Editing European Economic Community (section)

==Members==
{{Further|Member state of the European Union|Enlargement of the European Union}}

The six states that founded the EEC and the other two Communities were known as the "[[Inner Six|inner six]]" (the "outer seven" were those countries who formed the [[European Free Trade Association]]). The six were France, West Germany, Italy and the three [[Benelux]] countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The first enlargement was in 1973, with the accession of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Greece, Spain and Portugal joined in the 1980s. The former [[East Germany]] became part of the EEC upon German reunification in 1990. Following the creation of the EU in 1993, it has enlarged to include an additional sixteen countries by 2013.

[[File:Expansion of the European Communities 1973-1992.png|thumb|upright=1.35|{{Legend|darkgreen|Founding members of EEC}}{{Legend|darkblue|Later members of EEC}}]]

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! class="unsortable" | Flag
! [[Member State of the European Union|State]]
! [[List of European Union member states by accession|Accession]]
! class="unsortable" | Language(s)
! Currency
! Population<br />(1990)<ref>Data from [http://www.populstat.info/ Populstat.info] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326104705/http://www.populstat.info/ |date=26 March 2012 }}</ref>
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Belgium}}
| [[Belgium]]
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1957|3|25}}
| [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[French language|French]] and [[German language|German]]
| [[Belgian franc|Franc]] (fr.)<ref group="note" name="Francs">The Belgian and Luxembourgish francs were 1:1 and theoretically interchangeable as a single currency.</ref>
| {{Nts|10016000}}
|-
| {{Flagdeco|France}}
| [[France]]
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1957|3|25}}
| French
| [[French franc|Franc]] (F)
| {{Nts|56718000}}
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Germany}}
| [[West Germany]]/[[Germany]]<ref group="note">[[German reunification]] took place in 1990.</ref>
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1957|3|25}}
| German
| [[Deutsche Mark|Mark]] (DM)
| {{Nts|63254000}}<ref group="note">Including [[East Germany]]: 80,274,200</ref>
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Italy}}
| [[Italy]]
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1957|3|25}}
| [[Italian language|Italian]]
| [[Italian lira|Lira]] (Lit.)
| {{Nts|56762700}}
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Luxembourg}}
| [[Luxembourg]]
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1957|3|25}}
| French, German and [[Luxembourgish]]
| [[Luxembourgish franc|Franc]] (fr.)<ref group="note" name="Francs" />
| {{Nts|384400}}
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Netherlands}}
| [[Kingdom of the Netherlands|Netherlands]]
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1957|3|25}}
| Dutch and [[West Frisian language|Frisian]]
| [[Dutch guilder|Guilder]] (ƒ)
| {{Nts|14892300}}
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Denmark}}
| [[Denmark]]
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1973|1|1}}
| [[Danish language|Danish]]
| [[Danish krone|Krone]] (kr.)
| {{Nts|5146500}}
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Ireland}}
| [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1973|1|1}}
| [[Irish language|Irish]] and [[English language|English]]
| [[Irish pound|Punt]] (£)
| {{Nts|3521000}}
|-
| {{Flagdeco|United Kingdom}}
| [[United Kingdom]]
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1973|1|1}}
| English<ref group="note">And recognised regional languages: [[Cornish language|Cornish]], [[Scots Gaelic|Gaelic]], [[Irish language|Irish]], [[Scots language|Scots]], and [[Welsh language|Welsh]]</ref>
| [[Pound sterling|Sterling]] (£)
| {{Nts|57681000}}
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Greece}}
| [[Greece]]
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1981|1|1}}
| [[Greek language|Greek]]
| [[Modern drachma|Drachma]] (₯)
| {{Nts|10120000}}
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Portugal}}
| [[Portugal]]
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1986|1|1}}
| [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]
| [[Portuguese escudo|Escudo]] ([[File:Cifrão symbol.svg|15px]])
| {{Nts|9862500}}
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Spain}}
| [[Spain]]
| style="text-align:right" | {{dts|format=dmy|1986|1|1}}
| [[Spanish language|Spanish]]<ref group="note">And recognised regional languages: [[Aranese language|Aranese]], [[Basque language|Basque]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], and [[Galician language|Galician]]</ref>
| [[Spanish peseta|Peseta]] (₧)
| {{Nts|38993800}}
|}

Member states are represented in some form in each institution. The [[Council of the European Union|Council]] is also composed of one national minister who represents their national government. Each state also has a right to one [[European Commissioner]] each, although in the [[European Commission]] they are not supposed to represent their national interest but that of the Community. Prior to 2004, the larger members (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) have had two Commissioners. In the [[European Parliament]], members are [[Apportionment in the European Parliament|allocated a set number seats]] related to their population, however these ([[1979 European Parliament election|since 1979]]) have been directly elected and they sit according to political allegiance, not national origin. Most other institutions, including the [[European Court of Justice]], have some form of national division of its members.