"text":"<p>The evolution of what is today the European Union (EU) from a regional economic agreement among six neighboring states in 1951 to today's hybrid intergovernmental and supranational organization of 27 countries across the European continent stands as an unprecedented phenomenon in the annals of history. Dynastic unions for territorial consolidation were long the norm in Europe; on a few occasions even country-level unions were arranged - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were examples. For such a large number of nation-states to cede some of their sovereignty to an overarching entity is unique.</p> <p>Although the EU is not a federation in the strict sense, it is far more than a free-trade association such as ASEAN or Mercosur, and it has certain attributes associated with independent nations: its own flag, currency (for some members), and law-making abilities, as well as diplomatic representation and a common foreign and security policy in its dealings with external partners.</p> <p>Thus, inclusion of basic intelligence on the EU has been deemed appropriate as a separate entity in The World Factbook.</p>"
"text":"<p>In the aftermath and devastation of the two World Wars, a number of far-sighted European leaders in the late 1940s sought to respond to the overwhelming desire for peace and reconciliation on the continent. In 1950, the French Foreign Minister Robert SCHUMAN proposed pooling the production of coal and steel in Western Europe, which would bring France and West Germany together and be open to other countries as well. The following year, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was set up when six members - Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands - signed the Treaty of Paris.</p> <p>Within a few years, the ECSC was so successful that member states decided to further integrate their economies. In 1957, envisioning an \"ever closer union,\" the Treaties of Rome were signed creating the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), eliminating trade barriers among the six member states to create a common market. In 1967, the institutions of all three communities were formally merged into the European Community (EC), creating a single Commission, a single Council of Ministers, and a legislative body known today as the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament were initially selected by national parliaments, but in 1979 the first direct elections were undertaken and have been held every five years since.</p> <p>In 1973, the first enlargement of the EC took place with the addition of Denmark, Ireland, and the UK. The 1980s saw further membership expansion with Greece joining in 1981 and Spain and Portugal in 1986. The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht laid the basis for further cooperation in the fields of foreign and defense policy, judicial and internal affairs, and the creation of an economic and monetary union - including a common currency. The Maastricht Treaty created the European Union (EU), at the time standing alongside the EC. In 1995, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU/EC, raising the total number of member states to 15. On 1 January 1999, a new currency, the euro, was launched in world markets and became the unit of exchange for all EU member states except Denmark, Sweden, and the UK. In 2002, citizens of the 12 participating member states began using euro banknotes and coins.</p> <p>Ten new countries joined the EU in 2004 - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007 and Croatia in 2013. UK citizens on 23 June 2016 narrowly voted to leave the EU; the formal exit took place on 31 January 2020. The EU and the UK negotiated a Withdrawal Agreement that included a status quo transition period through December 2020, when the follow-on EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement was concluded. Current membership stands at 27. (Eight of the newer member states - Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia - have now adopted the euro, bringing total euro-zone membership to 20.)</p> <p>In an effort to ensure that the EU could function efficiently with an expanded membership, the Treaty of Nice in 2000 set forth rules to streamline the size and procedures of the EU's institutions. An effort to establish a \"Constitution for Europe,\" growing out of a Convention held in 2002-2003, foundered when it was rejected in referenda in France and the Netherlands in 2005. A subsequent effort in 2007 incorporated many of the features of the rejected draft Constitutional Treaty, while also making a number of substantive as well as symbolic changes. The new treaty, referred to as the Treaty of Lisbon, sought to amend existing treaties rather than replace them. The treaty was approved at a conference of member states held in Lisbon in December 2007, after which the process of national ratifications began. After all member states ratified, the Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009, and the EU officially replaced and succeeded the EC.</p>"
"text":"Albania 212 km; Andorra 118 km; Belarus 1,176 km; Bosnia and Herzegovina 956 km; Holy See 3 km; Liechtenstein 34 km; North Macedonia 396 km; Moldova 683 km; Monaco 6 km; Montenegro 19 km; Norway 2,375 km; Russia 2,435 km; San Marino 37 km; Serbia 1,353 km; Switzerland 1,729 km; Turkey 415 km; United Kingdom 499 km; Ukraine 1,324 km; note - the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement (2020) commits the United Kingdom (UK) to maintain an open border in Ireland, so the border between Northern Ireland (UK) and the Republic of Ireland is only<em> de jure</em> and is not a hard border; the <em>de facto</em> border is the Irish Sea between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain"
