3. The European Union is a group of countries whose governments work together. It's a bit like a club. To join you have to agree to follow the rules and in return you get certain benefits. Each country has to pay money to be a member. They mostly do this through taxes. The EU uses the money to change the way people live and do business in Europe. Countries join because they think that they will benefit from the changes the EU makes.
4. All the places in Europe Belgium 1957 France 1957 Netherlands 1957 Germany 1957 Italy 1957 Luxembourg 1957 Denmark 1973 Ireland 1973 UK 1973 Greece 1981 Portugal 1986 Spain 1986 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 Bulgaria 2007 Romania 2007 In January 2007, the European Union had 494 million citizens.
