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 448 million. The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity (without precedent or comparison) combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.

Containing 5.8% of the world population in 2020, the EU generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around US$16.6 trillion in 2022, constituting approximately one sixth of global nominal GDP and the third-biggest global economy after the United States and China. Additionally, all EU states except Bulgaria have a very high Human Development Index according to the United Nations Development Programme. 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.

After the creation by six states, 22 other states joined the union in 1973–2013. 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 European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an inter-governmental organization dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 20 member states. Its headquarters are in Paris, France. ESA has a staff of about 2,000 with an annual budget of about €4 billion in 2013.

ESA's spaceport is the Centre Spatial Guyanais (Guyana Space Centre) in Kourou, French Guiana, a site chosen because it is close to the equator from which commercially important orbits are easier to access. During the 1990s ESA gained the position of market leader in commercial space launches and in recent years ESA has established itself as a major player in space exploration.

ESA science missions are based at ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands, Earth Observation missions at ESRIN in Frascati, Italy, ESA Mission Control (ESOC) is in Darmstadt, Germany, and the European Astronauts Centre (PACI), that trains astronauts for future missions is situated in Cologne, Germany.

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Photo credit: Adam Cuerden
Simone Veil

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Did you know?

...that Romania and Bulgaria became full members of the European Union on January 1, 2007?

...that the European Union's member states combined represent the world's largest economy by GDP, larger than the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Japan, the seventh largest territory in the world by area and the third largest by population after China and India?

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Warsaw is the capital of Poland and its largest city. It is located on the Vistula river roughly 370 km from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2011 was estimated at 1.7 million with a metropolitan area of approximately 2.7 million. The city area amounts to 517 km², with an agglomeration of 6100.43 km². Warsaw is internationally notable for giving its name to the Warsaw Pact, Warsaw Convention and the Treaty of Warsaw.

The city is home to many industries, including manufacturing, steel, electrical engineering, and automotive; it features 66 institutions of higher learning, including Warsaw University, Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw School of Economics, and a Medical Academy. Warsaw is home to over 30 theatres, including the National Theatre and Opera and the National Philharmonic Orchestra.

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General images

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

Image 1Elaboration by gender (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 2Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 3The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 4Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 5The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 6Hearing of Josep Borrell, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 7Organigram 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 8The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 9Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 10Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022. (from History of the European Union)
Image 11Political groups of the European Parliament in the Louise Weiss building after the election 2014:
  Group of the European People's Party (EPP)
  Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D)
  Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)
  European Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA)
  European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)
  European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)
  Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD)
  Non-Inscrits (NI)
(from Politics of the European Union)
Image 12The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 13Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 14After 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 15Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 16Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the congress (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 17Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 18Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 19Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 20The population density of the EU is 117 people per km². (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 21Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 22A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 23Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 24A cartogram depicting the population distribution between old EU-27 member states in 2008 (including the UK and excluding Croatia). 58% 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 25José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004-2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 26Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 27The fertility rate in the EU was 1.6 in 2014 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 28Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 29Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 30Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 31The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 32The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)