... peace and economic prosperity. It has helped to raise standards of living, built an internal market, launched the euro the Union's voice in the world. The European Union (EU) was set up after the 2nd World War. The process of European integration was launched on 9 May 1950 when France officially proposed to create 'the first concrete foundation of a European federation'. Six countries (Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) joined from the very beginning. Today, after four waves of accessions (1973: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom; 1981: Greece; 1986: Spain and Portugal; 1995: Austria, Finland and Sweden) the EU has 15 Member States and is preparing for the accession of 13 eastern and southern European countries. II. Economic Structure and Dimension of EU II. 1. Economic and Political Requirements for Candidate Countries In 1993, the Copenhagen European Council identified the economic and political requirements candidate countries will need to ...

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