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, 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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The European Parliament (Europarl or EP) is the directly elected parliamentary body of the European Union. Together with the Council of the European Union (the Council), it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the Union's institutions and has been described by some one of the most powerful legislatures in the world. The Parliament, together with the Council, form the highest legislative body within the Union. This is only within the competencies of the European Community being limited to specific policy areas, however Union law does override national law. The Parliament is composed of 785 MEPs (Member of the European Parliament) who serve the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (492 million).

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Chapel of the Gate of Dawn

Photograph: David Iliff

The Chapel of the Gate of Dawn is a Catholic chapel and pilgrimage site on the city gates of the Lithuanian city of Vilnius. It is home to Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, a painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Northern Renaissance style. In this image, the painting is covered in expensive and elaborate silver and gold clothes, leaving only the face and hands visible. Legend tells that in 1702, when Vilnius was captured by the Swedish army during the Great Northern War, Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn rescued the city: at dawn, the heavy iron city gates of the gate fell, killing four Swedish soldiers and promoting a successful Lithuanian counter-attack near the gate.

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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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Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Croatia. It is located in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately 122 m above sea level. In the census of 2011 the population of the city was 790,017.

Zagreb is a city with a rich history dating from the Roman times to the present day. The oldest settlement in the urban area of the city is Andautonia, a Roman settlement in the place of today's Ščitarjevo. The name "Zagreb" is mentioned for the first time in 1094 at the founding of the Zagreb diocese of Kaptol, and Zagreb became a free royal town in 1242, whereas the origin of the name still remains a mystery in spite of several theories. In 1851 Zagreb had its first mayor, Janko Kamauf, and in 1945 it was made the capital of Croatia when the demographic boom and the urban sprawl made the city it's known nowadays.

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General images

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

Image 1Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 2Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 3Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 4Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 5Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 6The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 7The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 8Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 9Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (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 11Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 12Winston Churchill (right, during the Atlantic Conference), consistent advocate of continential European integration, later along with his sun-in-law Duncan Sandys (from History of the European Union)
Image 13The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 14A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 15Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 16Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 17After 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 18Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 19Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 20The population density of the EU is 106 people per km². N.B. the light in the North Sea, as well as much of Norway, is from Routine flaring not human habitation. (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 21Hearing of Josep Borrell, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 22The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 23Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 24The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 251922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 26Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022 (from History of the European Union)
Image 27Political 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 28Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (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 30José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004-2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 31Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 32Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 33Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 34Organigram 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 35The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 36The fertility rate in the EU was 1.46 in 2022 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)