Portal:European Union

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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...)

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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 Astronaut Centre (PACI), that trains astronauts for future missions is situated in Cologne, Germany.

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Väike-Maarja Church

Photograph: Ivar Leidus

Väike-Maarja Church is located at Väike-Maarja in Lääne-Viru County, Estonia. Initially designed as a fortress church, construction began in the 14th century. It has three nave-halls in Gothic style, as well as an organ installed by Gustav Normann and stained-glass windows by Riho Hütt. The original spire collapsed in a 2010 storm, being replaced in 2012.

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Did you know?

...that the President of Ireland, who serves as head of state, is elected for a seven year term and can be re-elected only once?

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

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Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is located in the southern part of Finland on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 564,643 (31.10.2006). The Helsinki urban region contains the neighboring cities of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, which are together called the Capital Region. This area has a total population of approximately 997,291 citizens. The Greater Helsinki area contains several more neighboring cities and has a population of approximately 1,293,093, which means that one out of every four Finns lives in the Greater Helsinki area.

Helsinki is Finland's international gateway. The city is the country's nerve center for business, finance, fashion, medicine, entertainment, media, culture and intellectual discourse. There is a large and varied collection of museums, galleries and performance spaces. The city has Finland's largest foreign population in terms of real numbers and percentage of population. There are over 130 nationalities resident in Helsinki.

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General images

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

Image 1Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 21922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 3Mario Draghi (from History of the European Union)
Image 4Kaja Kallas, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 5After 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 6The fertility rate in the EU was 1.38 in 2023 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 7Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 8Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 9Of 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 10Donald Trump, President of the United States (from History of the European Union)
Image 11Percentage 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 12Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 13Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 14The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 15Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 16Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 17Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 18Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 19The 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 20The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 21The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 22The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 23Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 24Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 25Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 26Winston 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 27Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 28A 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 29EU fertility has declined in the 2020s. (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 30The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 31Political 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 32Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 33Organigram 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 34Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 35Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 36Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 37A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 38José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004–2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 39Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 40Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (from History of the European Union)
Image 41The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)