People do not join the European Union. Countries do. It is an organisation of countries, not of people. As a result of countries joining, people are living in countries that are in the European Union and can be called its citizens.
1995.
Countries are part of the Union. They apply to join. They are not elected to join. Countries can elect people to represent them in the European Union after they have joined.
Ten countries joined the European Union in 2004.
yesYes, Austria is next to Germany, in Europe.
European Union Membership Additions in 1995:AustriaFinlandSweden
No new countries joined in 2002. Prior to that, the last countries to join joined in 1995. The next set of countries joined in 2004.
The European Union is an organisation for countries in Europe, so the US could not join. There are over 50 countries in Europe, 28 of which are members of the European Union. There is no reason why the US would even want to join the European Union. It would make no sense for them to do so.
2004.
Norway and Switzerland do not want to join the European Union.
Some countries have chosen to retain their own currencies. Other countries do not yet meet the various economic criteria to join it. Some of these countries may choose to join it in the future.
Romania was forced by the Western European countries.