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Enlargement (EU)
Practical Law UK Glossary 7-503-0404 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Enlargement (EU)
The process of expanding the EU through the accession of new member states. The EU currently has 27 member states. In addition to the first six member states (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands), 22 countries have acceded to the EU as follows:
- 1973: Denmark, Ireland and the UK.
- 1981: Greece.
- 1986: Spain and Portugal.
- 1995: Austria, Finland and Sweden.
- 2004: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
- 2007: Bulgaria and Romania.
- 2013: Croatia.
The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020.
Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey have the status of candidate countries.
The countries of the Western Balkans that are engaged in the stabilisation and association process have the status of potential candidate countries. Apart from the candidate countries, these are Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
For the latest information on the state of accession negotiations, see European Commission: Enlargement: Check current status.
For more information, see Practice notes: