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The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. A supranational union with a total area of 4,233,255 km² (1,634,469 sq mi) and an estimated population of just under 452 million as of 2026, its member states generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around €18.802 trillion in 2025, accounting for approximately one sixth of global economic output. The EU is often described as a sui generis political entity combining characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.

Its cornerstone, the Customs Union, paved the way to establishing an internal single market based on standardised legal framework and legislation that apply in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where the states have agreed to act as one. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the internal market; enact legislation in justice and home affairs; and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development.

The EU was established, along with its citizenship, when the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993. The Union later acquired a single, explicit international legal personality with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009. Its beginnings can be traced to the Inner Six states (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany) at the start of modern European integration in 1948, and to the Western Union, the International Authority for the Ruhr, the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, which were established by treaties. These increasingly amalgamated bodies grew, with their legal successor, the EU, both in size through the accessions of a further 22 states from 1973 to 2013, and in power through acquisitions of policy areas. In 2020, the United Kingdom became the only member state to leave the EU; ten countries are aspiring or negotiating to join it. (Full article...)

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The Galileo positioning system is a proposed satellite navigation system, to be built by the European Union as an alternative to GPS (which is controlled by the United States military) and the Russian GLONASS. The system should be operational by 2010, two years later than originally anticipated. The first stage of the Galileo program was agreed upon officially on May 26, 2003 by the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA).

It is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. The Galileo positioning system should not be referred to as GPS, which refers specifically to the existing United States system, but as "Galileo." Galileo is intended to provide: greater precision to all users, improved coverage of satellite signals at higher latitudes, which northern regions such as Scandinavia will benefit from, a positioning system upon which European nations can rely even in times of war or political disagreement.

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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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Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, and consequently the site of its Government and Parliament as well as the residence of the Swedish head of state, King Carl XVI Gustaf. Stockholm has been Sweden's political and economic center since the 13th century. Today it is the largest municipality of Sweden, with a population of 776,000, while the populations of the Stockholm urban area and Metropolitan Stockholm are roughly 1.2 and 1.9 million, respectively. With its location on the east coast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago, it is widely renowned for its beauty.

The city is said to have been founded by Birger Jarl in order to protect Sweden from a sea invasion by foreign navies, and to stop the pillage of towns such as Sigtuna on Lake Mälaren. It is also said that the name derives from the spot where a log (stock) pushed into the waters, and following its currents, drifted upon an islet (holm). This location would thus constitute the best location for a harbour for returning ships.

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General images

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

Image 1Logo of the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 2The Schuman Parade in Warsaw has been organised by the Schuman Foundation since 1999 (2008 photograph). (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 3The European Coal and Steel Community's flag. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 4Logo of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 5Logo of the European Parliament (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 6Europa regina in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographia", 1570 (from History of the European Union)
Image 7Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Antonio Segni, signing the European customs union and Euratom in Rome in 1957 (from History of the European Union)
Image 8Mario Draghi (from History of the European Union)
Image 9Population pyramid of the EU 27 in 2023 (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 10Elaboration by sex (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 11José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission (2004–2014) (from History of the European Union)
Image 12Political 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 13Kaja Kallas, High Representative Vice President (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 14Logo of the European Court of Auditors (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 15The fertility rate in the EU was 1.38 in 2023 (Kindergarten in France). (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 16The Euro symbol shown as a sculpture outside the European Central Bank (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 17Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
(since 1 December 2019) (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 19Meeting in the Hall of Knights in The Hague, during the Congress of Europe (9 May 1948) (from History of the European Union)
Image 20EU fertility has declined in the 2020s. (from Demographics of the European Union)
Image 21Percentage responding that their country on balance benefited from being a member of the EU at Eurobarometer 2026:

  91–100%

  81–90%

  71–80%

  61–70%

  51–60%

(from Politics of the European Union)
Image 22Signatories of the 2007 declaration in dark blue. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 23Organigram 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 24Aristide Briand (from History of the European Union)
Image 25The Frankish Empire at its greatest extent, ca. 814 AD (from History of the European Union)
Image 26Winston Churchill (right, during the Atlantic Conference), consistent advocate of continental European integration, later along with his son-in-law Duncan Sandys (from History of the European Union)
Image 271922 European flag of the Paneuropean Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 28Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (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 30A 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 31Coins and banknotes of the Euro, the single-currency introduced from 1999 (from History of the European Union)
Image 32Newest state in yellow (from History of the European Union)
Image 33Flag of the Western Union (from History of the European Union)
Image 34Logo of the Court of Justice of the European Union (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 35Donald Trump, President of the United States (from History of the European Union)
Image 36Of the 382 voting areas in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar a total of 270 returned majority votes in favour of "Leave" whereas 129 returned majority votes in favour of "Remain" in the referendum, including all 32 areas in Scotland.
Leave
Remain
(from History of the European Union)
Image 37Logo of the European Commission (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 38A piece from the original manuscript. (from Symbols of the European Union)
Image 39The ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union (from Politics of the European Union)
Image 40After 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 41The flag of Europe, emblem of both the Council of Europe and the European Union. (from Symbols of the European Union)