History
Origins
After theInitial years and the Paris Treaty (19481957)
The year 1948 marked the beginning of the institutionalised modernTreaty of Rome (19581972)
In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome, which created the European Economic Community (EEC) and established a European Union Customs Union, customs union. They also signed another pact creating theFirst enlargement, and European co-operation (19731993)
In 1973, the communities were enlarged to include Denmark (including Greenland), Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and the Accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities, United Kingdom. Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a 1972 Norwegian European Communities membership referendum, referendum. The ''Ostpolitik'' and the ensuing détente led to establishment of a first truly pan-European body, the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), predecessor of the modern Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In 1979, the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct elections to the European Parliament were held. Greece joined in 1981. In 1985, Greenland 1982 Greenlandic European Communities membership referendum, left the Communities, following a dispute over fishing rights. During the same year, the Schengen Agreement paved the way for the creation of open borders without passport controls between most member states and some non-member states. In 1986, the Flag of Europe, European flag began to be used by the EEC and theTreaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice (19932004)
The European Union was formally established when theTreaty of Lisbon, and Brexit (2004present)
In 2007, Bulgaria and Romania became EU members. Later that year, Slovenia adopted the euro, followed by Cyprus and Malta in 2008, Slovakia in 2009, Estonia in 2011, Latvia in 2014, and Lithuania in 2015. On 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon, Lisbon Treaty entered into force and reformed many aspects of the EU. In particular, it changed the legal structure of the European Union, merging the Three pillars of the European Union, EU three pillars system into a single legal entity provisioned with a legal personality, created a permanent president of the European Council, the first of which was Herman Van Rompuy, and strengthened the position of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy. In 2012, the EU received theTimeline
Politics
The European Union operates through a hybrid system of Supranational union, supranational and intergovernmentalism, intergovernmental decision-making, and according to the principles of Principle of conferral, conferral (which says that it should act only within the limits of the competences conferred on it by the Treaties of the European Union, treaties) and of Subsidiarity (European Union), subsidiarity (which says that it should act only where an objective cannot be sufficiently achieved by the member states acting alone). European Union law, Laws made by the EU institutions are passed in a variety of forms. Generally speaking, they can be classified into two groups: those which come into force without the necessity for national implementation measures (regulations) and those which specifically require national implementation measures (directives).These legislative instruments are dealt with in more detail #Acts, below. EU policy is in general promulgated by Directive (European Union), EU directives, which are then implemented in the Sovereignty, domestic legislation of its Member state of the European Union, member states, and Regulation (European Union), EU regulations, which are immediately enforceable in all member states. Lobbying#European Union, Lobbying at EU level by special interest groups is regulated to try to balance the aspirations of private initiatives with public interest decision-making process.Budget
The European Union had an agreed budget of billion for the year 2007 and billion for the period 2007–2013, representing 1.10 per cent and 1.05 per cent of the EU-27's Gross national income, GNI forecast for the respective periods. In 1960, the budget of the European Economic Community, European Community was 0.03 per cent of GDP. In the 2010 budget of billion, the largest single expenditure item was "''European Structural and Investment Funds, cohesion & competitiveness''" with around 45 per cent of the total budget. Next was "''Governance
Member states retain in principle all powers not conferred by them on the European Union, though the exact delimitation has on many occasions become a subject of scholarly or legal disputes. Inspired by the famous Commerce Clause and the huge impact that its interpretation and mode of application by the Supreme Court of the United States had on shaping the American federal government, the Court of Justice of the European Union has sometimes managed to expand through its case law the powers of the EU, including those related to areas other than only the ones explicitly conferred on it in the founding treaties. In certain fields the EU has been awarded exclusive competence and exclusive mandate, mandate. These are areas in which member states have entirely renounced their own capacity to enact legislation. In other areas the EU and its member states share the competence to legislate. While both can legislate, the member states can only legislate to the extent to which the EU has not. In other policy areas the EU can only co-ordinate, support and supplement member state action but cannot enact legislation with the aim of harmonising national laws. That a particular policy area falls into a certain category of competence is not necessarily indicative of what Legislature of the European Union, legislative procedure is used for enacting legislation within that policy area. Different legislative procedures are used within the same category of competence, and even with the same policy area. The distribution of competences in various policy areas between member states and the union is divided in the following three categories: The European Union has seven principal decision-making bodies, its Institutions of the European Union, institutions: the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the European Court of Auditors. Competence in scrutinising and amending legislation is shared between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, while executive tasks are performed by the European Commission and in a limited capacity by the European Council (not to be confused with the aforementioned Council of the European Union). The monetary policy of theBranches of power
Executive branch
The European Council sets the broad political direction to the EU. It convenes at least four times a year and comprises the president of the European Council (presently Charles Michel), the president of the European Commission and one representative per member state of the European Union, member state (either its head of state or head of government). The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy (presently Josep Borrell) also takes part in its meetings. Described by some as the union's "supreme political leadership", it is actively involved in the negotiation of Treaties of the European Union, treaty changes and defines the EU's policy agenda and strategies. Its leadership role involves solving disputes between member states and the institutions, and to resolving any political crises or disagreements over controversial issues and policies. It acts as a "head of state, collective head of state" and ratification, ratifies important documents (for example, international agreements and treaties). Tasks for the president of the European Council are ensuring the external representation of the EU, driving consensus and resolving divergences among member states, both during meetings of the European Council and over the periods between them. The European Council should not be mistaken for the Council of Europe, an international organisation independent of the EU and based in Strasbourg. The European Commission acts both as the EU's executive (government), executive arm, responsible for the day-to-day running of the EU, and also the Right of initiative (legislative), legislative initiator, with the sole power to propose laws for debate. The commission is 'guardian of the Treaties' and is responsible for their efficient operation and policing. It has 27 European Commissioner, European commissioners for different areas of policy, one from each