| European Union Member States |
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INTRODUCTION This is a list of European Union member states, their dates of application and accession. It shows the growth of the European Union and its predecessors through Enlargement from six members in 1952 to twenty-seven members in 2007/8; As Of 2006 , at least five (possibly six or even more) are expected to join in its future. The European Union '' Per Se '' was created on 1 November 1993 when the Treaty Of Maastricht came into effect. Twelve of the current 25 member states joined one of the Union's predecessors, either the European Coal And Steel Community (which came into existence on 23 July 1952 and ceased to exist exactly 50 years later), the European Economic Community (which came into existence on 1 January 1958 ), or the European Community (which came into existence on 1 July 1967 as a merger of ECSC, EEC and Euratom , and is one of the Three Pillars Of The European Union today). In addition to the current twenty-five member states, a number of other European states will join the European Union in the next two decades (see Enlargement Of The European Union ). Bulgaria and Romania have already finished accession negotiations; the official decision on their date of joining (either 1 January 2007 or 1 January 2008 ) will be taken in May 2006 during the Austrian Presidency Of The European Union . Croatia , the Republic Of Macedonia and Turkey are currently in various stages of the accession negotiations process, while the remaining states in the Balkans ( Albania , Bosnia And Herzegovina and Serbia And Montenegro ) are officially "potential candidate states", which means they have a clear perspective for accession over the course of the next decade. | ||
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