51 Getting closer to the EU M1 Countries and candidates of the EU 1.1 What do you know about the EU?  Form groups of 4 students and create a poster that illustrates everything you know about the “EU”. Include a wide variety of topics, such as concepts, hopes, and fears related to the EU. 2Work with a partner. You may use the Internet, if necessary. • Identify the countries on the map of Europe and name their capitals. • Name the language(s) spoken in each of the countries. • Find out the name of the nationality of each country (e.g. Germany > Germans). • List the countries in which the Euro is used as the official currency. Exercises The EU was not always as big as it is today. When European countries started to cooperate economically in 1951, only Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands participated. Over 1. Getting closer to the EU time, more and more countries decided to join. The union reached its current size of 28 member countries with the accession of Croatia on the 1 st of July 2013. 5 71051_1_1_2015_Inhalt_4.indd 5 21.01.15 10:38 Nu r z u Pr üf zw ec ke n Ei g tu m d es C .C .B uc hn er V er la gs