Montenegro

emerged as a sovereign state after just over 55% of the population opted for independence in a May 2006 referendum.

The vote heralded the end of the former Union of Serbia and - itself created only three years earlier out of the remnant of the former Yugoslavia.

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The EU-brokered deal forming it was intended to stabilise the region by settling Montenegrin demands for independence from Serbia and preventing further changes to Balkan borders.

The same deal also contained the seeds of the union's dissolution. It stipulated that after three years the two republics could hold referendums on whether to keep or scrap it. opted for the latter.

Monaco

is the second-smallest independent state in the world. It is a playground for tourists and a haven for the wealthy, the former drawn by its climate and the beauty of its setting and the latter by its advantageous tax regime.

The country - a constitutional monarchy - is surrounded on three sides by France and occupies just under two square kilometres (0.75 sq mile) of the Cote d'Azur, where the Alpes Maritimes meet the Mediterranean.

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Tourism drives 's economy; gamblers flock to the Place du Casino in Monte-Carlo and every May the principality hosts the Grand Prix.

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The country is a major banking centre and closely guards the privacy of its clients.

But it has also been the focus of French concerns about its tax policy and has been accused of tolerating money-laundering - claims it strongly denies.

The principality was identified as a tax haven by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2003. It was subsequently placed on the OECD's blacklist of uncooperative tax havens, remaining there until 2009.

does not levy income tax on its residents.

Moldova

Sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, emerged as an independent republic following the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

The bulk of it, between the rivers Dniester and Prut, is made up of an area formerly known as Bessarabia. This territory was annexed by the USSR in 1940 following the carve-up of Romania in the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact between Hitler's Germany and Stalin's USSR.

Two-thirds of ns are of Romanian descent, the languages are virtually identical and the two countries share a common cultural heritage.

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The industrialised territory to the east of the Dniester, generally known as Trans-Dniester or the Dniester region, was formally an autonomous area within Ukraine before 1940 when the Soviet Union combined it with Bessarabia to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

This area is mainly inhabited by Russian and Ukrainian speakers. As people there became increasingly alarmed at the prospect of closer ties with Romania in the tumultuous twilight years of the Soviet Union, Trans-Dniester unilaterally declared independence from in 1990.

There was fierce fighting there as it tried to assert this independence following the collapse of the USSR and the declaration of n sovereignty. Hundreds died. The violence ended with the introduction of Russian peacekeepers. Trans-Dniester's independence has never been recognised and the region has existed in a state of lawless and corrupt limbo ever since.

The region reasserted its demand for independence and also expressed support for a plan ultimately to join Russia in a September 2006 referendum which was unrecognised by Chisinau and the international community.

It still houses a stockpile of old Soviet military equipment and a contingent of troops of the Russian 14th army. Withdrawal began under international agreements in 2001 but was halted when the Trans-Dniester authorities blocked the dispatch of weapons. Subsequent agreements to resume did not reach fruition as relations between Moscow and Chisinau cooled.

The n parliament granted autonomous status to the Turkic-language speaking Gagauz region in the southwest of the republic in late 1994. It has powers over its own political, economic and cultural affairs.

is one of the poorest countries in Europe and has a large foreign debt and high unemployment. Its once-flourishing wine trade has been in decline and it is heavily dependent on Russia for energy supplies.

The Russian gas supplier Gazprom cut the gas supply off at the beginning of 2006 when refused to pay twice the previous price. A temporary compromise arrangement was reached soon afterwards and the two sides agreed a new price in July 2006 with a further rise in 2007.

Gas supplies were cut off again for several weeks in January 2009, this time as a result of a dispute over prices between supplier Russia and transit country Ukraine.

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Population: 3.6 million (UN, 2010) Capital: Chisinau Area: 33,800 sq km (13,050 sq miles) Major languages: n, Russian Major religion: Christianity Life expectancy: 66 years (men), 73 years (women) Monetary unit: 1 leu

Malta

The Maltese archipelago includes the islands of , Gozo, Comino, Comminotto and Filfla.

It has a history of colonial control spanning centuries.

Located south of the Italian island of Sicily between Europe and North Africa, it has been occupied by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and latterly France and Britain.

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Independence from Britain was achieved in 1964, after the Maltese people were awarded the George Cross for defending the island during World War II.

Forty years on was the smallest of the 10 countries to join the EU in May 2004. It joined the eurozone in 2008.

Macedonia

was spared the inter-ethnic violence that raged elsewhere in the Balkans following the break-up of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s but it came close to civil war a decade after independence.

Rebels staged an uprising in early 2001, demanding greater rights for the ethnic Albanian minority. The conflict created a wave of refugees and the rebels made territorial gains.

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After months of skirmishes, EU and Nato support enabled the president, Boris Trajkovski, to strike a peace deal. Under the Ohrid agreement, Albanian fighters laid down their arms in return for greater ethnic-Albanian recognition within a unitary state.

Luxembourg

The Grand Duchy of - a small country landlocked by Belgium, France and Germany - is a prominent financial centre.

With roots stretching back to the 10th century, 's history is closely intertwined with that of its more powerful neighbours, especially Germany.

Many of its inhabitants are trilingual in French, German and ish - a dialect of German.

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Despite declaring its neutrality, was occupied by Germany during both World Wars. Attempts to escape German influence initially led to an economic union with Belgium in 1921.

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After renewed occupation in World War II, abandoned its neutrality and became a front-rank enthusiast for international co-operation.

became a founder member of a customs union with Belgium and the Netherlands in 1948, and of the European Economic Community, a forerunner of the European Union, in 1957. Around one-third of 's population are foreigners.

's prosperity was formerly based on steel manufacturing. With the decline of that industry, diversified and is now best known for its status as Europe's most powerful investment management centre.

But the country's strict laws on banking secrecy produced a system that was open to exploitation for the purposes of tax evasion and fraud.

Concern over 's reputation as a tax haven - especially in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis - prompted the G20 group of countries to add it to a "grey list" of nations with questionable banking arrangements in April 2009.

responded by taking steps to improve the transparency of its financial arrangements. By July 2009 it had signed agreements on the exchange of tax information with a dozen countries, and was commended by the OECD for its prompt efforts to implement the internationally agreed standard.

Constitutional reform

's politics are characterised by stability and long-serving administrations.

This tranquillity was interrupted in 2008, when Grand Duke Henri said his conscience would not allow him to sign into law a bill approving euthanasia.

The crisis was resolved by a constitutional reform which removed the need for laws to be approved by the monarch, reducing the post to a largely ceremonial role.

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Full name: Grand Duchy of Population: 492,000 (UN, 2010) Capital: Area: 2,586 sq km (999 sq miles) Major languages: French, German, ish Major religion: Christianity Life expectancy: 78 years (men), 83 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 Euro

Lithuania

is the largest and most southerly of the three Baltic republics.

Not much more than a decade after it regained its independence during the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, was welcomed as a Nato member in late March 2004.

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The move came just weeks before a second historic shift for the country in establishing its place in the Western family of nations as it joined the EU in May 2004. These developments would have been extremely hard to imagine in not-so-distant Soviet times.

Russia, anxious about the implications of the eastward advance of the EU and Nato to include the three Baltic republics, has a particular eye on which has an important border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.