Politics of The European Union - Component States

Component States

Further information: Member State of the European Union

There are twenty-seven member states who have conferred powers upon the EU institutions (other countries are tied to the EU in other ways). In exchange for conferring competencies, EU states are assigned votes in the Council, seats in Parliament and a European Commissioner among other things. The internal government of member states vary between presidential systems, monarchies, federations and microstates however all members must respect the Copenhagen criteria of being democratic, respecting human rights and having a free market economy. Members joined over time, starting with the original six in 1958 and more members joining in the near future.

Some member states are outside certain areas of the EU, for example the eurozone is composed of only 17 of the 27 members and the Schengen Agreement currently includes only 22 of the EU members. However the majority of these are in the process of joining these blocs. A number of countries outside the EU are involved in certain EU activities such as the euro, Schengen, single market or defence.