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The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. A supranational union with a total area of 4,233,255 km² (1,634,469 sq mi) and an estimated population of just under 452 million as of 2026, its member states generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around €18.802 trillion in 2025, accounting for approximately one sixth of global economic output. The EU is often described as a sui generis political entity combining characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.

Its cornerstone, the Customs Union, paved the way to establishing an internal single market based on standardised legal framework and legislation that apply 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.

The EU was established, along with its citizenship, when the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993. The Union later acquired a single, explicit international legal personality with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009. Its beginnings can be traced to the Inner Six states (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany) at the start of modern European integration in 1948, and to the Western Union, the International Authority for the Ruhr, the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, which were established by treaties. These increasingly amalgamated bodies grew, with their legal successor, the EU, both in size through the accessions of a further 22 states from 1973 to 2013, and in power through acquisitions of policy areas. In 2020, the United Kingdom became the only member state to leave the EU; ten countries are aspiring or negotiating to join it. (Full article...)

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The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a six-nation international organisation serving to unify Western Europe during the Cold War and creating the foundation for European democracy and the modern-day developments of the European Union. The ECSC was the first organisation to be based on the principles of supranationalism.

The ECSC was first proposed by French foreign minister Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950 as a way to prevent further war between France and Germany. He declared his aim was to 'make war not only unthinkable but materially impossible.' The means to do so, Europe's first supranational Community, was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed not only by France and West Germany, but also by Italy and the three Benelux states: Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Between these states the ECSC would create a common market for coal and steel. The ECSC was governed by a 'High Authority', checked by bodies representing governments, MPs and an independent judiciary.

The ECSC was joined by two other similar communities in 1957, with whom it shared its membership and some institutions. In 1969 all its institutions were merged with that of the European Economic Community (EEC, which later became part of the European Union), but it retained its own independent identity. However in 2002 the Treaty of Paris expired, and with no desire to renew the treaty, all the ECSC activities and resources were absorbed by the European Community. During its existence, the ECSC had succeeded in creating a common market but could not prevent the decline of the coal and steel industries. It did however set the ground for the future European Union.

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Photo credit: Adam Cuerden
Simone Veil

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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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Brussels is the capital of Belgium, of the French Community of Belgium, of the Flemish Community, and is the headquarters of the European Union's institutions. Brussels is in the centre of Belgium, and also the largest municipality of the Brussels-Capital Region. This municipality inside Brussels is correctly named The City of Brussels, which is one of 19 municipalities that make up the Brussels-Capital Region, with a total population of 1,018,804 inhabitants (1 January 2006). The municipality has a population of about 140,000. The Metropolitan area has about 2,090,000 inhabitants. Brussels is also the political seat of NATO, the Western European Union (WEU) and EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation.

In 977 AD, the Holy Roman emperor Otto II gave the duchy of Lower Lotharingia on the empire's western frontier to Charles, the banished son of King Louis IV of France. Mention was already made of Brussels at the time: Bishop Saint-Gery of Cambrai-Arras settled a chapel on a small island (695). However, the founding of Brussels is usually said to be when a small castle was built by Charles around 979 on Saint-Géry island in the Zenne or Senne river.

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General images

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

Image 11922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 2Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 3The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 4Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 5The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)

Percentage responding that their country on balance benefited from being a member of the EU at Eurobarometer 2026:

91–100%

81–90%

71–80%

61–70%

51–60%

(from Politics of the European Union)

Image 7The fertility rate in the EU was 1.38 in 2023 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 8Kaja Kallas, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 9Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 10Organigram 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 11The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 12Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 13The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 14Of the 382 voting areas in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar a total of 270 returned majority votes in favour of "Leave" whereas 129 returned majority votes in favour of "Remain" in the referendum, including all 32 areas in Scotland.
Leave
Remain
(from History of the European Union)
Image 15Mario Draghi (from History of the European Union)
Image 16Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 17Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 18Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 19Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (from History of the European Union)
Image 20The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols 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 22Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 23Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 24Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 25José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004–2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 26Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 27A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 28Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 29Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 30Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 31Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 32Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 33Political 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 34After 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 35The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 36Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 37EU fertility has declined in the 2020s. (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 38Donald Trump, President of the United States (from History of the European Union)
Image 39Winston Churchill (right, during the Atlantic Conference), consistent advocate of continental European integration, later along with his son-in-law Duncan Sandys (from History of the European Union)
Image 40Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 41The 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)