THE EU

THE EUROPEAN UNION



Member States

15 democratic States - 365 million citizens - voluntarily joined by a political desire to present a united front to the great challenges of our age: Germany, France, Italy, UK, Spain, Belgium, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg and Ireland. UK a member for 30 years.
12 other countries are applying for membership: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta,Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Most of these are expected to join by 2007, some by 2004.

Objectives

• To promote European unity;
• To improve living and working conditions for citizens;
• To foster economic development, balanced trade and fair competition;
• To reduce economic disparities between regions;
• To help developing countries;
• To preserve peace and freedom – the EU was originally conceived as the Coal and Steel Community to prevent another world war (coal and steel were c...