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 has often been 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. 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.

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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€2 commemorative coins are special euro coins minted and issued by member states of the Eurozone since 2004 as legal tender. The coins typically commemorate the anniversaries of historical events or draw attention to current events of special importance. Eighteen variations of €2 commemorative coins have been minted. €2 commemorative coins have become collectibles.

The basis for the commemorative coins derived from a decision of the European Council, which repealed the prohibition of changing the national obverse sides of euro coins from 1 January 2004 onwards.

The face value of the coins, typically is less than their intrinsic value of between €3 and €12. The exceptions are San Marino and the Vatican City, where coins from the former are regularly sold for between €30 and €40, while coins from the latter are very rarely obtained for less than €100. Issued designs are made public in the Official Journal of the European Union.

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Canals of Amsterdam

Photo credit: Massimo Catarinella

The Keizersgracht ("Emperor's Canal" in Dutch), the widest of the three major canals of Amsterdam, at dusk. Located in the city centre, it is named after Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. The more than one hundred kilometers of canals in Amsterdam, about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges have led the city to being termed the "Venice of the North".

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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?

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Budapest is the capital city of Hungary and the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial and transportation center. Budapest has approximately 1.7 million inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s peak of 2.1 million. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with the amalgamation on 17 November 1873 of right-bank Buda together with Pest on the left bank. It is the ninth largest city in the European Union.

Budapest's recorded history begins with the Roman town of Aquincum, founded around AD 89 on the site of an earlier Celtic settlement near what was to become Óbuda, and from 106 until the end of the 4th century the capital of the province of lower Pannonia. The Hungarians led by Árpád settled in the territory at the end of the 9th century, and a century later officially founded the Kingdom of Hungary. Research places the probable residence of the Árpáds an early place of central power near what became Budapest. The Tatar invasion in the 13th century quickly proved that defence is difficult on a plain. King Béla IV of Hungary therefore ordered the construction of reinforced stone walls around the towns and set his own royal palace on the top of the protecting hills of Buda. In 1361 it became the capital of Hungary.

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General images

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

Image 1Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 2Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022 (from History of the European Union)
Image 3Organigram 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 4The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 5The fertility rate in the EU was 1.46 in 2022 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 6A 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 7The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 8Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 9Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 10José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004-2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 11Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 12Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 13Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 14Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 15Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 16Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 17Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 18Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 19A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 20Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 21Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 22Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 23The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 24The population density of the EU is 106 people per km². N.B. the light in the North Sea is from oil platforms. (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 25Winston 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 26After 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 27Political 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 28The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 291922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 30Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 31The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 32Hearing of Josep Borrell, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 33Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 34Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 35Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 36The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)