The EU stands for the European Union. It was formerly known as the European Economic Community (EEC), Common Market or European Community (EC).

The EU or EC comprises 27 individual countries, all with their own legal systems, governments, and in many cases, their own language or languages. These are called Member States of the EU. The Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, United Kingdom
The EEA is the European Economic Area, which, in addition to the 27 countries in the EU, adds the following countries: Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland.