European Union

European Union

Current (2011) member states of the European Union (EU) are:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• United Kingdom

Countries applying  to join are:

Acceding Countries

• None

Candidate countries

• Croatia (due to join 1 July 2013)
• The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
• Montenegro
• Turkey
• Iceland

Potential candidate countries

• Albania
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Kosovo under UN Security Council Resolution 1244
• Serbia

New Applications Received

• Montenegro (Dec 2008)
• Albania (April 2009)
• Iceland (July 2009)
• Serbia (Dec 2009)

Currency

Most countries in the EU either use the euro or plan to introduce it in the future.

The 17 EU countries that use the euro (on 1 Jan 2011) are:

Romania may join in 2014.

Denmark and the United Kingdom have 'opt-outs' from joining but can join in the future.
Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden are required to adopt the euro when they meet the conditions for entry.

There are 100 cent in a euro.
Examples of the recent rates are:

Switzerland is not in the EU and uses Swiss Francs.

EU euro website

euro information from Wikipedia.

European Central Bank

Europe Day 9th May

TIP: If you use Microsoft XP, Vista or Windows 7 you can get the “Microsoft Calculator Plus” which can download current conversion rates from the European Central Bank.