Portal:European Union

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The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. The Union has a total area of 4,233,255 km² (1,634,469 sq mi) and an estimated total population of over 448 million. The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity (without precedent or comparison) combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.

Containing 5.8% of the world population in 2020, EU member states generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around US$16.6 trillion in 2022, constituting approximately one sixth of global nominal GDP. Additionally, all EU states except Bulgaria have a very high Human Development Index according to the United Nations Development Programme. Its cornerstone, the Customs Union, paved the way to establishing an internal single market based on standardised legal framework and legislation that applies in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where the states have agreed to act as one. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the internal market; enact legislation in justice and home affairs; and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. Passport controls have been abolished for travel within the Schengen Area. The eurozone is a group composed of the 20 EU member states that have fully implemented the economic and monetary union and use the euro currency. Through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the union has developed a role in external relations and defence. It maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7 and the G20. Due to its global influence, the European Union has been described by some scholars as an emerging superpower.

In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The United Kingdom became the only member state to leave the EU, in 2020; ten countries are aspiring or negotiating to join it. (Full article...)

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The euro (currency sign: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of the European Union (EU). Nineteen member states have adopted it, known collectively as the Eurozone (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain). The currency is also used in five further countries with formal agreements and six other countries without such agreements. Hence it is the single currency for over 320 million Europeans. Including areas using currencies pegged to the euro, the euro directly affects close to 500 million people worldwide. With more than €610 billion in circulation as of December 2006 (equivalent to US$802 billion at the exchange rates at the time), the euro is the currency with the highest combined value of cash in circulation in the world, having surpassed the U.S. dollar (USD). Taking official estimates of 2007 GDP, the Eurozone is the largest economy in the world by March 2008 after the USD/EUR exchange rate surpassed 1.56.

The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency in 1999 and launched as physical coins and banknotes on 1 January 2002. It replaced the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1. The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) and the Eurosystem (composed of the central banks of the euro zone countries). As an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all member states, and the operation of the Eurozone payment systems.

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Chapel of the Gate of Dawn

Photograph: David Iliff

The Chapel of the Gate of Dawn is a Catholic chapel and pilgrimage site on the city gates of the Lithuanian city of Vilnius. It is home to Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, a painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Northern Renaissance style. In this image, the painting is covered in expensive and elaborate silver and gold clothes, leaving only the face and hands visible. Legend tells that in 1702, when Vilnius was captured by the Swedish army during the Great Northern War, Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn rescued the city: at dawn, the heavy iron city gates of the gate fell, killing four Swedish soldiers and promoting a successful Lithuanian counter-attack near the gate.

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Did you know?

... that the presidency of the EU Council rotates every half year?

... that the EU parliamentary election is the world's biggest transnational election?

... that the European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012?

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Sofia is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Bulgaria, with a population of 1,246,791, and some 1,377,761 in the metropolitan area, the Capital Municipality. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of the mountain massif Vitosha, and is the administrative, cultural, and economic centre of the country.

The history of Sofia dates back to the 8th century B.C, when Thracians established a settlement there. Sofia has had several names in the different periods of its existence, and remnants of the city's millenary history can still be seen today alongside modern landmarks. Sofia is one of the oldest capital cities in Europe, blending its past and present in a remarkable architectural style. Historic landmarks include the 10th-century Boyana Church, the Alexander Nevski Cathedral, and the early Byzantine Saint Sofia Church. More modern architecture is represented by the Bulgarian National Opera and Ballet, the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, the Rakovski Str theatre district, Slaveykov Square's outdoor book market, and the NDK. Sofia is the see of an Eastern Orthodox and of a Roman Catholic diocese.

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General images

The following are images from various European Union-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 2Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 3The fertility rate in the EU was 1.46 in 2022 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 4The population density of the EU is 106 people per km². N.B. the light in the North Sea, as well as much of Norway, is from Routine flaring not human habitation. (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 5After two devastating world wars, the political climate favoured an international unity that could preserve peace in Europe effectively (Hamburg, after a massive Allied bombing in 1943 in the picture). (from History of the European Union)
Image 6Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 7Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 8Organigram of the political system. The seven organs of the Union are in blue, national / intergovernmental elements in orange. (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 91922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 10Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 11Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 12Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 13Winston Churchill (right, during the Atlantic Conference), consistent advocate of continential European integration, later along with his son-in-law Duncan Sandys (from History of the European Union)
Image 14Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 15The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 16Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 17Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 18Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 19Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 20Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 21Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 22Hearing of Josep Borrell, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 23Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 24The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 25Political groups of the European Parliament in the Louise Weiss building after the election 2014:
  Group of the European People's Party (EPP)
  Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D)
  Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)
  European Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA)
  European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)
  European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)
  Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD)
  Non-Inscrits (NI)
(from Politics of the European Union)
Image 26A cartogram depicting the population distribution between old EU-27 member states in 2008 (including the UK and excluding Croatia). 57.8% of all citizens of the EU live in the four largest member states: Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 27Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022 (from History of the European Union)
Image 28The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 29The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 30The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 31Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 32Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 33The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 34Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 35José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004-2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 36Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)