History of the European Union (2024)

This map, created by Lucas Destrem for the Robert Schuman Foundation, shows the history and present state of European Union membership.

The history of the European Union began after the end of the Second World War as a mechanism for cooperation between different European powers. Its origins can be traced back to the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, although the founding principles emerged after the Schuman Declaration and the Treaties of Rome in 1957, which gave rise to the European Economic Community and the European Community.

This map shows the history of the members of the European Union (a term coined in 1993), with different colours indicating their status and date of accession:

• In different shades of blue, members incorporated between 1957 and 1992.
• In different shades of green, members joined between 1992 and 2013.
• In yellow, the countries that officially had candidate status in 2024.
• In orange, countries that at some point applied for membership but chose not to continue with the process.
• In pink, the countries that applied for membership and were rejected.

All countries or regions that were once part of the European Union but have since withdrawn are shown with dotted lines. This is the case for Algeria (after independence from France), Greenland (in 1985) and the United Kingdom (after Brexit in 2020).

The map also shows the various referendums held in some countries to determine whether or not the country should join the European Union, in green when they were positive and in red when they were rejected.

Sources

• Twenty years after the largest-ever enlargement