THE SUCCESSIVE EXPANSIONS OF THE EU

Reaching the current number of members has been a long journey:

1952: Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
1973: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
1981: Greece.
1986: Spain and Portugal.
1995: Austria, Finland and Sweden.
2004: Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and the Czech Republic.
2007: Bulgaria and Romania.
Candidate Countries: Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey.