Member state of the European Union

Member states of the European Union
Map showing the member states of the European Union (clickable)
Category	Sovereign states
Location	European Union
Created	1952/1958
Number	28 (as of 2015)
Possible types	Republics (21) Monarchies (7)
Populations	508,191,116 (2015)
Areas	4,381,376 km²
Government	Parliamentary representative democracy (24) Semi-presidential representative democracy (3) Presidential representative democracy (1)

The European Union (EU) comprises 28 member states. Each member state is party to the founding treaties of the union and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. Unlike members of most international organisations, the member states of the EU are subjected to binding laws in exchange for representation within the common legislative and judicial institutions. Member states must agree unanimously for the EU to adopt policies concerning defence and foreign affairs. Subsidiarity is a founding principle of the EU.

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 No member state has withdrawn or been suspended from the EU, though some dependent territories or semi-autonomous areas have left.

List

Country name	Arms	Flag	Capital	Accession	Population	Area (km²)	GDP (Millions of US$)	GDP per cap. (PPP)	Currency	Gini	HDI	Council votes	EP seats	Languages	Territories
Austria			Vienna	1995	8,581,500	83,855	437,582	47,031	euro	29.1	0.895	10	18	German	–
Belgium			Brussels	1957Founder	11,258,434	30,528	534,230	43,800	euro	33.0	0.897	12	21	Dutch French German	–
Bulgaria			Sofia	2007	7,202,198	110,994	55,824	18,326	lev	29.2	0.782	10	17	Bulgarian	–
Croatia			Zagreb	2013	4,225,316	56,594	57,073	21,169	kuna	29	0.805	7	11	Croatian	–
Cyprus			Nicosia	2004	847,008	9,251	23,263	30,769	euro	31.2	0.848	4	6	Greek Turkish	2 excluded excludes: Northern Cyprus UN buffer zone
Czech Republic			Prague	2004	10,419,743	78,866	205,270	30,895	koruna	25.8	0.873	12	21	Czech	–
Denmark			Copenhagen	1973	5,653,357	43,075	342,362	45,451	krone	24.7	0.901	7	13	Danish	2 excluded excludes: Faroe Islands Greenland
Estonia			Tallinn	2004	1,313,271	45,227	26,506	27,994	euro	36.0	0.846	4	6	Estonian	–
Finland			Helsinki	1995	5,471,753	338,424	272,649	40,838	euro	26.9	0.892	7	13	Finnish Swedish	1 includes: Åland Islands
France			Paris	1957Founder	66,352,469	643,801	2,833,687	41,018	euro	32.7	0.893	29	74	French	6 + 7 excluded includes: French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique Mayotte Réunion Saint Martin excludes: New Caledonia Clipperton Island French Polynesia Saint Barthélemy Saint Pierre and Miquelon TAAF Wallis and Futuna
Germany			Berlin	1957Founder	81,089,331	357,021	3,874,437	46,895	euro	28.3	0.920	29	96	German	–
Greece			Athens	1981	10,846,979	131,990	237,970	26,773	euro	34.3	0.860	12	21	Greek	–
Hungary			Budapest	2004	9,855,571	93,030	136,989	25,895	forint	30.0	0.831	12	21	Hungarian	–
Ireland			Dublin	1973	4,625,885	70,273	250,814	51,118	euro	34.3	0.916	7	11	Irish English	–
Italy			Rome	1957Founder	61,438,480	301,338	2,147,744	35,811	euro	36.0	0.881	29	73	Italian	–
Latvia			Riga	2004	1,986,096	64,589	31,972	24,540	euro	35.7	0.814	4	8	Latvian	–
Lithuania			Vilnius	2004	2,921,262	65,200	48,288	28,210	euro	35.8	0.818	7	11	Lithuanian	–
Luxembourg			Luxembourg	1957Founder	562,958	2,586.4	65,683	93,173	euro	30.8	0.875	4	6	French German Luxembourgish	–
Malta			Valletta	2004	429,344	316	10,514	34,544	euro	25.8	0.847	3	6	Maltese English	–
Netherlands			Amsterdam	1957Founder	17,155,169	41,543	880,716	48,317	euro	30.9	0.921	13	26	Dutch	6 excluded excludes: Aruba Curaçao Sint Maarten Bonaire Sint Eustatius Saba
Poland			Warsaw	2004	38,005,614	312,685	547,894	26,210	złoty	34.9	0.821	27	51	Polish	–
Portugal			Lisbon	1986	10,374,822	92,390	229,948	27,624	euro	38.5	0.816	12	21	Portuguese	2 includes: Azores Madeira
Romania			Bucharest	2007	19,861,408	238,391	199,093	20,526	leu	31.5	0.786	14	32	Romanian	–
Slovakia			Bratislava	2004	5,403,134	49,035	99,869	29,209	euro	25.8	0.840	7	13	Slovak	–
Slovenia			Ljubljana	2004	2,062,874	20,273	49,570	30,508	euro	31.2	0.892	4	8	Slovene	–
Spain			Madrid	1986	46,439,864	504,030	1,406,538	34,899	euro	32.0	0.885	27	54	Spanish	4 includes: Canary Islands Ceuta Melilla Plazas de soberanía
Sweden			Stockholm	1995	9,790,000	449,964	570,591	47,228	krona	25.0	0.916	10	20	Swedish	–
United Kingdom			London	1973	64,767,115	243,610	2,950,039	40,676	pound sterling	36.0	0.875	29	73	English	1 + 13 excluded includes: Gibraltar excludes: Akrotiri and Dhekelia Anguilla British Antarctic Territory Bermuda Cayman Islands Falkland Islands British Indian Ocean Territory Montserrat Pitcairn Islands Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands British Virgin Islands

Notes

Enlargement

Main article: Enlargement of the European Union

The continental territories of the member states of the European Union (European Communities pre-1993), animated in order of accession.

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.

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, leaving just the UK, Ireland and Denmark to join. But despite the setbacks, and the withdrawal of Greenland from Denmark's membership in 1985, three more countries joined the Communities before the end of the Cold War. In 1987, the geographical extent of the project was tested when Morocco applied, and was rejected as it was not considered a European country.

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, though Switzerland, which applied in 2002, froze its application due to opposition from voters while Norway, which had applied once more, had its voters reject membership again. 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. 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. Albania, 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 2005.

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. 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).

Representation

The flags of the EU and the then-25 member states seen outside the European Parliament in 2004

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.

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).

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 European 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.

The larger states traditionally carry more weight in negotiations, however smaller states can be effective impartial mediators and citizens of smaller states are often appointed to sensitive top posts to avoid competition between the larger states. This, together with the disproportionate representation of the smaller states in terms of votes and seats in parliament, gives the smaller EU states a greater clout than normally attributed to a state of their size. However most negotiations are still dominated by the larger states. This has traditionally been largely through the "Franco-German motor" but Franco-German influence has diminished slightly following the influx of new members in 2004 (see G6).

Sovereignty

Article 4

1. In accordance with Article 5, competences not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with the member states.
2. The Union shall respect the equality of member states before the Treaties as well as their national identities, inherent in their fundamental structures, political and constitutional, inclusive of regional and local self-government. It shall respect their essential State functions, including ensuring the territorial integrity of the State, maintaining law and order and safeguarding national security. In particular, national security remains the sole responsibility of each member state.
3. Pursuant to the principle of sincere cooperation, the Union and the member states shall, in full mutual respect, assist each other in carrying out tasks which flow from the Treaties. The member states shall take any appropriate measure, general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the Treaties or resulting from the acts of the institutions of the Union. The member states shall facilitate the achievement of the Union's tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the Union's objectives.

- Article 4 of the Treaty on European Union

While the member states are sovereign, the union partially follows a supranational system that is comparable to federalism. Previously limited to European Community matters, the practice, known as the "community method", is currently used in most areas of policy. Combined sovereignty is delegated by each member to the institutions in return for representation within those institutions. This practice is often referred to as "pooling of sovereignty". Those institutions are then empowered to make laws and execute them at a European level.

If a state fails to comply with the law of the European Union, it may be fined or have funds withdrawn.

In contrast to other organisations, the EU's style of integration has "become a highly developed system for mutual interference in each other's domestic affairs". However, on defence and foreign policy issues (and, pre-Lisbon Treaty, police and judicial matters) less sovereignty is transferred, with issues being dealt with by unanimity and cooperation. Very early on in the history of the EU, the unique state of its establishment and pooling of sovereignty was emphasised by the Court of Justice:

By creating a Community of unlimited duration, having its own institutions, its own personality, its own legal capacity and capacity of representation on the international plane and, more particularly, real powers stemming from a limitation of sovereignty or a transfer of powers from the States to Community, the Member States have limited their sovereign rights and have thus created a body of law which binds both their nationals and themselves...The transfer by the States from their domestic legal system to the Community legal system of the rights and obligations arising under the Treaty carries with it a permanent limitation of their sovereign rights.

— European Court of Justice 1964, in reference to case of Costa v ENEL

Yet, as sovereignty still originates from the national level, it may be withdrawn by a member state who wishes to leave. Hence, if a law is agreed that is not to the liking of a state, it may withdraw from the EU to avoid it. This however has not happened as the benefits of membership are often seen to outweigh the potentially negative impact of a specific law.

The question of whether EU law is superior to national law is subject to some debate. The treaties do not give a judgement on the matter but court judgements have established EU's law superiority over national law and it is affirmed in a declaration attached to the Treaty of Lisbon (the European Constitution would have fully enshrined this). Some national legal systems also explicitly accept the Court of Justice's interpretation, such as France and Italy, however in Poland it does not override the national constitution, which it does in Germany. The exact areas where the member states have given legislative competence to the EU are as follows. Every area not mentioned remains with member states.

Competences of the European Union in relation to those of its member states

Exclusive competence	Shared competence		Supporting competence
The Union has exclusive competence to make directives and conclude international agreements when provided for in a Union legislative act as to … the customs union the establishing of the competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal market monetary policy for the Member States whose currency is the euro the conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy Common Commercial Policy conclusion of certain international agreements	Member States cannot exercise competence in areas where the Union has done so, that is … the internal market social policy, for the aspects defined in this Treaty economic, social and territorial cohesion agriculture and fisheries, excluding the conservation of marine biological resources environment consumer protection transport trans-European networks energy the area of freedom, security and justice common safety concerns in public health matters, for the aspects defined in this Treaty	Union exercise of competence shall not result in Member States being prevented from exercising theirs in … research, technological development and (outer) space development cooperation, humanitarian aid The Union coordinates Member States policies or implements supplemental to their common policies not covered elsewhere in … the coordination of economic, employment and social policies common foreign, security and defence policies	The Union can carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement Member States' actions in … the protection and improvement of human health industry culture tourism education, youth, sport and vocational training civil protection (disaster prevention) administrative cooperation

As a result of the European sovereign debt crisis, some eurozone states required a bailout from the EU via the European Financial Stability Facility and European Financial Stability Mechanism (to be replaced by the European Stability Mechanism from 2013). In exchange for their bailout, Greece was required to accept a large austerity plan including privatisations and a sell off of state assets. In order to ensure that Greece complies with the EU's demands, a "large-scale technical assistance" from the European Commission and other member states has been deployed to Greek government ministries. Some, including the President of the Euro Group Jean-Claude Juncker, state that "the sovereignty of Greece will be massively limited." The situation of the bailed out countries (Greece, Portugal and Ireland) has been described as being a ward or protectorate of the EU with some such as the Netherlands calling for a formalisation of the situation.

Opt-outs

Main article: Opt-outs in the European Union

A number of states are less integrated into the EU than others. In most cases this is because those states have gained an opt-out from a certain policy area. The most notable is the opt-out from the Economic and Monetary Union, the adoption of the euro as sole legal currency. Most states outside the Eurozone are obliged to adopt the euro when they are ready, but Denmark and the United Kingdom have obtained the right to retain their own independent currencies.

Ireland and the United Kingdom also do not participate in the Schengen Agreement, which eliminates internal EU border checks. Denmark has an opt out from the Common Security and Defence Policy; Denmark, Ireland and the UK have an opt-out on police and justice matters and Poland and the UK have an opt out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Outermost regions

Further information: Special member state territories and the European Union

There are a number of overseas member state territories which are legally part of the EU, but have certain exemptions based on their remoteness. These "outermost regions" have partial application of EU law and in some cases are outside of Schengen or the EU VAT area - however they are legally within the EU. They all use the euro as their currency.

Territory	Member State	Location	Area km2	Population	Per capita GDP (EU=100)	EU VAT area	Schengen area
Azores	Portugal	Atlantic Ocean	2,333	237,900	66.7	Yes	Yes
Canary Islands	Spain	Atlantic Ocean	7,447	1,715,700	93.7	No	Yes
French Guiana	France	South America	84,000	161,100	50.5	No	No
Guadeloupe	France	Caribbean	1,710	425,700	50.5	No	No
Madeira	Portugal	Atlantic Ocean	795	244,800	94.9	Yes	Yes
Saint-Martin	France	Caribbean	52	25,000	61.9	No	No
Martinique	France	Caribbean	1,080	383,300	75.6	No	No
Réunion	France	Indian Ocean	2,512	837,868	61.6	No	No
Mayotte	France	Indian Ocean	374	212,645		No	No

Political systems

Further information: List of European Union member states by political system

  presidential republic

  semi-presidential republic

  parliamentary republic

  parliamentary constitutional monarchy

Entry to the EU is limited to liberal democracies and Freedom House ranks all EU states as being totally free electoral democracies. All but 4 are ranked at the top 1.0 rating. However, the exact political system of a state is not limited, with each state having its own system based on its historical evolution.

The majority of member states—17 out of 28—are parliamentary republics, while seven states are constitutional monarchies, meaning they have a monarch although political powers are exercised by elected politicians. Most republics and all the monarchies operate a parliamentary system whereby the head of state (president or monarch) has a largely ceremonial role with reserve powers. That means most power is in the hands of what is called in most of those countries the prime minister, who is accountable to the national parliament. Of the remaining republics, three operate a semi-presidential system, where competencies are shared between the president and prime minister, while one republic operates a presidential system, where the president is head of state and government.

The EU is divided between unicameral (single chamber) and bicameral (dual chamber) parliaments, with 15 unicameral national parliaments and 13 bicameral parliaments. The prime minister and government are usually directly accountable to the directly-elected lower house and require its support to stay in office—the exception being Cyprus with its presidential system. Upper houses are composed differently in different member states: it can be directly elected like the Polish senate, indirectly elected, for example, by regional legislatures like the Federal Council of Austria, unelected, but representing certain interest groups like the National Council of Slovenia, unelected (though by and large appointed by elected officials) as a remnant of a non-democratic political system in earlier times (as in the House of Lords in the United Kingdom). Most (though not all) elections in the EU use some form of proportional representation. The most common type of proportional representation is the party-list system.

There are also differences in the level of self-governance for the sub-regions of a member state. Most states, especially the smaller ones, are unitary states; meaning all major political power is concentrated at the national level. 10 states allocate power to more local levels of government. Austria, Belgium and Germany are full federations, meaning their regions have constitutional autonomies. Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, and Portugal are federacies, meaning some regions have autonomy but most do not. Spain and Italy have system of devolution where regions have autonomy, but the national government retains the right to revoke it. The United Kingdom has a mixture of federacy and devolution as only some of its regions enjoy a system of devolution while others are ruled directly from the national government.

States such as France have a number of overseas territories, retained from their former empires. Some of these territories such as French Guiana are part of the EU (see outermost regions, above) while others are related to the EU or outside it, such as the Falkland Islands.

