European Union (EU)

Extracted Attributes

• Type

  Supranational political and economic union

• Currency

  Euro (used by 20 member states in the eurozone)

• AI Stance

  Perceived as favoring heavy AI regulation, associated with Techno-pessimism

• Total Area

  4,233,255 km² (1,634,469 sq mi)

• Key Policies

  Free movement of people, goods, services, and capital; justice and home affairs; common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development

• Legal Nature

  Sui generis political entity (combining characteristics of a federation and a confederation)

• Nobel Peace Prize

  Awarded in 2012

• Nominal GDP (2024)

  Approximately €17.935 trillion

• Estimated Population

  Over 450 million (as of 2025)

• Number of Member States

  27

• Diplomatic Delegation Location

  Avenue Terrasson de Fougères, Le Plateau, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Timeline

• Origins of modern European integration traced back to the Inner Six states. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1948-XX-XX

• Treaty of Paris signed, establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). (Source: Web Search)

  1951-XX-XX

• Treaty of Rome signed, establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC). (Source: Web Search)

  1957-XX-XX

• Start of accessions of further 22 states, continuing until 2013. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1973-XX-XX

• Maastricht Treaty signed. (Source: Web Search)

  1992-XX-XX

• Maastricht Treaty came into force, establishing the European Union and its citizenship. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1993-11-01

• The euro currency was launched. (Source: Web Search)

  1999-XX-XX

• The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) expired. (Source: Web Search)

  2002-XX-XX

• Treaty of Lisbon came into force, incorporating the EU as an international legal juridical person. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2009-XX-XX

• Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2012-XX-XX

• The United Kingdom became the only member state to leave the EU. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2020-XX-XX

European Union

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 population of over 450 million as of 2025. The EU is often described as a sui generis political entity combining characteristics of both a federation and a confederation. Containing 5.5% of the world population in 2023, EU member states generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around €17.935 trillion in 2024, accounting for approximately one sixth of global economic output. 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 EU's 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. The EU was established, along with its citizenship, when the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993, and was incorporated as an international legal juridical person upon 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 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2020, the United Kingdom became the only member state to leave the EU; ten countries are aspiring or negotiating to join it.

Web Search Results

• History of the European Union - Wikipedia

  The European Union is a geo-political entity, created in 1993, covering a large portion of the European continent. It is founded upon numerous treaties and has undergone expansions and secessions that have taken it from six member states to 27, a majority of the states in Europe. [...] Since the end of World War II, sovereign European countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe (French: la construction européenne). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of the European Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European [...] (1951) "Treaty of Paris (1951)"), and later the Treaty of Rome (1957) which established the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC). The Maastricht Treaty (1992) created the European Union with its pillars system, including foreign and home affairs alongside the European Communities. This in turn led to the creation of the single European currency, the euro (launched 1999). The ECSC expired in 2002. The Maastricht Treaty has been amended by the treaties

• European Union - Wikipedia

  The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe.[\[9\]](#cite_note-11)[\[10\]](#cite_note-12) The union has a total area of 4,233,255 km2 (1,634,469 sq mi) and an estimated population of over 449 million as of 2024. The EU is often described as a _sui generis_ political entity combining characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.[\[11\]](#cite_note-13)[\[12\]](#cite_note-14) [...] Union "Western Union (alliance)"), 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. [...] Area.[\[19\]](#cite_note-Internal_borders-21) The eurozone is a group composed of the 20 EU member states that have fully implemented the EU's 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,

• European Union (EU) | Definition, Flag, Purpose, History, & Members

  European Union (EU), international organization comprising 27 European countries and governing common economic, social, and security policies. Originally confined to western Europe, the EU undertook a robust expansion into central and eastern Europe in the early 21st century. The EU’s members are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, [...] The EU was created by the Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force on November 1, 1993. The treaty was designed to enhance European political and economic integration by creating a single currency (the euro), a unified foreign and security policy, and common citizenship rights and by advancing cooperation in the areas of immigration, asylum, and judicial affairs. The EU was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2012, in recognition of the organization’s efforts to promote peace and democracy [...] The EU represents one in a series of efforts to integrate Europe since World War II. At the end of the war, several western European countries sought closer economic, social, and political ties to achieve economic growth and military security and to promote a lasting reconciliation between France and Germany. To this end, in 1951 the leaders of six countries—Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany—signed the Treaty of Paris, thereby, when it took effect in 1952,

• Countries in the EU and EEA - GOV.UK

  The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 countries. It operates an internal (or single) market which allows free movement of goods, capital, services and people between member states. ## EU countries The EU countries are:

• Origin and development - European organisations - CVCE Website

  The European Union is an economic and political organisation which is constantly evolving and which, because of its intrinsic and unique features, prompts lively doctrinal debate as to its legal nature. Because its institutional structure and decision-making procedures are so complex, it cannot be readily be assigned to any one specific category of international organisation. Combining, as it does, the methods of coordination and of sharing national powers, the Union is not comparable to a [...] The European Union is the first ‘general-purpose’ international organisation to be created not by a coordination of its members’ national policies but by the pooling of some of those policies under the umbrella of the European Communities. The result of this pooling of policies was an innovative type of body — a supranational organisation — formed by the voluntary transfer of certain sovereign powers by its Member States. Member States did not surrender their powers: they decided to exercise [...] has been described as one with three pillars, the first of which is supranational, comprising the three Communities, each of which has its own legal personality. The European Union does not have legal personality, however, even though it encompasses the Community pillar and the two intergovernmental pillars within a common institutional structure.