EUROPEAN UNION political-economic alliance formed by a group of 21 democratic republics and 6 monarchies. The members of the Union have grown since the six founding States of 1957 (Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) ? to the 27 that today make up Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. Britain withdrew in 2020
