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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While most of the states in the world, and in Europe, are republics (have a directly or indirectly elected head of state), there are still six monarchies in the European Union, whose head of state (a monarch) inherits his or her office, and usually keeps it for life or until they abdicate. At the dawn of the 20^th century, France was the only republic among the future member states of the European Union; the ascent of republicanism to the political mainstream only started at the beginning of the 20^th century.

The European Union's monarchies are: the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Spain, and the Kingdom of Sweden.

All six monarchies in the European Union are constitutional monarchies, which means that the monarch does not influence the politics of the state: either the monarch is legally prohibited from doing so, or the monarch does not utilise the political powers vested in the office by convention. There is currently no major campaign to abolish the monarchy in any of the remaining six states, although there is a significant minority of republicans in all of them.

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Photo credit: User:Immanuel Giel
The European Coal and Steel Community was founded in 1951 to pool the steel and coal resources of its member-states, thus preventing another European war.

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Did you know?

...that the President of Ireland, who serves as head of state, is elected for a seven year term and can be re-elected only once?

...that within the Eurozone the European Central Bank has the exclusive authority to set monetary policy?

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Paris is the capital city of France. Situated on the banks of the river Seine in north-central France, it is also the capital of the Île-de-France région, which encompasses Paris and its suburbs. The City of Paris had an estimated mid-2004 population of 2,144,700. The Paris urban area, extending well beyond the city boundaries, has today an estimated population of 9.9 million. The Paris metropolitan area (including satellite towns) stood at 11.5 million in 1999.

It produces more than a quarter of France's wealth, with a GDP of €478.7 billion in 2005. With La Défense, one of the largest business districts in Europe, Paris also hosts the head offices of almost half of the major French companies. Paris is a leading global cultural, business and political centre and has a major international influence in fashion, gastronomy and the arts. It is widely regarded as one of the world's major global cities, with notably the headquarters of many international organisations such as UNESCO, the OECD, the ICC.

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General images

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

Image 1Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 2Organigram 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 3The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 4The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 5Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 6Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 7The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 8Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022 (from History of the European Union)
Image 9The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 10Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 11The 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 12Hearing of Josep Borrell, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 131922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 14Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 15The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 16Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 17José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004-2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 18Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 19Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 20Winston 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 21The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 22Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 23A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 24Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 25Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 26The fertility rate in the EU was 1.46 in 2022 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 27Political 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 28Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 29Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 30Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 31Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 32After 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 33Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 34A 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 35Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 36Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)