member state, though commissioners are bound to represent the interests of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. The leader of the 27 is the president of the European Commission (presently Ursula von der Leyen for 20192024), President of the European Commission#Appointment, proposed by the European Council, following and taking into account the result of the European elections, and is then elected by the European Parliament. The President retains, as the leader responsible for the entire cabinet, the final say in accepting or rejecting a candidate submitted for a given portfolio by a member state, and oversees the commission's permanent civil service. After the President, the most prominent commissioner is the high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy, who is ''ex-officio'' a Vice-President of the European Commission, vice-president of the European Commission and is also chosen by the European Council. The other 26 commissioners are subsequently appointed by the Council of the European Union in agreement with the nominated president. The 27 commissioners as a single body are subject to approval (or otherwise) by vote of the European Parliament. All commissioners are first nominated by the government of the respective member state.Legislative branch
The Council of the European Union (also called the Council and the "Council of Ministers", its former title) forms one half of the EU's legislature. It consists of a representative from each member state's government and meets in Council of the European Union#Configurations, different compositions depending on the policy area being addressed. Notwithstanding its different configurations, it is considered to be one single body. In addition to the legislative functions, members of the council also have Executive (government), executive responsibilities, such as the development of a Common Foreign and Security Policy and the coordination of broad economic policies within the Union. The Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Presidency of the council rotates between member states, with each holding it for six months. Beginning on 1 July 2022, the position is held by the Czech Republic. The European Parliament is one of three Legislature of the European Union, legislative institutions of the EU, which together with the Council of the European Union is tasked with amending and approving the European Commission's proposals. 705 Member of the European Parliament, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are directly Elections in the European Union, elected by Citizenship of the European Union, EU citizens every five years on the basis of proportional representation. MEPs are elected on a national basis and they sit according to Political groups of the European Parliament, political groups rather than their nationality. Each country has a set number of seats and is divided into European Parliament constituency, sub-national constituencies where this does not affect the proportional nature of the voting system. In the ordinary legislative procedure, the European Commission proposes legislation, which requires the joint approval of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to pass. This process applies to nearly all areas, including the budget of the European Union, EU budget. The parliament is the final body to approve or reject the proposed membership of the commission, and can attempt motions of censure on the commission by appeal to the European Court of Justice, Court of Justice. The president of the European Parliament carries out the role of speaker in Parliament and represents it externally. The president and Vice President of the European Parliament, vice-presidents are elected by MEPs every two and a half years.Judicial branch
The judicial branch of the European Union is formally called the Court of Justice of the European Union and consists of two courts: the European Court of Justice, Court of Justice and the General Court (European Union), General Court. The European Court of Justice, Court of Justice is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting EU law and ensuring its uniform application across all Member state of the European Union, EU member states under Article 263 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The Court was established in 1952, and is based in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. It is composed of one judge per Member state of the European Union, member state – currently 27 – although it normally hears cases in panels of three, five or fifteen judges. The Court has been led by president Koen Lenaerts since 2015. The ECJ is the highest court of the European Union in matters of European Union law, Union law, but not national law. It is not possible to appeal against the decisions of national courts in the ECJ, but rather national courts refer questions of EU law to the ECJ. However, it is ultimately for the national court to apply the resulting interpretation to the facts of any given case. Although, only courts of final appeal are bound to refer a question of EU law when one is addressed. The treaties give the ECJ the power for consistent application of EU law across the EU as a whole. The court also acts as an administrative and constitutional court between the other EU institutions and the Member States and can annul or invalidate unlawful acts of EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. The General Court (European Union), General Court is a constituent court of the European Union. It hears actions taken against the institutions of the European Union by individuals and member states, although certain matters are reserved for the Court of Justice. Decisions of the General Court can be appealed to the Court of Justice, but only on a point of law. Prior to the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009, it was known as the Court of First Instance.Additional branches
The European Central Bank (ECB) is one of the institutions of the central bank, monetary branch of the European Union, prime component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International use, most important central banks. The Governing Council of the European Central Bank, ECB Governing Council makes monetary policy for the Eurozone and the European Union, administers the foreign exchange reserves of EU member states, engages in foreign exchange operations, and defines the intermediate monetary objectives and key interest rate of the EU. The Executive Board of the European Central Bank, ECB Executive Board enforces the policies and decisions of the Governing Council, and may direct the national central banks when doing so. The ECB has the exclusive right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes. Member states can issue euro coins, but the volume must be approved by the ECB beforehand. The bank also operates the TARGET2 payments system. The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) consists of the ECB and the national central banks (NCBs) of all 27 member states of the European Union. The ESCB is not the monetary authority of the eurozone, because not all EU member states have joined the euro. The ESCB's objective is price stability throughout the European Union. Secondarily, the ESCB's goal is to improve monetary and financial cooperation between the Eurosystem and member states outside the eurozone. The European Court of Auditors (ECA) is the supreme audit institution, auditory branch of the European Union. It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg in order to improve EU financial management. It has 27 members (1 from each EU member-state) supported by approximately 800 civil servants. The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is the civil service commission, civil service branch of the European Union, and is responsible for selecting staff to work for the institutions and agencies of the European Union including the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the European External Action Service, the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Ombudsman. Each institution is then able to recruit staff from among the pool of candidates selected by EPSO. On average, EPSO receives around 60,000-70,000 applications a year with around 1,500-2,000 candidates recruited by the European Union institutions. The European Ombudsman is the ombudsman, ombudsman branch of the European Union that holds the institutions, bodies and agencies of the EU to account, and promotes good administration. The Ombudsman helps people, businesses and organisations facing problems with the EU administration by investigating complaints, as well as by proactively looking into broader systemic issues. The current Ombudsman is Emily O'Reilly. The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) is the attorney general, prosecutory branch of the European Union with juridical personality, established under the Treaty of Lisbon between 22 of the 27 states of the EU following the method of enhanced cooperation. It is based in Kirchberg, Luxembourg City alongside the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Auditors.Law
