how many countries are part of the eu post brexit 
britain s departure from the european union left 27 member states they are austria belgium bulgaria croatia cyprus the czech republic denmark estonia finland france germany greece hungary ireland italy latvia lithuania luxembourg malta the netherlands poland portugal romania slovakia slovenia spain and sweden the bottom linethe european union was established in november 1993 with the maastricht treaty the original members included belgium denmark france germany greece ireland italy luxembourg netherlands portugal spain and the united kingdom fifteen other countries would gain membership in the union rising nationalist sentiment coupled with concerns over the economy and british sovereignty led the majority of voters in the u k to vote to leave the eu britain left the union at the end of january 2020 in what is commonly called brexit but the move didn t come without challenges it required two years of negotiating a deal and a year long transition period before everything became final 