For more than fifty years, since the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community under the Schuman Plan in 1950, the European Communities and subsequently the European Union (EU) have brought their Member States peace and stability.

The six founding members were: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

There have since been six rounds of enlargement:

1 January 1973: Accession of

Denmark	Ireland	United Kingdom

1 January 1981: Accession of

Greece

1 January 1986: Accession of

Portugal	Spain

1 January 1995: Accession of

Austria	Finland	Sweden

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1 May 2004: Accession of

Czech Republic	Cyprus	Estonia
Hungary	Latvia	Lithuania
Malta	Poland	Slovakia
Slovenia

1 January 2007: Accession of

Bulgaria	Romania

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So from 1 January 2007 the European Union includes a total of 27 Member States.