Constitutionally, the EU bears some resemblance to both a confederation and a federation, but has not formally defined itself as either. (It does not have a formal constitution: its status is defined by the Treaty of European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). It is more integrated than a traditional confederation of states because the general level of government widely employs qualified majority voting in some decision-making among the member states, rather than relying exclusively on unanimity. It is less integrated than a federal state because it is not a state in its own right: sovereignty continues to flow 'from the bottom up', from the several peoples of the separate member states, rather than from a single undifferentiated whole. This is reflected in the fact that the member states remain the 'masters of the Treaties', retaining control over the allocation of competences to the union through constitutional change (thus retaining so-called ''Kompetenz-kompetenz''); in that they retain control of the use of armed force; they retain control of taxation; and in that they retain a right of unilateral withdrawal under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. In addition, the principle of subsidiarity requires that only those matters that need to be determined collectively are so determined. Under the principle of Supremacy (European Union law), supremacy, national courts are required to enforce the treaties that their member states have ratified, even if doing so requires them to ignore conflicting national law, and (within limits) even constitutional provisions.According to the principle of Law of the European Union#Supremacy, supremacy as established by the ECJ in Case 6/64, ''Falminio Costa v. ENEL'' [1964] ECR 585. See Craig and de Búrca, ch. 7. See also: Factortame litigation: ''Factortame Ltd. v. Secretary of State for Transport (No. 2) [1991] 1 AC 603'', ''Solange II'' (''Re Wuensche Handelsgesellschaft'', BVerfG decision of 22 October 1986 [1987] 3 CMLR 225,265) and ''Frontini v. Ministero delle Finanze'' [1974] 2 CMLR 372; ''Raoul George Nicolo'' [1990] 1 CMLR 173. The direct effect and supremacy doctrines were not explicitly set out in the European Treaties but were developed by the Court of Justice itself over the 1960s, apparently under the influence of its then most influential judge, Frenchman Robert Lecourt. The question whether the secondary law enacted by the EU has a comparable status in relation to national legistaltion, has been a matter of debate among legal scholars.Primary law
The European Union is based on a series of Treaties of the European Union, treaties. These first established the European Community and the EU, and then made amendments to those founding treaties. These are power-giving treaties which set broad policy goals and establish institutions with the necessary legal powers to implement those goals. These legal powers include the ability to enact legislation which can directly affect all member states and their inhabitants.According to the principle of Direct Effect first invoked in the Court of Justice's decision in See: Craig and de Búrca, ch. 5. The EU has legal personality, with the right to sign agreements and international treaties.Secondary law
The main legal acts of the European Union come in three forms: Regulation (European Union), regulations, Directive (European Union), directives, and Decision (European Union), decisions. Regulations become law in all member states the moment they come into force, without the requirement for any implementing measures, and automatically override conflicting domestic provisions. Directives require member states to achieve a certain result while leaving them discretion as to how to achieve the result. The details of how they are to be implemented are left to member states.To do otherwise would require the drafting of legislation which would have to cope with the frequently divergent legal systems and administrative systems of all of the now 28 member states. See Craig and de Búrca, p. 115 When the time limit for implementing directives passes, they may, under certain conditions, have direct effect in national law against member states. Decisions offer an alternative to the two above modes of legislation. They are legal acts which only apply to specified individuals, companies or a particular member state. They are most often used in competition law, or on rulings on State Aid, but are also frequently used for procedural or administrative matters within the institutions. Regulations, directives, and decisions are of equal legal value and apply without any formal hierarchy.Foreign relations
Foreign policy co-operation between member states dates from the establishment of the community in 1957, when member states negotiated as a bloc in international trade negotiations under the EU's common commercial policy. Steps for a more wide-ranging co-ordination in foreign relations began in 1970 with the establishment of European Political Cooperation which created an informal consultation process between member states with the aim of forming common foreign policies. In 1987 the European Political Cooperation was introduced on a formal basis by theDefence
The predecessors of the European Union were not devised as a military alliance because NATO was largely seen as appropriate and sufficient for defence purposes. 21 EU members are members of NATO while the remaining member states follow policies of Neutrality (international relations), neutrality. TheMember states
Subdivisions
Country subdivision, Subdivisions of member-states are based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), a geocode Standardization, standard for statistical purposes. The standard, adopted in 2003, is developed and regulated by the European Union, and thus only covers the Member State of the European Union, member states of the EU in detail. The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics is instrumental in the European Union's Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund delivery mechanisms and for locating the area where goods and services subject to European Government procurement in the European Union, public procurement legislation are to be delivered.Schengen Area
The Schengen Area is an area comprising 26 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice policy of the EU, it mostly functions as a single jurisdiction under Visa policies in the European Union, a common visa policy for international travel purposes. The area is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement and the 1990 Schengen Convention, both signed in Schengen, Luxembourg. Of the 27 EU member states, 22 participate in the Schengen Area. Of the five EU members that are not part of the Schengen Area, four—Bulgaria and the European Union, Bulgaria, Croatia and the European Union, Croatia, Cyprus and the European Union, Cyprus, and Romania and the European Union, Romania—are legally obligated to join the area in the future; Ireland and the European Union, Ireland maintains an Opt-outs in the European Union, opt-out, and instead operates Visa policy of Ireland, its own visa policy. The four European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member states, Iceland–European Union relations, Iceland, Liechtenstein-European Union relations, Liechtenstein, Norway-European Union relations, Norway, and Switzerland-European Union relations, Switzerland, are not members of the EU, but have signed agreements in association with the Schengen Agreement. Also, three European microstates—Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican City—maintain open borders for passenger traffic with their neighbours, and are therefore considered ''de facto'' members of the Schengen Area due to the practical impossibility of travelling to or from them without transiting through at least one Schengen member country.Candidate countries
