Transition economy to the IMF, Iran is in transition to a market economy, demonstrating early stages of a transition economy. The eight first-wave accession countries, which joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia) and the two second-wave accession countries that joined on 1 January 2007 (Romania and Bulgaria) have completed the transition process. According to the World Bank, "the transition is over" for the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. It can be also understood as all countries of the Eastern Bloc. "Transition economics" is a special branch
Member state of the European Union countries of Austria, Finland and Sweden acceded to the new European Union, though Switzerland, which applied in 1992, froze its application due to opposition from voters while Norway, which had applied once more, had its voters reject membership again. Meanwhile, the members of the former Eastern Bloc and Yugoslavia were all starting to move towards EU membership. Eight of these, plus Cyprus and Malta, joined in a major enlargement on 1 May 2004 symbolising the unification of East and Western Europe in the EU. They were followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, then Croatia in 2013. The EU has