UPSC Prelims 2026 Q75: European Union Member States — Explained
Which of the following countries are members of the European Union?
1. Belarus
2. Poland
3. Germany
4. Switzerland
- 1, 2 and 4
- 1 and 4 only
- 2 and 3
- 2 and 4 only
Answer: (c) 2 and 3
Statement-wise explanation
- 1: incorrect — Belarus is not a member of the European Union. It is not an EU candidate country either. It is also outside the Council of Europe. Belarus is tied to Russia through the Union State and is a member of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union.
- 2: correct — Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. That was the EU's largest single enlargement, when ten countries joined together, most of them from Central and Eastern Europe. Poland is now one of the EU's 27 member states.
- 3: correct — Germany is a founding member. West Germany signed the 1957 Treaty of Rome with France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and that treaty created the European Economic Community. Since reunification in 1990, the whole of Germany has been inside the EU.
- 4: incorrect — Switzerland is not an EU member. It belongs to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In 1992 its voters narrowly rejected joining the European Economic Area. It deals with the EU through bilateral agreements and joined the Schengen area in 2008. Schengen membership does not make a country an EU member.
How to eliminate
This question mostly tests recall of the 27 EU members, but some basic knowledge narrows it quickly. Germany is a founding member of the European project, so any option without statement 3 can be set aside. Two of the four options leave statement 3 out. Next, Belarus is widely known as Russia's closest ally and sits in Russia-led groupings, so it cannot be in the EU. That removes every option that includes statement 1. Switzerland is the trap. It is in the middle of Europe, uses open Schengen borders and trades heavily with the EU, but it has stayed outside as an EFTA member. Facts to remember: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are EFTA states, not EU members, and Belarus has no EU membership track at all.
Know more
The European Union in brief
The EU is a political and economic union of 27 member states. It grew out of the European Economic Community, created by the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The Maastricht Treaty (1992, in force from 1993) turned it into the European Union. The United Kingdom left on 31 January 2020. The most recent country to join was Croatia, in 2013.
Enlargement milestones
| Year | Who joined |
|---|---|
| 1957–58 | Founders: Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands |
| 1995 | Austria, Finland, Sweden |
| 2004 | Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus, Malta |
| 2007 | Bulgaria, Romania |
| 2013 | Croatia |
European countries outside the EU: common traps
| Country | What it actually belongs to |
|---|---|
| Switzerland | EFTA, Schengen; tied to the EU by bilateral agreements |
| Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein | EFTA + European Economic Area + Schengen |
| Belarus | Union State with Russia, Eurasian Economic Union |
| United Kingdom | Left the EU in 2020 |
| Ukraine, Moldova | EU candidate countries, not members |
Three memberships that are easy to confuse
- Eurozone: only some EU members use the euro. Poland, for example, still uses the złoty.
- Schengen area: this includes non-EU states such as Switzerland and Norway.
- NATO: this is a military alliance. Membership overlaps with the EU but is not the same. Austria and Ireland are in the EU but not in NATO.
UPSC often mixes these groupings together, so learn each one's membership separately.
In the news
In January 2026, at the 16th India–EU Summit, India and the EU announced that they had concluded negotiations on the India–EU Free Trade Agreement. That put the EU and its 27 member states in the news during the months before Prelims.
NCERT Concepts to Revise
- Regional economic groupings: The question asks which countries belong to one regional economic grouping, the EU, so knowing how such groupings define membership helps.
- Regional trade blocs: The EU began as a trade bloc. This helps separate it from neighbouring trade arrangements such as EFTA that non-members join.