There are eight countries that are recognised as Future enlargement of the European Union, candidates for membership: Accession of Albania to the European Union, Albania, Accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European Union, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Accession of Moldova to the European Union, Moldova, Accession of Montenegro to the European Union, Montenegro, Accession of North Macedonia to the European Union, North Macedonia, Accession of Serbia to the European Union, Serbia, Accession of Turkey to the European Union, Turkey and Accession of Ukraine to the European Union, Ukraine. Norway–European Union relations, Norway, Switzerland–European Union relations, Switzerland and Accession of Iceland to the European Union, Iceland have submitted membership applications in the past, but subsequently frozen or withdrawn them. Additionally, Georgia–European Union relations#Proposed European Union membership, Georgia and Accession of Kosovo to the European Union, Kosovo are officially recognised as potential candidates, and have submitted membership applications.Former members
Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, Lisbon Treaty provides the basis for a member to Withdrawal from the European Union, leave the EU. Two territories have left the union: Greenland (an autonomous area, autonomous province of Denmark) withdrew in 1985; the United Kingdom formally invoked Article 50 of the Consolidated Treaty on European Union in 2017, and became the only sovereign state to leave when it Brexit, withdrew from the EU in 2020.Geography
The EU's member states cover an area of .This figure includes the extra-European territories of member states that are part of the EU, and excludes the European territories of member states which are not part of the Union. For more information, see Special member state territories and the European Union. The EU's highest peak is Mont Blanc in the Graian Alps, Above mean sea level, above sea level. The lowest points in the EU are Lammefjorden, Denmark, and Zuidplaspolder, Netherlands, at below sea level. The landscape, climate, and economy of the EU are influenced by its coastline, which is long. Including the overseas territories of France which are located outside the continent of Europe, but which are members of the union, the EU experiences most Köppen climate classification, types of climate from Polar climate, Arctic (north-east Europe) to tropical (French Guiana), rendering meteorological averages for the EU as a whole meaningless. The majority of the population lives in areas with a temperate oceanic climate, maritime climate (North-Western Europe and Central Europe), a Mediterranean climate (Southern Europe), or a warm summer continental or hemiboreal climate (Central Europe and Southeastern Europe).Climate
The climate of the European Union is of a temperate climate, temperate, continental climate, continental nature, with a maritime climate prevailing on the western coasts and a mediterranean climate in the south. The climate is strongly conditioned by the Gulf Stream, which warms the western region to levels unattainable at similar latitudes on other continents. Western Europe is oceanic, while eastern Europe is continental and dry. Four seasons occur in western Europe, while southern Europe experiences a wet season and a dry season. Southern Europe is hot and dry during the summer months. The heaviest precipitation occurs downwind of water bodies due to the prevailing westerlies, with higher amounts also seen in the Alps. Tornadoes occur within Europe, but tend to be weak. The Netherlands experiences a disproportionately high number of tornadic events.Environment
In 1957, when the European Economic Community was founded, it had no environmental policy. Over the past 50 years, an increasingly dense network of legislation has been created, extending to all areas of environmental protection, including air pollution, water quality, waste management, nature conservation, and the control of chemicals, industrial hazards, and biotechnology. According to the Institute for European Environmental Policy, environmental law comprises over 500 Directives, Regulations and Decisions, making environmental policy a core area of European politics.Institute for European Environmental Policy (2012) Manual of European Environmental Policy, Earthscan, London. European policy-makers originally increased the EU's capacity to act on environmental issues by defining it as a trade problem. Trade barriers and competitive distortions in the Common Market could emerge due to the different environmental standards in each member state. In subsequent years, the environment became a formal policy area, with its own policy actors, principles and procedures. The legal basis for EU environmental policy was established with the introduction of the Single European Act in 1987. Initially, EU environmental policy focused on Europe. More recently, the EU has demonstrated leadership in global environmental governance, e.g. the role of the EU in securing the ratification and coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol despite opposition from the United States. This international dimension is reflected in the EU's Sixth Environmental Action Programme, which recognises that its objectives can only be achieved if key international agreements are actively supported and properly implemented both at EU level and worldwide. The Lisbon Treaty further strengthened the leadership ambitions. EU law has played a significant role in improving habitat and species protection in Europe, as well as contributing to improvements in air and water quality and waste management. Mitigating climate change is one of the top priorities of EU environmental policy. In 2007, member states agreed that, in the future, 20 per cent of the energy used across the EU must be renewable energy, renewable, and carbon dioxide emissions have to be lower in 2020 by at least 20 per cent compared to 1990 levels. In 2017, the EU emitted 9.1 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions. The European Union claims that already in 2018, its GHG emissions were 23% lower that in 1990. The EU has adopted an Emissions trading, emissions trading system to incorporate carbon emissions into the economy. The European Green Capital is an annual award given to cities that focuses on the environment, energy efficiency, and quality of life in urban areas to create smart city. In the 2019 European Parliament election, 2019 elections to the European Parliament, the green parties increased their power, possibly because of the rise of post materialist values. Proposals to reach a zero carbon economy in the European Union by 2050 were suggested in 2018 – 2019. Almost all member states supported that goal at an EU summit in June 2019. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, and Poland disagreed. In June 2021 the European Union passed a European Climate Law with targets of 55% GHG emissions reduction by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. In 2021 the European Union and the United States pledged to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030. The pledge is considered as a big achievement for climate change mitigation.Economy
EU member states own the estimated third largest after the United States (trillion) and China (trillion) net wealth in the world, equal to around one sixth (trillion) of the trillion global wealth. Of the top Fortune Global 500, 500 largest corporations in the world measured by revenue in 2010, 161 had their headquarters in the EU. In 2016, unemployment in the EU stood at 8.9 per cent while inflation was at 2.2 per cent, and the account balance at −0.9 per cent of GDP. The average annual net earnings in the European Union was around in 2021. There is a significant variation in nominal GDP per capita within individual EU states. The difference between the richest and poorest regions (281 NUTS-2 regions of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) ranged, in 2017, from 31 per cent (Severozapaden, Bulgaria) of the EU28 average () to 253 per cent (Luxembourg), or from to .Economic and monetary union
The creation of a European Currency Unit, European single currency became an official objective of the European Economic Community in 1969. In 1992, having negotiated the structure and procedures of a currency union, the member states signed theCapital Markets Union and financial institutions
