EEC continued to accept new members: the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark in 1973; Greece in 1981; Spain and Portugal in 1986. And then, after the USSR collapsed in 1991, the way was open to pan-European integration. In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union; in 1999, a common currency, the euro, was created; and 27 nations now belong to the Union.
