Mediaboss Marketing

The European Union (EU) comprises 28 member states, which are party to the founding treaties of the union and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. Unlike the members of international organisations, the constituent states of the EU are placed under binding laws in exchange for representation within the common legislative and judicial institutions. They do however retain considerable autonomy, and must be unanimous for the union to adopt policies concerning defence and foreign affairs.[3]Subsidiarity is a founding principle of the union.

In 1957 six core states founded the EU's predecessor, the European Economic Community. The remaining states have acceded in subsequent enlargements. On 1 July 2013 Croatia became the newest member state of the EU. In order to accede, a state must fulfill the economic and political requirements known as the Copenhagen criteria, which require a candidate to have a democratic, free market government together with the corresponding freedoms and institutions, and respect for the rule of law. Enlargement of the Union is also contingent upon the consent of all existing members and the candidate's adoption of the existing body of EU law, known as the acquis communautaire.

There is disparity in the size, wealth and political system of member states, but all have equal rights. While in some areas majority voting takes place where larger states have more votes than smaller ones, smaller states have disproportional representation compared to their population. No member state has withdrawn or been suspended from the EU, though some dependent territories or semi-autonomous areas have left.

Enlargement is, and has been, a principal feature of the Union's political landscape. The EU's predecessors were founded by the "Inner Six", those countries willing to forge ahead with the Community while others remained skeptical. It was only a decade before the first countries changed their policy and attempted to join the Union, which led to the first skepticism of enlargement. French President Charles de Gaulle feared British membership would be an American Trojan horse and vetoed its application. It was only after de Gaulle left office and a 12-hour talk by British Prime Minister Edward Heath and French President Georges Pompidou took place that Britain's third application succeeded in 1970.[9][10][11]

Applying in 1969 were Britain, Ireland, Denmark and Norway. Norway, however, declined to accept the invitation to become a member when the electorate voted against it,[12][13] leaving just the UK, Ireland and Denmark to join.[9] But despite the setbacks, and the withdrawal of Greenland from Denmark's membership in 1985,[14] three more countries joined the Communities before the end of the Cold War.[9] In 1987, the geographical extent of the project was tested when Morocco applied, and was rejected as it was not considered a European country.[15]

1990 saw the Cold War drawing to a close, and East Germany was welcomed into the Community as part of a reunited Germany. Shortly after, the previously neutral countries of Austria, Finland and Sweden acceded to the new European Union,[9] though Switzerland, which applied in 2002, froze its application due to opposition from voters[16] while Norway, which had applied once more, had its voters reject membership again.[17] Meanwhile, the members of the former Eastern Bloc and Yugoslavia were all starting to move towards EU membership. Ten of these joined in a "big bang" enlargement on 1 May 2004 symbolising the unification of East and Western Europe in the EU.[18] Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007.

2013 saw the latest member, Croatia, accede to the Union, and the EU has prioritised membership for the rest of the Balkans - namely Western Balkans. Iceland, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey are all formal, acknowledged candidates. Turkish membership, pending since the 1980s, is a more contentious issue but it entered negotiations in 2004.[19] There are at present no plans to cease enlargement. According to the Copenhagen criteria, membership of the European Union is open to any European country that is a stable, free market liberal democracy that respects the rule of law and human rights. Furthermore, it has to be willing to accept all the obligations of membership, such as adopting all previously agreed law (the 170,000 pages of acquis communautaire) and switching to the euro.[20] In addition to enlargement by adding new countries, the EU can also expand by having territories of member states, which are outside the EU, integrate more closely (for example in respect to the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles) or by a territory of a member state which had previously seceded and then rejoined (see withdrawal below).

Each state has representation in the institutions of the European Union. Full membership gives the government of a member state a seat in the Council of the European Union and European Council. When decisions are not being taken by consensus, votes are weighted so that a country with a greater population has more votes within the Council than a smaller country (although not exact, smaller countries have more votes than their population would allow relative to the largest countries). The Presidency of the Council of the European Union rotates between each of the member states, allowing each state six months to help direct the agenda of the EU.[citation needed]

Similarly, each state is assigned seats in Parliament according to their population (again, with the smaller countries receiving more seats per inhabitant than the larger ones). The members of the European Parliament have been elected by universal suffrage since 1979 (before that, they were seconded from national parliaments).[citation needed]

The national governments appoint one member each to the European Commission (in accord with its president), the European Court of Justice (in accord with other members) and the Court of Auditors. Historically, larger member states were granted an extra Commissioner. However, as the body grew, this right has been removed and each state is represented equally. The six largest states are also granted an Advocates General in the Court of Justice. Finally, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank includes the governors of the national central banks (who may or may not be government appointed) of each euro area country.[citation needed]

Original post:
Member state of the European Union - Wikipedia, the free ...