Free movement of capital is intended to permit movement of investments such as property purchases and buying of shares between countries. Until the drive towards economic and monetary union the development of the capital provisions had been slow. Post-Maastricht there has been a rapidly developing corpus of ECJ judgements regarding this initially neglected freedom. The free movement of capital is unique insofar as it is granted equally to non-member states. The European System of Financial Supervision is an institutional architecture of the EU's framework of financial supervision composed by three authorities: the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority. To complement this framework, there is also a European Systemic Risk Board under the responsibility of the central bank. The aim of this financial control system is to ensure the economic stability of the EU.Eurozone and banking union
In 1999, the currency union started to materialise through introducing a common accounting (virtual) currency in History of the euro, eleven of the member states. In 2002, it was turned into a fully-fledged conventible currency, when euro banknotes, euro notes and coins were issued, while the phaseout of national currencies in the eurozone (consisting by then of 12 member states) was initiated. The eurozone (constituted by the EU member states which have adopted the euro) has since grown to 19 countries. 19 member states known as theTrade
As a political entity, the European Union is represented in theSingle market
The single market involves Internal market, the free circulation of goods, capital, people, and services within the EU, The free movement of services and of establishment allows self-employed persons to move between member states to provide services on a temporary or permanent basis. While services account for 60 per cent to 70 per cent of GDP, legislation in the area is not as developed as in other areas. This lacuna has been addressed by the Services in the Internal Market Directive 2006 which aims to liberalise the cross border provision of services. According to the treaty the provision of services is a residual freedom that only applies if no other freedom is being exercised.Customs union
The customs union involves the application of a common external tariff on all goods entering the market. Once goods have been admitted into the market they cannot be subjected to customs duties, discriminatory taxes or import quotas, as they travel internally. The non-EU member states of Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland participate in the single market but not in the customs union. Half the trade in the EU is covered by legislation harmonised by the EU. The European Union Association Agreement does something similar for a much larger range of countries, partly as a so-called soft approach ('a carrot instead of a stick') to influence the politics in those countries. The European Union represents all its members at theExternal trade
The European Union has concluded European Union free trade agreements, free trade agreements (FTAs) and other agreements with a trade component with many countries worldwide and is negotiating with many others. The European Union's services trade surplus rose from $16 billion in 2000 to more than $250 billion in 2018. In 2020, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, China became the EU's largest trading partner, displacing the United States. The European Union is the largest exporter in the world and in 2008 was the largest importer of goods and services. Internal trade between the member states is aided by the removal of barriers to trade such as tariffs and border controls. In theCompetition and consumer protection
The EU operates a European Union competition law, competition policy intended to ensure undistorted competition within the single market.Article 3(1)(g) of the Treaty of Rome In 2001 the commission for the first time prevented a merger between two companies based in the United States (General Electric and Honeywell) which had already been approved by their national authority. Another high-profile case, European Union Microsoft competition case, against Microsoft, resulted in the commission fining Microsoft over million following nine years of legal action.Energy
In 2006, the Treaty of Accession 2005, EU-27 had a gross inland energy consumption of 1,825 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe). Around 46 per cent of the energy consumed was produced within the member states while 54 per cent was imported. In these statistics, nuclear energy is treated as primary energy produced in the EU, regardless of the source of the uranium, of which less than 3 per cent is produced in the EU.Transport
The European Union manages cross-border road, railway, airport and water infrastructure through the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), created in 1990, and the Trans-European Combined Transport network. TEN-T comprises two network layers: the Core Network, which is to be completed by 2030; and the Comprehensive Network, which is to be completed by 2050. The network is currently made up of 9 core corridors: the Baltic–Adriatic Corridor, the North Sea–Baltic Corridor, the Mediterranean Corridor, the Orient/East–Med Corridor, the Scandinavian–Mediterranean Corridor, the Rhine–Alpine Corridor, the Atlantic Corridor, the North Sea–Mediterranean Corridor, and the Rhine–Danube Corridor. Road transportation was organized under the TEN-T by the Trans-European road network. Bundesautobahn 7 is the longest national motorway in the EU at 963 km (598 mi). Maritime transportation is organized under the TEN-T by the Trans-European Inland Waterway network, and the Trans-European Seaport network. European seaports are categorized as international, community, or regional. The Port of Rotterdam is the busiest in the EU, and the world's largest seaport outside of East Asia, located in and near the city of Rotterdam, in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), founded in 2002 in Lisbon, Portugal, is charged with reducing the risk of Shipwreck, maritime accidents, marine pollution from ships and the Search and rescue, loss of human lives at sea by helping to enforce the pertinent EU legislation. Air transportation is organized under the TEN-T by the Trans-European Airport network. European airports are categorized as international, community, or regional. The Charles de Gaulle Airport is the busiest in the EU, located in and near the city of Paris, in France. The European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) is a single market in aviation. ECAA agreements were signed on 5 May 2006 in Salzburg, Austria between the EU and some third countries. The ECAA liberalises the air transport industry by allowing any company from any ECAA member state to fly between any ECAA member states airports, thereby allowing a "foreign" airline to provide domestic flights. The Single European Sky (SES) is an initiative that seeks to reform the European air traffic management system through a series of actions carried out in four different levels (institutional, operational, technological and control and supervision) with the aim of satisfying the needs of the European airspace in terms of capacity, safety, efficiency and environmental impact. Civil aviation safety is under the responsibility of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). It carries out Type certificate, certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitoring. The idea of a European-level aviation safety authority goes back to 1996, but the agency was only legally established in 2002, and began operating in 2003. Rail transportation is organized under the TEN-T by the Trans-European Rail network, made up of the Trans-European high-speed rail network, high-speed rail network and the Trans-European conventional rail network, conventional rail network. The Gare du Nord railway station is the busiest in the EU, located in and near the city of Paris, in France. Rail transport in Europe is being synchronised with the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) with the goal of greatly enhancing safety, increase efficiency of train transports and enhance cross-border interoperability. This is done by replacing former national Railway signal, signalling equipment and operational procedures with a single new Europe-wide standard for train control and command systems. This system is conducted by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA).Telecommunications and space
