Portal:European Union

Introduction

Portal subpages

Main page Institutions Competences Structural evolution Member states

Welcome to the European Union Portal!

Shortcut

P:EU

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 449 million. The EU is often described as a sui generis political entity combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.

Containing 5.5% of the world population in 2023, EU member states generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around €17.935 trillion in 2024, constituting approximately one sixth of global nominal GDP. 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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered on the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea, on the east by Poland and the Czech Republic, on the south by Austria and Switzerland, and on the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Germany is a democratic parliamentary federal republic of 16 states. The country previously consisted of several sovereign states with their own history, culture, and religious affiliation. Germany was first unified as a nation-state amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 and the G4 nations, and is a founding member of the European Union. It has the largest population and largest economy of all European Union member states. Germany is both the world's third largest economy and its largest exporter of goods. Germany is facing major demographic change. Its fertility rate of 1.39 children per mother is one of the lowest in the world, and the federal statistics office estimates the population will shrink to approximately 75 million by 2050. Chemnitz is thought to be the city with the lowest birth rate in the world.

More selected articles...

edit

Selected picture

Hungarian Parliament Building

Photograph credit: Andrew Shiva

The Hungarian Parliament Building is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary. It lies in Budapest's Kossuth Square, on the bank of the Danube. One of the city's popular tourist destinations, it is the largest building in Hungary and the tallest in Budapest. The building was designed by Hungarian architect Imre Steindl in neo-Gothic style and opened in 1902.

This picture, taken in 2015, shows the building in the late afternoon.

More selected pictures

edit

Did you know?

...that "Nocturne" is the Eurovision Song Contest winner with the fewest words, the Norwegian language original having only 25?

...that the Eastgate Clock (pictured) in Chester is the second most photographed timepiece in the United Kingdom, after Big Ben?

...that "Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?" received three perfect scores at the start of voting in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 before ultimately coming in fourth, making Hungary the only debuting nation to lead the voting?

More did you know...

edit

Selected city

Vilnius is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 537,152 as of 2013. It is the capital of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the county seat of Vilnius County. Vilnius is situated in southeastern Lithuania at the confluence of the Vilnia and Neris Rivers. It is believed that Vilnius, like many other cities, was named after a crossing river, Vilnia. Vilnius is a cosmopolitan city with diverse architecture. There are more than 40 churches in Vilnius.

Some historians identify the city with Voruta, a legendary capital of Mindaugas who was crowned in 1253 as King of Lithuania. The city was first mentioned in written sources in 1323, in letters of Grand Duke Gediminas that were sent to German cities and invited German and Jewish community to settle in the capital city. In 1387, the city was granted city rights by Jogaila, one of Gediminas' successors.

Read more...

More selected cities...

General images

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

Image 1Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 2Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 3Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 4Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022 (from History 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 6The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 7Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 8The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 9A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 10José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004–2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 11Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 12Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 13Donald Trump President of the United States (from History of the European Union)
Image 14The fertility rate in the EU was 1.46 in 2022 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics 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 Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 17Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 18The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 19Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 20The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 21A 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 22Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 23Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 24Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 25Political groups of the European Parliament in the Louise Weiss building after the election 2024:
  Group of the European People's Party (EPP)
  Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D)
  Patriots for Europe (PfE)
  European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)
  Renew Europe (Renew)
  The Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA)
  The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL (The Left)
  Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN)
  Non-Inscrits (NI)
  Vacant (1)
(from Politics of the European Union)
Image 26Mario Draghi (from History of the European Union)
Image 27Organigram 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 28The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 29The population density of the EU is 106 people per km². Note that the lights in the North Sea are from oil platforms. (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 30Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 311922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 32Winston 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 33Percentage responding that their country on balance benefited from being a member of the EU at Eurobarometer 2023:

  91–100%

  81–90%

  71–80%

  61–70%

  51–60%

(from Politics of the European Union)
Image 34Kaja Kallas, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 35Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 36Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 37Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 38Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 39Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)