19. Read the passage to get more information on the enlargement of the eu.

The EU began life in the 1950s as the European Economic Community with six founding members — Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. They created a new way of coming together to manage their joint interests, based essentially on economic integration. They were joined by Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom in 1973, Greece in 1981, and Spain and Portugal in 1986.

In 1992, a new treaty gave more responsibilities to the Community institutions and introduced new forms of cooperation between national governments, thus creating the European Union as such. The EU was enlarged in 1995 to include Austria, Finland and Sweden.

The Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia joined in 2004, followed in 2007 by Bulgaria and Romania. Three candidates, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey, have applied for membership.

In time the European Union may grow to 30 member states. The process of enlargement is sometimes referred to as European integration.

In order to join the European Union, a state needs to fulfill the economic and political conditions generally known as the Copenhagen criteria. Also, according to the EU Treaty, each current member state and the European Parliament have to agree.

A. Answer the following questions:

1. When was the European Union established?

2. What were the purposes of the European Union creation?

3. How many states were the first members of the European Union?

4. How many states are there in the European Union nowadays?

5. What should a state do in order to join the EU?

2. Fill in the table using the information from the text.

1952	… , France, … , Italy, Luxembourg, …
…	Denmark, … , ….
1981	…
…	… , Spain
1995	Austria, … , Sweden
2004	Cyprus, … … , Estonia, … , Latvia, … , Malta, … , Slovakia, Slovenia
…	…, Romania

2. Practise the pronunciation of the proper names and numerals (dates) from the table. Revise the rules of reading the dates:

30 March 1993 = ‘March the thirtieth, nineteen ninety-three’

1200 = ‘twelve hundred’

1305 = ‘thirteen hundred and five’ or ‘thirteen O five’

1910 = ‘nineteen (hundred and) ten’

1946 = ‘nineteen (hundred and) forty six’

2000 = ‘two thousand’

2005 = ‘two thousand and five’ or ‘twenty O five’

2012 = ‘two thousand and twelve’ or ‘twenty and twelve’.

2. Pay attention to the usage of articles with geographical names. Countries, states

No article: England, Great Britain, Britain, Ireland, Holland, France, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Greece, America, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, India, Mongolia, China, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Texas, California, Mississippi.

But: the Congo.

Article the: the United States of America (the U.S.A.) / the United States (the U.S.), the United Kingdom (the UK), the Russian Federation, the Netherlands, the Philippines; the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Cuba, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Spain, the State of California.

E. Using the table tell your fellow students what states and when joined the EU.