Connect present-day membership with a historical change.
The word “now” in the question contrasts the situation with the former GDR. After accession, the new states belonged to the same German state as the western Länder and were included in its European Community membership.
This did not create five new independent member countries. The five Länder are parts of Germany. Confusing a federal state with a country that is an EU member means counting at the wrong level.
The other three answers
Similar political names do not mean the same organisation.
the Warsaw Pact.
The Warsaw Pact was the GDR’s former military alliance. It is not the European community to which the new states belong as part of the Federal Republic.
OPEC.
OPEC is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. German unity did not mean Germany joining that organisation.
the European Defense Community.
The European Defence Community was an earlier project whose treaty failed in 1954. It is not another name for the EU.
Do not collapse 1990 and 1993 into one event.
Reunification took place on 3 October 1990. The Maastricht Treaty entered into force on 1 November 1993 and created the European Union. EU remains the correct catalogue answer; the historical explanation prevents the false claim that it was founded in 1990.
Europe as a continent, the European Union and a military alliance are not synonyms. Geographic location alone does not establish membership. This question concerns the united German state’s European integration.
Unity and Europe · European Union ↗1990: Community territory expands; 1993: the EU is created.
Select EU in the quiz, while distinguishing the two years in the historical explanation.
Three words for this question
- die Zugehörigkeitmembership / belonging
- A connection to a state or organisation.
- der Mitgliedstaatmember state
- A country belonging to an international organisation.
- die Gemeinschaftcommunity
- Here, a historical name for European cooperation before the EU.