EU Member States
The six founding countries of the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Communities were France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The EC experienced its first enlargement in 1973 when Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined. Greece followed suit in 1981, Spain and Portugal joined in 1986 while Austria, Finland and Sweden joined in 1995.
In May 2004, the European Union celebrated its further expansion into Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. Ten new states joined the EU: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007. Hence at the moment there are 27 Member States in the EU. Croatia and Turkey are recognized as candidates countries.