Portal:European Union

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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 economy of the European Union combines the economies of 28 member states and is generating an estimated nominal GDP of €12.8 trillion in 2012 according to the Eurostat. It accounts for about 31% of the world's total economic output. 18 member states adopted a single currency, the euro, managed by the European Central Bank. The EU economy consists of a single market and is represented as a unified entity in the WTO.

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SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library

Photo: Plamen Agov

The SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library is the national library of Bulgaria. Founded on 4 April 1878, it was named after Saints Cyril and Methodius, who are credited with the creation of the Cyrillic script used in Bulgarian. The building pictured was finished in 1953.

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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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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 1Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 2Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 3Political 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 4Winston 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 5Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 6A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 7Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 8Percentage 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 9Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 10The 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 11Of 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 12Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (from History of the European Union)
Image 131922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 14The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 15Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 16Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 17Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 18Organigram 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 19The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 20Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 21The fertility rate in the EU was 1.38 in 2023 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 22Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 23Elaboration by sex (from Demographics 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 25EU fertility has declined in the 2020s. (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 26Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 27The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 28Donald Trump, President of the United States (from History of the European Union)
Image 29Mario Draghi (from History of the European Union)
Image 30Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 31Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 32Kaja Kallas, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 33José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004–2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 34Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 35Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 36The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 37A 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 38Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 39The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 40After 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 41Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)