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 is often 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. 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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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered on the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea, on the east by Poland and the Czech Republic, on the south by Austria and Switzerland, and on the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Germany is a democratic parliamentary federal republic of 16 states. The country previously consisted of several sovereign states with their own history, culture, and religious affiliation. Germany was first unified as a nation-state amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 and the G4 nations, and is a founding member of the European Union. It has the largest population and largest economy of all European Union member states. Germany is both the world's third largest economy and its largest exporter of goods. Germany is facing major demographic change. Its fertility rate of 1.39 children per mother is one of the lowest in the world, and the federal statistics office estimates the population will shrink to approximately 75 million by 2050. Chemnitz is thought to be the city with the lowest birth rate in the world.

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Academy of Athens

Photograph credit: Thomas Wolf

The Academy of Athens is Greece's national academy and the highest research establishment in the country. Established on 18 March 1926, it operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs. This picture shows the main building of the Academy, a neoclassical building between Panepistimiou Street and Akadimias Street in the centre of Athens and one of the city's major landmarks. The building was designed as part of an architectural "trilogy" in 1859 by Danish architect Theophil Hansen, along with the University and the National Library. The Greek neoclassical sculptor Leonidas Drosis sculpted the principal multi-figure pediment sculpture, on the theme of the birth of Athena, based on a design by painter Carl Rahl. Two columns on either side of the portico feature statues of Athena on the left and Apollo on the right, also designed by Drosis.

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Did you know?

...that Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City all mint their own euro coins, with their own national symbols on the back, despite not being EU members?

...that Slovenia joined the Euro on January 1, 2007?

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Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. Named after goddess Athena, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis with a population of 3.7 million people. The Athens metropolitan area constitutes the center of economic, financial, industrial, cultural and political life in Greece. The city is also rapidly becoming a business center in the European Union.

Ancient Athens was a powerful polis city-state and a renowned center of learning, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum. It is often referred to as the cradle of Western civilization, largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BCE on the rest of the then known European Continent. The classical era heritage is still evident in the city, portrayed through a number of ancient monuments and artworks, the most famous being the Parthenon on the Acropolis. Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games and, more recently, of the 2004 Summer Olympics.

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General images

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

Image 1Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 2Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 3Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 4Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 5Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 6The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 7Winston 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 8Organigram 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 9Donald Trump President of the United States (from History of the European Union)
Image 10A 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 11The fertility rate in the EU was 1.46 in 2022 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 12Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 13The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 14The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 15Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 16Political 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 17Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 18The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 19Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 20Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 21Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 22Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 23José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004–2014) (from History 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 25The 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 26Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022 (from History of the European Union)
Image 27Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 28Percentage 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 29The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 30Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 311922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 32Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 33Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols 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 35Kaja Kallas, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 36A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 37Mario Draghi (from History of the European Union)
Image 38Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 39Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)