The European Union (EU for short)

Who is in the EU? This is the EU flag

1. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 The Countries of the EU 1.Finland 2. France 3. Denmark 4. Germany 5. Greece 6. Ireland 7. Italy 8. Luxembourg 9. Netherlands 10. Austria 11. Portugal 12. Spain 13. Belgium 14 1 18 14. Sweden 15. United Kingdom 16. Cyprus (Greek part), 17. the Czech Republic 18. Estonia 19. Hungary 20. Latvia 21. Lithuania 22. Malta 23. Poland 24. Slovakia 25. Slovenia. 20 3 21 6 15 9 23 13 4 17 8 24 10 19 2 25 27 7 26 11 12 5 22 16

What are the capital cities of all 28 countries?

Capital Cities of the EU Finland - Helsinki France - Paris Denmark - Copenhagen Germany - Berlin Greece - Athens Republic of Ireland - Dublin Italy - Rome Luxembourg - Luxembourg Netherlands - Amsterdam Austria -Vienna Portugal - Lisbon Spain - Madrid Belgium - Brussels Sweden - Stockholm 15. United Kingdom - London 16. Cyprus (Greek part) - Nicosia 17. Czech Republic - Prague 18. Estonia - Tallinn 19. Hungary - Budapest 20. Latvia - Riga 21. Lithuania - Vilnius 22. Malta - Valletta 23. Poland - Warsaw 24. Slovakia -Bratislava 25. Slovenia. – Lljubliana 26. Bulgaria - Sofia Romania – Bucharest Croatia

What is the European Union? – Task 1 1. The European Union is a group of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ whose _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ work together. To join you have to _ _ _ _ _ to follow the rules and in return you get certain benefits. Each country has to pay _ _ _ _ _ to be a _ _ _ _ _ _. They do this through paying _ _ _ _ _ . Countries _ _ _ _ because they think that they will benefit from the changes the _ _ makes. [Now make one sentence of your own up – include ‘UK’ in it.] countries governments member UK money taxes join spend EU agree live elephants

WHY JOIN?

How the EU has grown: 1957 It started with six members. 1973 It expanded to 9 countries, this is when the UK joined. 1981 Greece joined, so there were 10 members. 1986 Spain and Portugal joined to make it 12 EU countries. 1995 Three more countries joined making the current 15 members. 2004 Ten more countries joined. Most of them are from Eastern Europe. There are now 25 members. Talks began about Turkey joining. 2007 Two more countries joined bringing the total to 27 Lastly 2013 – Croatia joins now there are 28

These are the 28 countries in the EU with the dates when they joined. Austria 1995 Finland 1995 Sweden 1995 Hungary 2004 Poland 2004 Czech Republic 2004 Slovak Republic 2004 Slovenia 2004 Estonia 2004 Latvia 2004 Lithuania 2004 Malta 2004 Cyprus 2004 Belgium 1957 France 1957 Netherlands 1957 Germany 1957 Italy 1957 Luxembourg 1957 The 28 nation European Union has over 500 million citizens Denmark 1973 Ireland 1973 UK 1973 Greece 1981 Bulgaria 2007 Romania 2007 Croatia - 2013 Portugal 1986 Spain 1986

How do does a country join the EU? Countries have to prove certain things. They must show that they treat their people fairly, respect their human rights and allow them to vote in elections. They must show that their economies are properly run. That means the government is sensible about the amount of money it spends and does not interfere too much in the way people do business. Countries may also have to make changes to their laws so that they don't clash with the laws of the EU.

So what do you know?