The new Europe
January 1st, 2010
The EU began in 1951, and the UK, Ireland, and Demark joined in 1973. Overthe next two decades, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Sweden, Finland, and Greecesigned up, leaving only Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland of theEuropean countries not kept behind the Soviet Iron Curtain outside the EU.But in May 2004, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic,Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta, and Cyprus became members. The significance of this expansion is profound, as it swept away the last vestiges of Soviet influence in Europe. The May 2004 expansion was the largest in terms of numbers of countries and their combined population of 75 million, adding roughly a quarter to the total population of the EU.There are plenty of super cheap flights between all of these European countries.
Entry Filed under: Travel