Enlargement has been one of the biggest success stories in the construction of the modern Europe. It has made a decisive contribution to the creation of a space in the Continent which has peace, stability, prosperity and democracy, based on respect for Human Rights and the Rule of Law.

Since the birth of the current European Union, at the start of the 1950s, successive enlargements have extended the kernel of the initial 6 States to the current 27.

Furthermore, 1 May 2004 witnessed one of the most important steps taken in the history of European unification, with the accession of ten States from Central Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, which was the biggest enlargement in terms of the number of countries, area and population the Union has had until now. This enlargement, the fifth for the EU, was completed on 1 January 2007 with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania.

This has been a key moment in the History of Europe and the World. The Union has fulfilled the political and moral obligation to reunify the European family after the fall of the Berlin Wall. As such it maintains its original vocation of uniting Europeans and overcoming the deep post-war divisions within Europe.

Founding members:
Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

First Enlargement
1 January 1973: Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom

Second Enlargement
1 January 1981: Greece

Third Enlargement
1 January 1986: Spain, Portugal

Fourth Enlargement
1 January 1995: Austria, Finland, Sweden

Fifth Enlargement
1 May 2004: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia.
1 January 2007: Bulgaria, Romania

For more information on enlargement, please consult:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/index_pt.htm