Map of the EU member states — European Union member states map
In the Map of the EU we see, the European Union (EU) consists of 27 member states in total. Each member state is party to the founding treaties of the union and thereby shares in the privileges and obligations of membership. Unlike members of other international organizations, the member states of the EU have agreed by treaty to shared sovereignty through the institutions as described of the European Union in some (but by no means all) aspects of government.
EU Member states must agree unanimously for the EU to adopt some policies; for others, collective decision making is by qualified majority voting. Subsidiarity, meaning that decisions are taken collectively if and only if they cannot realistically be taken for the Europe but individually, is a founding principle of the EU. In the 1950s, six core states founded the EU’s predecessor European Communities (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany).
“Map of the EU” remaining countries have acceded in subsequent enlargements. To accede, a state must fulfill the economic and political requirements known as the Copenhagen criteria, which require a candidate to have a democratic, free-market government together with the corresponding freedoms and institutions, and respect for the rule of law. Enlargement of the EU 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 acquits communautaire.
Until 2020, no member state had ever withdrawn or been suspended from the EU, though some dependent territories or semi-autonomous areas had previously left. The UK government invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union on 29 March 2017 to formally initiate the Brexit process. Completion occurred on 31 January 2020 (at 23:00 London time), with all other arrangements remained in place during a transition period, which ended at 23:00 GMT on the 31 December 2020, while future trading arrangements were discussed.
