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6 Member states and successive enlargements

Main articles: European Union member states, Enlargement of the European Union, Countries bordering the European Union.

Since 1 May, 2004, the European Union comprises 25 member states.

In 1952/ 1958 the six founding members were: Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Netherlands. Nineteen further states have since then joined in successive waves of enlargement:

Notes:

• Greenland, which was granted home rule by Denmark in 1979, left the European Communities in 1985, following a referendum.
• in 1990: the European Community territory and population was effectively enlarged when East Germany reunited with West Germany.

The next expansion is set to take place in 2007, with Bulgaria and Romania likely to join at that date. Croatia is also an official candidate, and is likely to join within a similar timescale. Turkey is the only other official candidate, though with a less definitive estimate for an accession date. Further information about future enlargements can be found in the Enlargement of the European Union article.

The total area of the 25 member states (2004) of the European Union is 3,892,685 km². Were it a country, it would be the seventh largest in the world by area. The number of EU citizens (all EU member state citizens or subjects, under the terms of the Maastricht treaty) in the 25 member EU is approximately 453 million as of March 2004. This would be the third largest in the world after India and China.

Many countries, such as Monaco and Andorra, while not being member states have special agreements with the union. (See the third country relationships with the EU article). In addition, most of the EFTA-members (the European Free Trade Association) are parties to the EEA-treaty (the European Economic Area), which means that these countries are participants in the single market.

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