Creating interregional community

In 1999, as many as 13 new countries were set to join the European Union by 2010. Already members were the founder members Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (1958), UK, Denmark and Ireland (1972), Greece (1981), Spain and Portugal (1986), Austria, Finland and Sweden (1995). The first wave of new countries is Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus. In the second wave are Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Malta.