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. Additionally, all member states except Bulgaria have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme, and as of 2025, every country except Romania is a democracy (either full or flawed), according to the Economist Democracy Index. 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 flag of Portugal consists of a rectangle vertically divided into green, at the hoist, and red, at the fly, with the minor version of the national coat of arms (armillary sphere and Portuguese shield) centered over the boundary between the colors. It was officially adopted on 30 June 1911, replacing the flag used under the constitutional monarchy, after it was chosen among several proposals by a special commission, whose members included Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro, João Chagas and Abel Botelho.

The current flag represents a sweeping change in the evolution of the Portuguese flag, which was always intimately associated with the royal arms. Since the country's foundation, the national flag developed from King Afonso I's blue-cross-on-white armorial square banner to the liberal monarchy's royal arms over a blue-and-white rectangle. In between, major changes associated with important political events contributed to the evolution of the national shield into its current design.

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Siege of Kolberg

Banknote design credit: Kingdom of Prussia; scanned by Andrew Shiva

2 groschen
4 groschen
8 groschen

The siege of Kolberg took place from March to July 1807 during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. An army of the First French Empire and several foreign auxiliaries (including Polish insurgents) of France besieged the fortified town of Kolberg, the only remaining Prussian-held fortress in the Province of Pomerania. The siege was ultimately unsuccessful and was lifted upon the announcement of the peace of Tilsit. These three banknotes, in denominations of two, four and eight groschen, were issued by the Prussian authorities in Kolberg as emergency money during the siege. Each was handwritten on cardboard with multiple authorising signatures and was stamped with the seal of the local government. The banknotes are now part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution in the United States.

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Did you know?

...that "Nocturne" is the Eurovision Song Contest winner with the fewest words, the Norwegian language original having only 25?

...that the Eastgate Clock (pictured) in Chester is the second most photographed timepiece in the United Kingdom, after Big Ben?

...that "Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?" received three perfect scores at the start of voting in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 before ultimately coming in fourth, making Hungary the only debuting nation to lead the voting?

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Dublin is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Ireland, located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and forms the centre of the Dublin Region. Originally founded as a centre of Viking settlement, the city has been Ireland's capital city since mediæval times. The population within the city was 505,739 at the census of 2006. Beyond this, at the same census the Dublin Region population was 1,186,159, whilst the Greater Dublin Area had a figure of 1,661,185.

In a 2003 European wide survey by the BBC, questioning 11,200 residents of 112 urban and rural areas, Dublin was found to be the best capital city in Europe to live in, and the Republic of Ireland was judged to be the most content country in Europe. A person from Dublin is known as a Dubliner or colloquially as a Dub. Dublin is a major European cultural centre and the origin of many prominent literary figures including Jonathan Swift, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, Seán O'Casey, and Samuel Beckett.

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General images

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

Image 1A 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 2Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 3The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 4Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 5The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 6The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 7The fertility rate in the EU was 1.46 in 2022 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 8Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (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 10Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 11Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 12Donald Trump President of the United States (from History of the European Union)
Image 13Mario Draghi (from History of the European Union)
Image 14After 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 15Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 161922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 17Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 18The 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 19The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 20Political 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 21Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 22Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 23The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 24The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 25Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 26Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 27Kaja Kallas, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 28Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022 (from History of the European Union)
Image 29A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 30Winston 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 31Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 32Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History 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 35Percentage 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 36Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 37Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 38José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004–2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 39Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)