The EU have 27 member states since 2007 with the addition of Romania and Bulgaria. Negotiations are also underway with other states. The process of enlargement is sometimes referred to as European integration. However, this term is also used to refer to the intensification of cooperation between EU member states as national governments allow for the gradual centralising of power within European institutions. In order to join the European Union, a state needs to fulfill the economic and political conditions generally known as the Copenhagen criteria. That basically requires a secular, democratic government, rule of law and corresponding freedoms and institutions. According to the EU Treaty, each current member state and also the European Parliament have to agree to any enlargement.

	parliamentary representative democracy consisting of nine federal states and is one of six European countries that have declared permanent neutrality and one of the few countries that included the concept of everlasting neutrality in their constitution. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955 and joined the European Union in 1995.
	The international organisations, such as NATO .
	Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north, mostly along the Danube. Bulgaria is an active member of NATO and joined the European Union on January 1, 2007. The country has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, and is a founding member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe .
	Kastelorizo. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The Republic of Cyprus is divided into six districts. A former British colony, the Republic of Cyprus gained independence in 1960 while the United Kingdom retained two Sovereign Base Areas. The Republic of Cyprus has been a member state of the European Union since 1 May 2004.
	The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe and a member state of the European Union. The country has borders with Poland to the north, Germany to the northwest and west, Austria to the south, and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is the historic Prague, a major tourist attraction. Other major cities include Brno, Ostrava, Zlín, Plzeň, Pardubice, Hradec Králové, České Budějovice, Liberec, Olomouc, and Ústí nad Labem. The country is composed of two entire historic regions, Bohemia and Moravia, and parts of Silesia.
	The Scandinavian Model" of public services. Denmark has historically controlled the approach to the Baltic Sea, also known as the Danish straits .
	Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. Estonia has land borders to the south with fellow Baltic state Latvia (339 km) and Russia (229 km) to the east. It is separated from Finland in the north by the narrow Gulf of Finland and from Sweden in the west by the Baltic Sea. Estonia has been a member of the European Union since May 1, 2004 and of the NATO since March 29, 2004. Estonia is a constitutional democracy, with a president elected by its unicameral parliament.
	The autonomous province of Finland. Finland joined the European Union in 1995, where it is an advocate of federalism contrary to the other Nordic countries that are predominantly supportive of confederalism .
	La Francophonie, the G8, and the Latin Union .
	democratic parliamentary federal republic of 16 states. The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 and the G4 nations, and is a founding member of the European Union . It is the European Union's most populous and most economically powerful member state.
	Northern Africa and the Middle East. Today, Greece is a developed country, a member of the European Union since 1981 and a member of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union since 2001.
	Maastricht criteria .
	The Republic of Ireland is the official description of the sovereign state which covers approximately five-sixths of the island of Ireland, off the coast of north-west Europe. The state's constitutional name is Ireland and this is how international organisations and residents usually refer to the country. It is a member of the European Union, has a developed economy and a population of slightly more than 4.2 million. The remaining sixth of the island of Ireland is known as Northern Ireland and is politically an administrative part of the United Kingdom.
	Roman Catholic Church. Italy is a member of the G8 and a founding member of what is now the European Union, having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957.
	Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with two fellow Baltic states – Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south – and both Russia and Belarus to the east. In the west, Latvia shares a maritime border with Sweden. The capital of Latvia is Riga. Latvia has been a member state of the European Union since May 1, 2004. Latvia still has one of the lowest standards of living in the EU, though its economy has one of the highest growth rates.
	Baltic States situated along the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland and the Russian exclave of the Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest. Lithuania has been a member state of the European Union since May 1, 2004. Lithuania joined the United Nations on September 17, 1991. On May 31, 2001, Lithuania became the 141st member of the World Trade Organization .
	The capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions and agencies of the European Union.
	flag bears a replica of that award.
	The Netherlands is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba. The Netherlands, often incorrectly referred to as Holland, is located in northwestern Europe bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east. The country is host to the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court at The Hague. The Netherlands is a member of the Benelux cooperation, was among the founding members of NATO and among the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community.
	Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Russia and Lithuania to the north. It also shares a maritime border with Denmark and Sweden. Today, as the 6th most populated member state of the European Union, Poland is a liberal democracy made up of sixteen voivodeships. Poland is also a member of NATO, the United Nations, and the World Trade Organization.
	Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal. Portugal was one of the world's major economic, political, and cultural powers during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portugal is a member of the European Union, the United Nations, and a founding member of the Eurozone, OECD, and NATO .
	Carpathian mountains run through its center. The capital and largest city of Romania is Bucharest. Romania has been an active member of NATO since 2004, and also a member of the European Union .
	landlocked republic in Central Europe with a population of over five million. Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria in the west, Poland in the north, Ukraine in the east and Hungary in the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava. Slovakia is a parliamentary democratic republic with a multi-party system, and has been a member of the European Union since May 1, 2004.
	La Francophonie .
	parliamentary monarchy. Spain borders Portugal and Gibraltar to the south, France and Andorra along the Pyrenees mountains, and through its cities in North Africa Morocco . Spain joined the EU in 1986 and on January 1, 1999, adopted the Euro as its national currency.
	The Oresund Bridge. Its citizens enjoy a high standard of living in a country that is generally perceived as modern and liberal. Sweden joined the European Union in 1995, however, in a 2003 consultative referendum, Swedish citizens declined to adopt the Euro .
	The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country and sovereign state that is situated to the north west of mainland Europe. The United Kingdom is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, and its ancillary bodies of water. The mainland is linked to France by the Channel Tunnel, with Northern Ireland sharing a land border with the Republic of Ireland. The United Kingdom is a political union made up of four constituent countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK is a member of the G8, founding member of NATO, the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Nations, and member or the EU since 1973.