Mobile communication European Union roaming regulations, roaming charges are abolished throughout the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, was established in 2021 to manage the European Union Space Programme in order to implement the pre-existing ''European Space Policy'', established on 22 May 2007 between the EU and the European Space Agency (ESA), known collectively as the ''European Space Council''. This was the first common political framework for space activities established by the EU. Each member state has pursued to some extent their own national space policy, though often co-ordinating through the ESA. Günter Verheugen, the European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, has stated that even though the EU is "a world leader in the technology, it is being put on the defensive by the United States and Russia and that it only has about a 10 year technological advantage on China and India, which are racing to catch up." Galileo (satellite navigation), Galileo is a Satellite navigation, global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that went live in 2016, created by the EU through the ESA, operated by the EUSPA, with two ground operations centres in Fucine Lake, Fucino, Italy, and Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. The €10 billion project is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. One of the aims of Galileo is to provide an independent high-precision positioning system so European political and military authorities do not have to rely on the US Global Positioning System, GPS, or the Russian GLONASS systems, which could be disabled or degraded by their operators at any time. The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) developed by the ESA and EUROCONTROL. Currently, it supplements the GPS by reporting on the reliability and accuracy of their positioning data and sending out corrections. The system will supplement Galileo in a future version. The Copernicus Programme is the EU's Earth observation programme coordinated and managed by EUSPA in partnership with ESA. It aims at achieving a global, continuous, autonomous, high quality, wide range Earth observation capacity, providing accurate, timely and easily accessible information to, among other things, improve the management of the environment, understand and Climate change mitigation, mitigate the effects of climate change, and ensure civil security.Agriculture and fisheries
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce the EEC budget cost (from 73% in 1985 to 37% in 2017) and consider rural development in its aims. It has, however, been criticised on the grounds of its cost and its environmental and humanitarian effects. Likewise, the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the fisheries policy of the European Union. It sets quotas for which member states are allowed to catch each type of fish, as well as encouraging the fishing industry by various market interventions and fishing subsidies. It was introduced in 2009 with the Treaty of Lisbon, which formally enshrined fisheries conservation policy as one of the handful of "exclusive competences" reserved for the European Union.Regional development
The five European Structural and Investment Funds are supporting the development of the EU regions, primarily the underdeveloped ones, located mostly in the states of Central Europe, central and southern Europe. Another fund (the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance) provides support for candidate members to transform their country to conform to the EU's standard. Demographic transition to a society of ageing population, low fertility-rates and depopulation of non-metropolitan regions is tackled within this policies.Labour
The free movement of persons means that Citizenship of the European Union, EU citizens can move freely between member states to live, work, study or retire in another country. This required the lowering of administrative formalities and recognition of professional qualifications of other states. The EU seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent in September 2018. The euro area unemployment rate was 8.1 per cent. Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.3 per cent), Germany and Poland (both 3.4 per cent), and the highest in Spain (14.9 per cent) and Greece (19.0 in July 2018).Freedom, security and justice
Since the creation of the European Union in 1993, it has developed its competencies in the area of justice and home affairs; initially at an intergovernmental level and later by supranationalism. Accordingly, the union has legislated in areas such as European Arrest Warrant, extradition, family law, asylum law, and criminal justice. The EU has also established agencies to co-ordinate police, prosecution and civil litigations across the member states: Europol for police co-operation, CEPOL for training of police forces and the Eurojust for co-operation between prosecutors and courts. It also operates the EUCARIS database of vehicles and drivers, the Eurodac, the European Criminal Records Information System, the European Cybercrime Centre, FADO, Public Register of Travel and Identity Documents Online, PRADO and others. Prohibitions against discrimination have a long standing in the treaties. In more recent years, these have been supplemented by powers to legislate against discrimination based on race, religion, disability, age, and sexual orientation.See Article 2(7) of the Amsterdam Treaty oForeign relations
Humanitarian aid
The ECHO (European Commission), European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department, or "ECHO", provides humanitarian aid from the EU to developing country, developing countries. In 2012, its budget amounted to million, 51 per cent of the budget went to Africa and 20 per cent to Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Pacific, and 20 per cent to the Middle East and Mediterranean. Humanitarian aid is financed directly by the budget (70 per cent) as part of the financial instruments for external action and also by the European Development Fund (30 per cent).Mikaela Gavas 2010International cooperation and development partnerships
The European Union uses foreign relations instruments like the European Neighbourhood Policy which seeks to tie those countries to the east and south of the European territory of the EU to the union. These countries, primarily developing countries, include some who seek to one day become either a member state of the European Union, or more closely integrated with the European Union. The EU offers financial assistance to countries within the European Neighbourhood, so long as they meet the strict conditions of government reform, economic reform and other issues surrounding positive transformation. This process is normally underpinned by an Action Plan, as agreed by both Brussels and the target country. There is also the worldwide European Union Global Strategy. International recognition of sustainable development as a key element is growing steadily. Its role was recognised in three major UN summits on sustainable development: the 1992 Earth Summit, UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa; and the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in Rio de Janeiro. Other key global agreements are the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2015). The SDGs recognise that all countries must stimulate action in the following key areas – people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership – in order to tackle the global challenges that are crucial for the survival of humanity. EU development action is based on the European Consensus on Development, which was endorsed on 20 December 2005 by EU Member States, the council, the European Parliament and the commission. It is applied from the principles of Capability approach and Rights-based approach to development. Funding is provided by the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance and the Global Europe programmes. Partnership and cooperation agreements are bilateral agreements with non-member nations.Sustainability, territorial and social cohesion
The European Union has long sought to mitigate the effects of free markets by protecting workers' rights and preventing Social dumping, social and environmental dumping. To this end it has adopted laws establishing minimum employment and environmental standards. These included the Working Time Directive and the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive 2011, Environmental Impact Assessment Directive.Social rights and equality
The EU has also sought to coordinate the social security and health systems of member states to facilitate individuals exercising free movement rights and to ensure they maintain their ability to access social security and health services in other member states. Social security main legislation is found in the Equal Treatment in Occupational Social Security Directive 86/378, the Equal Treatment in Social Security Directive 79/7/EEC, the Social Security Regulation 1408/71/EC and 883/2004/EC and the Directive 2005/36/EC. The European Directive about Minimum Wage, which looks to lift minimum wages and strengthen collective bargaining was approved by the European Parliament in September 2022 Since 2019 there has been a European commissioner for equality and the European Institute for Gender Equality has existed since 2007. A Directive on countering gender-based violence has been proposed. In September 2022, a European Care strategy was approved in order to provide "quality, affordable and accessible care services". In 2020, the first ever European Union Strategy on LGBTIQ equality was approved under Helena Dalli mandate. In December 2021, the commission announced the intention of codifying a union-wide law against LGBT hate crimes. The European Social Charter is the main body that recognises the social rights of European citizens. Housing, youth, childhood, Functional diversity or elderly care are supportive competencies of the European Union and can be financed by the European Social Fund. The European Pillar of Social Rights contains a preamble and 3 chapters with target values for 20 fields: Chapter I: Equal opportunities and access to the labour market (general education, professional training and lifelong learning, gender equality, equal opportunities, active support for employment) Chapter II: Fair working conditions (secure and adaptable employment, wages, information about employment conditions and protection in the event of dismissals, social dialogue and involvement of workers, work-life balance, healthy, safe and well-adapted working environments and data protection) Chapter III: Social protection and inclusion (childcare and support for children, social protection, unemployment benefits, minimum income, old age income and pensions, healthcare, inclusion of people with disabilities, long-term care, housing and assistance for the homeless, access to essential services) The EPSR is intended to act as a reference document of sorts, by means of which the labour markets and social standards in the Member States may approach the standards defined in the Pillar in the long term.Demographics
On 1 January 2021, the population of the EU was about 447 million people (5.8 per cent of the world population). In 2015, 5.1million children were born in the EU-28 corresponding to a birth rate of 10 per 1,000, which is 8 births below the world average. For comparison, the EU-28 birth rate had stood at 10.6 in 2000, 12.8 in 1985 and 16.3 in 1970. Its population growth rate was positive at an estimated 0.23 per cent in 2016. In 2010, 47.3million people who lived in the EU were born outside their resident country. This corresponds to 9.4 per cent of the total EU population. Of these, 31.4million (6.3 per cent) were born outside the EU and 16.0million (3.2 per cent) were born in another EU member state. The largest absolute numbers of people born outside the EU were in Germany (6.4million), France (5.1million), the United Kingdom (4.7million), Spain (4.1million), Italy (3.2million), and the Netherlands (1.4million). In 2017, approximately 825,000 people acquired Citizenship of the European Union, citizenship of a member state of the EU. The Immigration to Europe, largest groups were nationals of Morocco, Albania, India, Turkey, and Pakistan. 2.4million Immigration to Europe, immigrants from non-EU countries entered the EU in 2017.Urbanisation
The EU's population is highly urbanised: some 75 per cent of inhabitants lived in urban areas in 2006. Cities are largely spread out across the EU with a large grouping in and around the Benelux. The EU contains about 40 urban areas with populations of over 1million. With a population of over 13 million, Paris is the largest metropolitan area and the only megacity in the EU. Paris is followed by Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, the Ruhr, Milan, and Rome, all with a metropolitan population of over 4million. The EU also has numerous Conurbation, polycentric urbanised regions like Rhine-Ruhr (Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf et al.), Randstad (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht et al.), Frankfurt Rhine-Main (Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Mainz et al.), the Flemish Diamond (Antwerp, Brussels, Leuven, Ghent et al.) and Upper Silesian metropolitan area, Upper Silesian area (Katowice, Ostrava et al.).Languages
The EU has 24 official languages: Bulgarian language, Bulgarian, Croatian language, Croatian, Czech language, Czech, Danish language, Danish, Dutch language, Dutch, English language, English, Estonian language, Estonian, Finnish language, Finnish, French language, French, German language, German, Greek language, Greek, Hungarian language, Hungarian, Italian language, Italian, Irish language, Irish, Latvian language, Latvian, Lithuanian language, Lithuanian, Maltese language, Maltese, Polish language, Polish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, Romanian language, Romanian, Slovak language, Slovak, Slovene language, Slovene, Spanish language, Spanish, and Swedish language, Swedish. Important documents, such as legislation, are translated into every official language and the European Parliament provides translation for documents and plenary sessions. In 2020, the EU stated that translation and interpreting costs were less than 1% of its annual budget of €148 billion. Due to the high number of official languages, most of the institutions use only a handful of working languages. The European Commission conducts its internal business in three ''procedural languages'': English, French, and German Similarly, the Court of Justice of the European Union uses French as the working language, while the European Central Bank conducts its business primarily in English. Even though language policy is the responsibility of member states, EU institutions promote multilingualism among its citizens. In 2012, English was the most widely spoken language in the EU, being understood by 51 per cent of the EU population when counting both native and non-native speakers. However, following the UK's exit from the bloc in early 2020, the percentage of the EU population who spoke English as their native language fell from 13 per cent to 1 per cent. German is the most widely spoken mother tongue (18 per cent of the EU population), and the second most widely understood foreign language, followed by French (13 per cent of the EU population). In addition, both are official languages of several EU member states. More than half (56 per cent) of EU citizens are able to engage in a conversation in a language other than their mother tongue. A total of twenty official languages of the EU belong to the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, represented by the Balto-Slavic,Slavic: Bulgarian language, Bulgarian, Croatian language, Croatian, Czech language, Czech, Polish language, Polish, Slovak language, Slovak and Slovene language, Slovene. Baltic: Latvian language, Latvian and Lithuanian language, Lithuanian. the Italic languages, Italic,French language, French, Italian language, Italian, Portuguese language, Portuguese, Romanian language, Romanian and Spanish language, Spanish. the Germanic Europe, Germanic,Danish language, Danish, Dutch language, Dutch, English language, English, German language, German and Swedish language, Swedish. the Hellenic languages, Hellenic,Greek language, Greek and the Celtic languages, CelticIrish language, Irish branches. Only four languages, namely Hungarian language, Hungarian, Finnish language, Finnish, Estonian language, Estonian (all three Uralic languages, Uralic), and Maltese language, Maltese (Semitic languages, Semitic), are not Indo-European languages. The three official alphabets of the EU (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic, Latin alphabet, Latin, and Greek alphabet, modern Greek) all derive from the Archaic Greek alphabets, Archaic Greek scripts. Luxembourgish (in Luxembourg) and Turkish language, Turkish (in Cyprus) are the only two national languages that are not official languages of the EU. On 26 February 2016, it was made public that Cyprus has asked to make Turkish an official EU language, in a "gesture" that could help solve the Cyprus dispute, division of the country. Besides the 24 official languages, there are about 150 regional language, regional and minority languages, spoken by up to 50 million people. Catalan language, Catalan, Galician language, Galician and Basque language, Basque are not recognised official languages of the EU but have official status in one member state (Spain): therefore, official translations of the treaties are made into them and citizens have the right to correspond with the institutions in these languages. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ratified by most EU states provides general guidelines that states can follow to protect their linguistic heritage. The European Day of Languages is held annually on 26 September and is aimed at encouraging language learning across Europe.Religion
