40 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
40 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
The **European Union** (**EU**) is a political and economic union of 27
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[states](List_of_States "wikilink") that are located primarily in
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Europe. Its members have a combined area of 4,233,255.3 km<sup>2</sup>
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(1,634,469.0 sq mi) and an estimated total population of about 447
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million. The EU has its own currency (the Euro), common market and [open
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borders](Open_Borders "wikilink").
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## History
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### Timeline
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- 1951: The European Coal and Steel Community is formed,
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[France](France "wikilink"), [Italy](Italy "wikilink"), [West
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Germany](West_Germany "wikilink"), [Belgium](Belgium "wikilink"),
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the [Netherlands](Netherlands "wikilink") and
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[Luxembourg](Luxembourg "wikilink") are the first members.
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- 1973: The UK, Ireland and Denmark (including Greenland) all join the
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EU.
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- 1986: Spain and Portugal join the EU
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- 1990: German reunification ensures East Germany is now a part of the
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EU.
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- 1995: Sweden, Finland and Austria join the EU.
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- 2004: Poland, Hungary, Cyprus, Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia,
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Latvia and Lithuania join the EU.
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- 2007: Romania and Bulgaria join the EU.
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- 2013: Croatia joins the EU.
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- 2016: The Brexit referendum in the UK announces British intentions
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to the leave the EU.
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- 2020: The UK formally leaves the EU.
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## Positives
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- The EU is the largest-scale example of open borders between
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nation-states and is largely successful.
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- No wars have broken out between EU member states since they have
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joined the EU. The continent that saw the [two
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biggest](World_War_I "wikilink") [wars](World_War_II "wikilink") in
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history soon became the most peaceful in the world.
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## Negatives |