There are currently 15 member states - but membership negotiations have begun with another 12.

The current members are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

The applicant countries are Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia in the first wave, and Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia in the second.

Turkey has also been admitted as a candidate country, but membership negotiations have not yet begun.