Member state of the European Union

The <a href="/facts/European_Union/6GYcR8qM">European Union</a> (EU) is a political and economic union of <a href="/facts/Lists_of_member_states_of_the_European_Union/n1yT6wGt">27 member states</a> that are party to the EU's <a href="/facts/Treaties_of_the_European_Union/QbfJ2Ysc">founding treaties</a>, and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. They have agreed by the treaties to share their own sovereignty through the <a href="/facts/Institutions_of_the_European_Union/IEm4202Q">institutions of the European Union</a> in certain aspects of government. State governments must agree unanimously in the <a href="/facts/Council_of_the_European_Union/xlE6rYKb">Council</a> for the union to adopt some policies; for others, collective decisions are made by <a href="/facts/Qualified_majority_voting/dHsS3J3S">qualified majority voting</a>. These obligations and sharing of sovereignty within the EU (sometimes referred to as <a href="/facts/Supranational_union/egk4JRU8">supranational</a>) make it unique among international organisations, as it has established its own legal order which by the provisions of the founding treaties is <a href="/facts/Primacy_of_European_Union_law/4J8Eb6wH">both legally binding and supreme</a> on all the member states (after <a href="/facts/Costa_v_ENEL/xgqgjf6W">a landmark ruling of the ECJ in 1964</a>). A founding principle of the union is <a href="/facts/Subsidiarity/rKk0n9sJ">subsidiarity</a>, meaning that decisions are taken collectively if and only if they cannot realistically be taken individually.
Each member country appoints to the <a href="/facts/European_Commission/Cc5JgbEI">European Commission</a> a <a href="/facts/European_commissioner/AKI0GGyI">European commissioner</a>. The commissioners do not represent their member state, but instead work collectively in the interests of all the member states within the EU.
In the 1950s, <a href="/facts/Inner_Six/z19BktGW">six core states</a> founded the EU's predecessor <a href="/facts/European_Communities/cpFec2xY">European Communities</a> (<a href="/facts/Belgium/YKuMXP5j">Belgium</a>, <a href="/facts/France/CxIeIKM3">France</a>, <a href="/facts/Italy/tUf0PDYF">Italy</a>, <a href="/facts/Luxembourg/vRN04l7f">Luxembourg</a>, the <a href="/facts/Netherlands/y8xn5stT">Netherlands</a>, and <a href="/facts/West_Germany/oCydk787">West Germany</a>). The remaining states have acceded in subsequent <a href="/facts/Enlargement_of_the_European_Union/hLNe6JeA">enlargements</a>. To accede, a state must fulfil the economic and political requirements known as the <a href="/facts/Copenhagen_criteria/HzRTbMor">Copenhagen criteria</a>, which require a candidate to have a democratic government and <a href="/facts/Free-market/KnK7JohY">free-market</a> economy together with the corresponding freedoms and institutions, and respect for the <a href="/facts/Rule_of_law/BS8rbmel">rule of law</a>. Enlargement of the Union is also contingent upon the consent of all existing members and the candidate's adoption of the existing body of EU law, known as the <a href="/facts/Acquis_communautaire/VnrMcEDP">acquis communautaire</a>.
The <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom/kuPAILt2">United Kingdom</a>, which had acceded to the EU's predecessor in 1973, ceased to be an EU member state on 31 January 2020, in a political process known as <a href="/facts/Brexit/M80B3fIg">Brexit</a>. No other member state has withdrawn from the EU and none has been suspended, although some dependent territories or semi-autonomous areas have left.

Member state of the European Union open-in-new

Member state of the European Union