what are eu countries?
Czech Republic Estonia Denmark Finland France Austria Germany Belgium Cyprus Bulgaria
entailment
 Through successive enlargements , the European Union has grown from the six founding states — Belgium , France , West Germany , Italy , Luxembourg , and the Netherlands — to the current 28 . Countries accede to the union by becoming party to the founding treaties , thereby subjecting themselves to the privileges and obligations of EU membership . This entails a partial delegation of sovereignty to the institutions in return for representation within those institutions , a practice often referred to as " pooling of sovereignty " . 

entailment
 19 member states have joined a monetary union known as the eurozone , which uses the Euro as a single currency . The currency union represents 338 million EU citizens . The euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar . 

contradiction
 The European Union ( EU ) is a politico @-@ economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe . It has an area of 4 @,@ 324 @,@ 782 km2 ( 1 @,@ 669 @,@ 808 sq mi ) , and an estimated population of over 510 million . The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states . EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people , goods , services , and capital within the internal market , enact legislation in justice and home affairs , and maintain common policies on trade , agriculture , fisheries , and regional development . Within the Schengen Area , passport controls have been abolished . A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002 , and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency . 

contradiction
 In 1990 , after the fall of the Eastern Bloc , the former East Germany became part of the Community as part of a reunified Germany . With further enlargement planned to include the former communist states , as well as Cyprus and Malta , the Copenhagen criteria for candidate members to join the EU were agreed upon in June 1993 . 

entailment
 The predecessors of the European Union were not devised as a military alliance because NATO was largely seen as appropriate and sufficient for defence purposes . 22 EU members are members of NATO while the remaining member states follow policies of neutrality . The Western European Union , a military alliance with a mutual defence clause , was disbanded in 2010 as its role had been transferred to the EU . 
