History of the European Union since 2004 the decision on 31 March 2010 to abolish the Western European Union. In 2007, the fifth enlargement completed with the accession of Romania and Bulgaria on 1 January. 53 MEPs joined the Parliament along with two commissioners, for which two new posts were created in the Commission. The post created for the Romanian Commissioner was Multilingualism, which was criticised by some for its narrow scope. Negotiating process with Croatia as an official candidate country had been stalled for 10 months due to Slovenia's blockade of Croatia's EU accession, which was lifted in September 2009 after an agreement. Croatia has since
History of the European Union (1993–2004) to 25 members, the largest single expansion in its history. Its population jumped from 381 million to 456 million and its size grew from 3367 to 4104 thousand km² (See Enlargement Statistics). The 10 countries also brought with them 162 MEPs and 10 Commissioners, who joined the Prodi Commission on 1 May. History of the European Union (1993–2004) The history of the European Union between 1993 and 2004 was the period between its creation (replacing the European Economic Community) and the 2004 enlargement. The European Union was created at the dawn of the post–Cold War era and saw a series