Portal:European Union

Introduction

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Institutions Competences Structural evolution Member states

Welcome to the European Union Portal!

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 population of over 450 million as of 2025. The EU is often described as a sui generis political entity combining 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, accounting for approximately one sixth of global economic output. 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 EU's 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.

In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 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...)

Selected article

The Treaty of Lisbon or Lisbon Treaty (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement which amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Lisbon Treaty was signed by the EU member states on 13 December 2007, and entered into force on 1 December 2009. It amends the Maastricht Treaty (also known as the Treaty on European Union) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC; also known as the Treaty of Rome). In this process, the Rome Treaty was renamed to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

Prominent changes included the move from unanimity to qualified majority voting in several policy areas in the Council of Ministers, a change in calculating such a majority to a new double majority, a more powerful European Parliament forming a bicameral legislature alongside the Council of ministers under the ordinary legislative procedure, a consolidated legal personality for the EU and the creation of a long-term President of the European Council and a High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The Treaty also made the Union's bill of rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally binding.

Selected picture

Väike-Maarja Church

Photograph: Ivar Leidus

Väike-Maarja Church is located at Väike-Maarja in Lääne-Viru County, Estonia. Initially designed as a fortress church, construction began in the 14th century. It has three nave-halls in Gothic style, as well as an organ installed by Gustav Normann and stained-glass windows by Riho Hütt. The original spire collapsed in a 2010 storm, being replaced in 2012.

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?

Selected city

Tallinn is the capital city and main seaport of Estonia. It is situated on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, in north central Estonia., 80 kilometres south of Helsinki. Tallinn's population is registered at 399,180 (as of November 2006). In 1154 Tallinn was marked on the world map of the Arab cartographer al-Idrisi.

As an important port for trade between Russia and Scandinavia, it became a target for the expansion of the Teutonic Knights and Kingdom of Denmark during the period of Northern Crusades in the beginning of the 13th century when Christianity was forcibly imposed on the local population. Danish rule of Tallinn and Northern Estonia started in 1219. According to Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union, of all EU member states' capital cities, Tallinn has the largest number of non-EU nationals: 27.8% of its population are not EU citizens.

General images

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

Image 1Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 2Kaja Kallas, High Representative Vice President (from Politics 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 4Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 5Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 6The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 7Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 8The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 9Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 10Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 11Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022 (from History of the European Union)
Image 12A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 13Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 14Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 15Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 16A 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 17Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 18José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004–2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 19Political 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 20Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 211922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 22Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 23The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 24Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 25Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 26Percentage 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 27The fertility rate in the EU was 1.38 in 2023 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 28Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 29Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 30Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 31The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 32Donald Trump President of the United States (from History of the European Union)
Image 33Mario Draghi (from History of the European Union)
Image 34Winston 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 35Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 36The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 37Organigram 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 38After 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 39The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)