"text":"population distribution varies considerably from country to country but tends to follow a pattern of coastal and river settlement, with urban agglomerations forming large hubs facilitating large scale housing, industry, and commerce; the area in and around the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg (known collectively as Benelux), is the most densely populated area in the EU"
"text":"flooding along coasts; avalanches in mountainous area; earthquakes in the south; volcanic eruptions in Italy; periodic droughts in Spain; ice floes in the Baltic Sea region"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> only the 24 official languages are listed; German, the major language of Germany and Austria, is the most widely spoken mother tongue - about 16% of the EU population; English is the most widely spoken foreign language - about 29% of the EU population is conversant with it; English is an official language in Ireland and Malta and thus remained an official EU language after the UK left the bloc (2020)"
"text":"population distribution varies considerably from country to country but tends to follow a pattern of coastal and river settlement, with urban agglomerations forming large hubs facilitating large scale housing, industry, and commerce; the area in and around the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg (known collectively as Benelux), is the most densely populated area in the EU"
"text":"various forms of air, soil, and water pollution; see individual country entries"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 2006"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds"
}
},
"Climate":{
"text":"cold temperate; potentially subarctic in the north to temperate; mild wet winters; hot dry summers in the south"
"text":"Brussels (Belgium), Strasbourg (France), Luxembourg, Frankfurt (Germany); note - the European Council, a gathering of member-state heads of state and/or government, and the Council of the European Union, a gathering of member-state cabinet ministers, meet in Brussels, Belgium, except for Council of the EU meetings held in Luxembourg in April, June, and October; the European Parliament meets in Brussels and Strasbourg, France, and has administrative offices in Luxembourg; the Court of Justice of the European Union is located in Luxembourg; and the European Central Bank is located in Frankfurt, Germany"
"text":"the 27 European Union member states spread across three time zones; a proposal has been put forward to do away with daylight savings time in all EU member states"
"text":"<p>27 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden; note - 8 candidate countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine</p> <p>there are 13 overseas countries and territories (OCTs) (1 with Denmark [Greenland], 6 with France [French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, New Caledonia, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna], and 6 with the Netherlands [Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten]), all are part of the Overseas Countries and Territories Association (OCTA)</p>",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> there are non-European OCTs having special relations with Denmark, France, and the Netherlands (list is annexed to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), that are associated with the EU to promote their economic and social development; member states apply to their trade with OCTs the same treatment as they accord each other pursuant to the treaties; OCT nationals are in principle EU citizens, but these countries are neither part of the EU, nor subject to the EU"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the Treaties of Rome, signed on 25 March 1957 and subsequently entered into force on 1 January 1958, created the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community; a series of subsequent treaties have been adopted to increase efficiency and transparency, to prepare for new member states, and to introduce new areas of cooperation - such as a single currency; the Treaty of Lisbon, signed on 13 December 2007 and entered into force on 1 December 2009 is the most recent of these treaties and is intended to make the EU more democratic, more efficient, and better able to address global problems with one voice"
"text":"Europe Day (also known as Schuman Day), 9 May (1950); note - the day in 1950 that Robert SCHUMAN proposed the creation of what became the European Coal and Steel Community, the progenitor of today's European Union, with the aim of achieving a united Europe"
"text":"none; note - the EU legal order relies primarily on two consolidated texts encompassing all provisions as amended from a series of past treaties: the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU); The TEU as modified by the 2009 Lisbon Treaty states in Article 1 that \"the HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES establish among themselves a EUROPEAN UNION ... on which the Member States confer competences to attain objectives they have in common\"; Article 1 of the TEU states further that the EU is \"founded on the present Treaty and on the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereinafter referred to as 'the Treaties'),\" both possessing the same legal value; Article 6 of the TEU provides that a separately adopted Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union \"shall have the same legal value as the Treaties\""
