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EU enlargement
The European Union currently has 27 Member States. In addition to the first six Member States of the EEC — Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands — 21 further countries are now members of the Union. These are: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom (1973); Greece (1981); Spain and Portugal (1986); Austria, Finland and Sweden (1995); the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia (2004); and Bulgaria and Romania (2007). Croatia, Iceland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey have the status of candidate countries. (European Central Bank)