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Welcome to the European Union Portal!

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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 Treaty of Lisbon or Lisbon Treaty (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement which amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Lisbon Treaty was signed by the EU member states on 13 December 2007, and entered into force on 1 December 2009. It amends the Maastricht Treaty (also known as the Treaty on European Union) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC; also known as the Treaty of Rome). In this process, the Rome Treaty was renamed to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

Prominent changes included the move from unanimity to qualified majority voting in several policy areas in the Council of Ministers, a change in calculating such a majority to a new double majority, a more powerful European Parliament forming a bicameral legislature alongside the Council of ministers under the ordinary legislative procedure, a consolidated legal personality for the EU and the creation of a long-term President of the European Council and a High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The Treaty also made the Union's bill of rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally binding.

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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 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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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).

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General images

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

Image 1The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 2A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 3Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 4Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 5Winston 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 6The 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 7Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 8The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 9Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 10The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 11Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 12Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 13Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 14Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 15Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 16The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 17Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 18The fertility rate in the EU was 1.46 in 2022 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 19Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 20Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 21A 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 22Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 23After 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 24Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 25Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022 (from History of the European Union)
Image 26The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 27The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 28Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (from History of the European Union)
Image 29Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in the European Union in 2019 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 30Political 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 31Organigram 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 32Hearing of Josep Borrell, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 33Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 34Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 35José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004-2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 361922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)