Portal:European Union

Introduction

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Welcome to the European Union Portal!

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...)

Selected article

The Flag of Europe is the flag and emblem of the European Union (EU) and Council of Europe (CoE). It consists of a circle of 12 golden (yellow) stars on a blue background. It was created in 1955 by the CoE and adopted by the EU, then the European Communities, in the 1980s.

The CoE and EU are distinct in membership and nature. The CoE is a 47-member international organisation dealing with human rights and rule of law, while the EU is a quasi-federal union of 28 states focused on economic integration and political cooperation. Today, the flag is mostly associated with the latter.

It was the intention of the CoE that the flag should come to represent Europe as a whole, and since its adoption the membership of the CoE covers nearly the entire continent. This is why the EU adopted the same flag. The flag has been used to represent Europe in sporting events and as a pro-democracy banner outside the Union.

Selected picture

Castle of Zafra

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

The Castle of Zafra is a 12th-century castle located in the municipality of Campillo de Dueñas, in the Spanish province of Guadalajara. Built in the late 12th or early 13th century on a sandstone outcrop in the Sierra de Caldereros, it stands on the site of a former Visigothic and Moorish fortification that fell into Christian hands in 1129. It had considerable strategic importance as a virtually impregnable defensive work on the border between Christian- and Muslim-ruled territory. It was never conquered and was successfully defended against the king of Castile in the 13th century, but by the end of the 15th century, it had lost its military significance.

Did you know?

...that within the Eurozone the European Central Bank has the exclusive authority to set monetary policy?

...that Greenland and United Kingdom are the only countries to ever leave the European Union?

Selected city

Valletta, population 6,444 (2014), is the capital city of Malta. The whole city was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. The official name the Order of Saint John gave to the city was Humilissima Civitas Valletta — a city bound to humility. However, with the building of bastions, curtains and ravelins, along with the beauty of the baroque buildings along its streets, it became known as Superbissima — 'Most Proud', amongst the ruling houses of Europe. In Maltese it is known as Il-Belt, simply meaning "The City".

The foundation stone of Valletta was laid by the Grandmaster of the Order of Saint John, Jean Parisot de Valette, on 28 March 1566; The Order decided to found a new city on the Xiberras peninsula just after the end of the Great Siege of Malta in 1565, so as to fortify the Order's position in Malta, effectively binding the Knights to the island. The city was designed by Francesco Laparelli, while many of the most important buildings were built by Girolamo Cassar. Valletta, hence, is an urban area which boasts many buildings from the 16th century and onwards, but most of them were built during the time of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem (the Knights Hospitaller, or Knights of Malta).

General images

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

Image 1Of 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 2Organigram 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 3The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 4Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 5The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 6Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 7Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 8Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 9Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 10Kaja Kallas, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 11A 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 12Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 13Political 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 14Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 15After 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 16José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004–2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 17Percentage 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 18EU fertility has declined in the 2020s. (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 19A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 20The 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 21Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 221922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 23Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols 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 25Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 26Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 27Mario Draghi (from History of the European Union)
Image 28The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 29Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 30Donald Trump, President of the United States (from History of the European Union)
Image 31Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 32Winston 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 33The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 34The fertility rate in the EU was 1.38 in 2023 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 35Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (from History of the European Union)
Image 36Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 37The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 38Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 39Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 40Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 41Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)