On 1 May 2004, the leaders of 10 acceding countries presented their flags to Pat Cox, the then European Parliament president. The EU grew from 15 to 25 with the inclusion of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The bloc now includes 27 countries – Croatia was the most recent addition, joining in 2022. The UK chose to leave the group in June 2016. The 10 member states represented a 20 percent increase in population, and the EU territory increased by almost the same percentage. The total GDP grew by about nine percent, while the GDP …