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 449 million. The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity 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 member states except Bulgaria have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme, and as of 2025, every country except Romania is a democracy (either full or flawed), according to the Economist Democracy Index. 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 Treaties of Rome are two of the treaties of the European Union signed on March 25, 1957. Both treaties were signed by The Six: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany.

The first established the European Economic Community (EEC) and the second established the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom). They were the first international organisations to be based on supranationalism, after the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) established a few years prior.

The treaties came into force on 1 January 1958 and the EEC treaty has been amended on numerous occasions (see Treaties of the European Union); It has since been renamed from The Treaty establishing the European Economic Community to the The Treaty establishing the European Community. However the Euratom treaty has seen very little amendment due to the later sensitivity surrounding atomic energy amongst the European electorate.

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Trinity College Library

Photograph: David Iliff

Trinity College Library is a library serving Trinity College Dublin as well as the wider University of Dublin. It is a legal deposit or copyright library, which means that publishers in Ireland must deposit a copy of all their publications in the library, free of charge. It is also the only Irish library to hold such rights for publications in the United Kingdom. Founded at the same time as the college, in 1592, it received its most famous manuscript, the Book of Kells, from Henry Jones in 1661. Pictured is the Long Room, which is situated in the Old Library building. It was built between 1712 and 1732, has a length of 65 metres (213 ft), and houses 200,000 of the Library's oldest books.

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Did you know?

...that France possesses the largest exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the world?

...that Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City all mint their own euro coins, with their own national symbols on the back?

...that Turkey's two most famous weightlifters, Naim Suleymanoglu and Halil Mutlu are only two of four weightlifters in the world to have won 3 gold medals in 3 olympics?

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Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is located in the southern part of Finland on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 564,643 (31.10.2006). The Helsinki urban region contains the neighboring cities of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, which are together called the Capital Region. This area has a total population of approximately 997,291 citizens. The Greater Helsinki area contains several more neighboring cities and has a population of approximately 1,293,093, which means that one out of every four Finns lives in the Greater Helsinki area.

Helsinki is Finland's international gateway. The city is the country's nerve center for business, finance, fashion, medicine, entertainment, media, culture and intellectual discourse. There is a large and varied collection of museums, galleries and performance spaces. The city has Finland's largest foreign population in terms of real numbers and percentage of population. There are over 130 nationalities resident in Helsinki.

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General images

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

Image 1Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 2Donald Trump President of the United States (from History of the European Union)
Image 3The 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 4Mario Draghi (from History of the European Union)
Image 5The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 6Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 7Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 8Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 9Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 10Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 11Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 12Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 13The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 14Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 15A 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 16The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 17The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 18A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 19The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 20The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 21Organigram 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 22Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 23Kaja Kallas, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 24Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 25Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 26After 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 27Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022 (from History of the European Union)
Image 28José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004–2014) (from History of the European Union)

Percentage 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 30Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 31The fertility rate in the EU was 1.46 in 2022 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 32Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 331922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 34Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 35Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 36Political 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 37Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 38Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 39Winston 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)