New Member of EU European Union Elected / Members of European
Union EU
Croatia
has become the 28th member of the European Union. Crowds celebrated Croatia’s entry with fireworks and festive
crowds gathered on the streets to mark Croatia's entry into the European
Union.
EU officials say it is a remarkable moment for a country
which only 20 years ago was in the middle of a brutal war of independence from
the former Yugoslavia.
"As midnight struck, your country crossed an important
threshold," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy told the cheering
crowd in Croatia's capital Zagreb. "It will
change the life of this nation for good."
Croatia
is the first new member since Bulgaria
and Romania
joined in 2007. After Slovenia,
Croatia
is the second former Yugoslav republic to join the EU.
What is European Union?
The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union
of 28 member states that are located primarily in
Europe.
The EU operates through a system of supranational independent institutions and
intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states. Institutions of
the EU include the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the
European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European
Central Bank, the Court of Auditors, and the European Parliament. The European
Parliament is elected every five years by EU citizens.
The EU formed by the Inner Six countries in 1951 and 1958, respectively.
A member state of the European Union is a state that is
party to treaties of the European Union (EU) and thereby subject to the
privileges and obligations of EU membership. EU membership places each member
under binding laws in exchange for representation in the EU's legislative and
judicial institutions.