The EU has no formal connection to any religion. Article 17 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union recognises the "status under national law of churches and religious associations" as well as that of "philosophical and non-confessional organisations". The preamble to the Maastricht Treaty, Treaty on European Union mentions the "cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe". Discussion over the draft texts of the European Constitution and later theEducation and research
Basic education is an area where the EU's role is limited to supporting national governments. In higher education, the policy was developed in the 1980s in programmes supporting exchanges and mobility. The most visible of these has been the Erasmus Programme, a university exchange programme which began in 1987. In its first 20 years, it supported international exchange opportunities for well over 1.5 million university and college students and became a symbol of European student life. There are similar programmes for school pupils and teachers, for trainees in vocational education, vocational education and training, and for adult learners in the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013. These programmes are designed to encourage a wider knowledge of other countries and to spread good practices in the education and training fields across the EU. Through its support of the Bologna Process, the EU is supporting comparable standards and compatible degrees across Europe. Scientific development is facilitated through the EU's Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, Framework Programmes, the first of which started in 1984. The aims of EU policy in this area are to co-ordinate and stimulate research. The independent European Research Council allocates EU funds to European or national research projects. EU Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, research and technological framework programmes deal in a number of areas, for example energy where the aim is to develop a diverse mix of renewable energy to help the environment and to reduce dependence on imported fuels.Health
The Article 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union affirms that "A high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities". The European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (European Commission), Directorate-General for Health and Consumers seeks to align national laws on the protection of people's health, on the consumers' rights, on the safety of food and other products. All EU and many other European countries offer their citizens a free European Health Insurance Card which, on a reciprocal basis, provides insurance for emergency medical treatment insurance when visiting other participating European countries. A directive on cross-border healthcare aims at promoting co-operation on health care between member states and facilitating access to safe and high-quality cross-border healthcare for European patients. The EU has some of the highest levels of life expectancy in the world, with Spain, Italy, Sweden, France, Malta, Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Greece all among the world's top 20 countries with the highest life expectancy. In general, life expectancy is lower in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe. In 2018, the EU region with the highest life expectancy was Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid, Spain at 85.2 years, followed by the Spanish regions of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja and Castilla y León both at 84.3 years, Trentino in Italy at 84.3 years and Île-de-France in France at 84.2 years. The overall life expectancy in the EU in 2018 was 81.0 years, higher than the World average of 72.6 years.Culture
Cultural co-operation between member states has been an interest of the European Union since its inclusion as a community competency in the Maastricht Treaty. Actions taken in the cultural area by the EU include the Culture 2000 seven-year programme, the European Cultural Month event, and orchestras such as the European Union Youth Orchestra. The European Capital of Culture programme selects one or more cities in every year to assist the Sociocultural evolution, cultural development of that city.Sport
Sport is mainly the responsibility of the member states or other international organisations, rather than of the EU. There are some EU policies that have affected sport, such as the free movement of workers, which was at the core of the Bosman ruling that prohibited national football leagues from imposing quotas on foreign players with EU member state citizenship. TheSymbols
The flag of Europe consists of a Circle of stars, circle of 12 golden stars on a blue background. Originally designed in 1955 for the Council of Europe, the flag was adopted by the European Communities, the predecessors of the present European Union, in 1986. The Council of Europe gave the flag a symbolic description in the following terms, though the official symbolic description adopted by the EU omits the reference to the "Western world":Media
Media freedom is a Fundamental rights, fundamental right that applies to all Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union and its EU citizens, citizens, as defined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as the European Convention on Human Rights.Maria PoptchevaInfluence
The European Union has had a significant positive economic effect on most member states. According to a 2019 study of the member states who joined from 1973 to 2004, "without European integration, per capita incomes would have been, on average, approximately 10 per cent lower in the first ten years after joining the EU." Greece was the exception reported by the study, which analysed up to 2008, "to avoid confounding effects from the global financial crisis". A 2021 study in the ''Journal of Political Economy'' found that the 2004 enlargement had aggregate beneficial economic effects on all groups in both the old and new member states. The largest winners were the new member states, in particular unskilled labour in the new member states. The European Union has contributed to peace in Europe, in particular by pacifying border disputes, and to the spread of democracy, especially by encouraging democratic reforms in aspiring Eastern European member states after the collapse of the USSR. Scholar Thomas Risse wrote in 2009, "there is a consensus in the literature on Eastern Europe that the EU membership perspective had a huge anchoring effects for the new democracies." However, R. Daniel Kelemen argues that the EU has proved beneficial to leaders who are overseeing democratic backsliding, as the EU is reluctant to intervene in domestic politics, gives authoritarian governments funds which they can use to strengthen their regimes, and because freedom of movement within the EU allows dissenting citizens to leave their backsliding countries. At the same time, the union provides an external constraint that prevents soft authoritarian regimes from progressing into hard dictatorships.See also
* Outline of the European Union * Special territories of members of the European Economic Area * List of country groupings * List of multilateral free-trade agreements * Euroscepticism * Pan-European nationalism * Brexit withdrawal agreement * EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement * African UnionNotes
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