Withdrawal and suspension

Main article: Withdrawal from the European Union

As of 2015, no member state has withdrawn from the EU. However Greenland, as a territory, did so when gaining home rule from a member state (Denmark). The Lisbon Treaty made the first provision of a member state to leave. The procedure for a state to leave is outlined in TEU Article 50 which also makes clear that "Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements". Although it calls for a negotiated withdrawal between the seceding state and the rest of the EU, if no agreement is reached two years after the seceding state announced its intention to leave, it would cease to be subject to the treaties anyway (thus ensuring a right to unilateral withdrawal).

There are a number of independence movements within member states (such as Catalonia, Flanders, and Scotland). Were a territory of a member state to secede but wish to remain in the EU, some scholars claim it would need to reapply to join as if it were a new country applying from scratch. However, other studies claim internal enlargement is legally viable if, in case of a member state dissolution or secession, the resulting states are all considered successor states. There is also an European Citizens' Initiative that aims at guaranteeing the continuity of rights and obligations of the European citizens belonging to a new state arising from the democratic secession of a European Union member state.

TEU Article 7 provides for the suspension of certain rights of a member state. Introduced in the Treaty of Amsterdam, Article 7 outlines that if a member persistently breaches the EU's founding principles (liberty, democracy, human rights and so forth, outlined in TEU Article 2) then the European Council can vote to suspend any rights of membership, such as voting and representation as outlined above. Identifying the breach requires unanimity (excluding the state concerned), but sanctions require only a qualified majority.

The state in question would still be bound by the obligations treaties and the Council acting by majority may alter or lift such sanctions. The Treaty of Nice included a preventative mechanism whereby the Council, acting by majority, may identify a potential breach and make recommendations to the state to rectify it before action is taken against it as outlined above. However the treaties do not provide any mechanism to expel a member state outright.

Related states

An Euler diagram showing the relationships between various multinational European organisations and agreements

There are a number of countries with strong links with the EU, similar to elements of membership. Following Norway's decision not to join the EU, it remained one of the members of the European Economic Area which also includes Iceland and Liechtenstein (all former members have joined the EU, and Switzerland rejected membership). The EEA links these countries into the EU's market, extending the four freedoms to these states. In return, they pay a membership fee and have to adopt most areas of EU law (which they do not have direct impact in shaping). The democratic repercussions of this have been described as "fax democracy" (waiting for new laws to be faxed in from Brussels rather than being involved in drafting them).

A different example is Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has been under international supervision. The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina is an international administrator who has wide ranging powers over Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure the peace agreement is respected. The High Representative is also the EU's representative, and is in practice appointed by the EU. In this role, and since a major ambition of Bosnia and Herzegovina is to join the EU, the country has become a de facto protectorate of the EU. The EU appointed representative has the power to impose legislation and dismiss elected officials and civil servants, meaning the EU has greater direct control over Bosnia and Herzegovina than its own states. Indeed, the state's flag was inspired by the EU's flag.

In the same manner as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo is under heavy EU influence, particularly after the de facto transfer from UN to EU authority. In theory Kosovo is supervised by EU missions, with justice and policing personal training and helping to build up the state institutions. However the EU mission does enjoy certain executive powers over the state and has a responsibility to maintain stability and order. Like Bosnia, Kosovo has been termed an "EU protectorate".

However, there is also the largely defunct term of associate member. It has occasionally been applied to states which have signed an association agreement with the EU. Associate membership is not a formal classification and does not entitle the state to any of the representation of free movement rights that full membership allows. The term is almost unheard of in the modern context and was primarily used in the earlier days of the EU with countries such as Greece and Turkey. Turkey's association agreement was the 1963 Ankara Agreement, from this it is drawn that Turkey became an associate member on that day. Present association agreements include the Stabilisation and Association Agreements with the western Balkans; these states are no longer termed "associate members".

See also

• Currencies of the European Union
• Economy of the European Union
• Special Member State territories
• EU relationships with Europe's Microstates
• EU integration with the EFTA States

External links

• Member States – Europa