 | In the beginning, six countries – Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – founded the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, followed by the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community in 1957. |
| Five successive enlargements have followed since then: |
 | In 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Union. |
 | In 1981, Greece became a Member State. |
 | In 1986, Spain and Portugal became members. |
 | In 1995, Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the EU. |
 | In 2004, Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia joined. It was a historic enlargement which signified the re-unification of Europe after decades of division. |
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 | On 1 January 2007 Romania and Bulgaria also joined, completing this historic process. |
