HU)	Finland	(FI)
Greece	(EL)	Malta	(MT)	Sweden	(SE)
Spain	(ES)	Netherlands	(NL)	United Kingdom	(UK)

Related concepts

• European Union (EU)

Statistical data

• Enlargement countries - statistical overview