Which country joined the EU and when?

#21

Salute,

There are many good reasons for criticising the European Union. But, the fact that many countries have joined the club in recent decades shows that the EU is a success story.

So today, a sort of a quiz. Here is the list of EU states, including their accession dates. Which joining dates sound familiar to you?

🇧🇪 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 🇮🇹 🇱🇺 🇳🇱 In 1957, the organisation, now known as the European Union, was founded. It originally had six members: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

🇩🇰 🇮🇪 🇬🇧 In 1971, at its first enlargement, Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom joined the European Union, and the number of member states rose to nine.

🇬🇷 Since its military regime was overthrown and democracy was restored in 1974, Greece became an EU member in 1981.

🇪🇸 🇵🇹 In 1986, Spain and Portugal became members.

🇦🇹 🇫🇮 🇸🇪 In 1995, number thirteen (Austria), fourteen (Finland) and fifteen (Sweden) joined the European Union. 

🇨🇿 🇪🇪 🇨🇾 🇱🇻 🇱🇹 🇭🇺 🇲🇹 🇵🇱 🇸🇰 🇸🇮 After the fall of the Iron Curtain, more countries pushed their way into the EU. In 2004, with the largest enlargement so far, ten new countries joined the EU: Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. 

🇧🇬 🇷🇴 In 2007, with Bulgaria and Romania, the number of member states grew to 27 countries.

🇭🇷 With Croatia, the second country from ex-Yugoslavia, joined the EU in 2013.

🇬🇧 As of the 1st of February 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union. 

More countries want to join. 

🇹🇷 🇲🇰 🇲🇪 🇦🇱 🇷🇸 🇲🇩 🇺🇦 🇧🇦  Turkey (since 1999, but talks are at an effective standstill), Republic of North Macedonia (2005), Montenegro (2008), Albania (2009), Serbia (2009), Moldova (2022), Ukraine (2022) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (2022) are candidate countries. "Candidate country" means accession negotiations are held between each country and the EU. 

🇽🇰 🇬🇪 Kosovo (whose independence is not recognised by five EU member states) and Georgia formally submitted applications for membership in 2022 and are considered potential candidates by the European Union, which means that these countries have the prospect of joining the EU but have not yet been granted candidate country status.

And? Did it sound familiar or were there a few surprises?

See you, 

Johannes Eber