"text":"European Union treaties can be amended in several ways: 1) Ordinary Revision Procedure (for key amendments to the treaties); initiated by an EU member state, by the European Parliament, or by the European Commission; following adoption of the proposal by the European Council, a convention is formed of national government representatives to review the proposal and a conference of government representatives subsequently reviews the proposal; passage requires ratification by all EU member states; 2) Simplified Revision Procedure (for amendment of EU internal policies and actions); passage of a proposal requires unanimous European Council vote following European Council consultation with the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Central Bank (if the amendment concerns monetary matters) and requires ratification by all EU member states; 3) Passerelle Clause (allows the alteration of a legislative procedure without a formal amendment of the treaties); 4) Flexibility Clause (permits the EU to decide in subject areas where EU competences have not been explicitly granted in the Treaties but are necessary to the attainment of the objectives set out in the Treaty); note - the Treaty of Lisbon (signed in December 2007 and effective in December 2009) amended the two treaties that formed the EU - the Maastricht Treaty (1992), also known as the TEU, and the Treaty of Rome (1957), known in updated form as the TFEU"
"text":"unique supranational system of laws in which, according to an interpretive declaration of member-state governments appended to the Treaty of Lisbon, \"the Treaties and the law adopted by the Union on the basis of the Treaties have primacy over the law of Member States\" under conditions laid down in the case law of the Court of Justice; key principles of EU jurisprudence include universal rights as guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and as resulting from constitutional traditions common to the EU's 27 member states; EU law is divided into 'primary' and 'secondary' legislation; primary legislation is derived from the consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and are the basis for all EU action; secondary legislation - which includes directives, regulations, and decisions - is derived from the principles and objectives set out in the treaties"
"text":"<p>under the EU treaties there are three distinct institutions, each of which conducts functions that may be regarded as executive in nature:<br><em>European Council </em>- brings together member-state heads of state or government, along with the president of the European Commission, and meets at least four times a year; its aim is to provide the impetus for the development of the Union and to issue general policy guidance; the Treaty of Lisbon established the position of \"permanent\" (full-time) president of the European Council; leaders of the EU member states appoint the president for a 2 1/2 year term, renewable once; the president's responsibilities include chairing European Council meetings and providing policy and organizational continuity; the current president is Charles MICHEL (Belgium), since 1 December 2019, who succeeded Donald TUSK (Poland; 2014 - 2019)<br><em>Council of the European Union </em>- consists of gatherings of member-state officials, ranging from working-level diplomats to cabinet ministers in a given policy field, such as foreign affairs, agriculture, or economy; it conducts policymaking and coordinating functions as well as legislative functions; representatives from one member state chair meetings of the Council of the EU, based on a 6-month rotating presidency except for the meetings of EU Foreign Ministers in the Foreign Affairs Council that are chaired by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy<br><em>European Commission</em> - headed by a College of Commissioners comprised of 27 members (one from each member state) including the president; each commissioner is responsible for one or more policy areas; the Commission has the sole right to initiate EU legislation (except for foreign and security/defense policy), and is also responsible for promoting the general interest of the EU, acting as \"guardian of the Treaties\" by monitoring the application of EU law, implementing/executing the EU budget, managing programs, negotiating on the EU's behalf in policy areas where the member states have conferred sole competency, such as trade, and ensuring the Union's external representation in some policy areas; its current president is Ursula VON DER LEYEN (Germany) elected on 16 July 2019 (took office on 1 December 2019); the president of the European Commission is nominated by the European Council and confirmed by the European Parliament; the Commission president allocates specific responsibilities among the members of the College (appointed by common accord of the member-state governments in consultation with the president-elect); the European Parliament confirms the entire Commission for a 5-year term.</p>",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> for external representation and foreign policy making, member-state leaders appointed Joseph BORRELL (Spain) as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; BORRELL took office on 1 December 2019, succeeding Federica MOGHERINI (Italy (2014 - 2019); the High Representative's concurrent appointment as Vice President of the European Commission was meant to bring more coherence to the EU’s foreign policy (including policies managed by the Commission that are particularly relevant for EU external relations, such as trade, humanitarian aid and crisis management, neighborhood policy and enlargement, as well as between member-state capitals and the EU); the High Representative helps develop and implement the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defense Policy components, chairs the Council of the EU's meetings of member-state foreign ministers, called the Foreign Affairs Council, represents and acts for the Union in many international contexts, and oversees the European External Action Service, the diplomatic corps of the EU, established on 1 December 2010"
"text":"two legislative bodies consisting of the Council of the European Union (27 seats; ministers representing the 27 member states) and the European Parliament (705 seats; seats allocated among member states roughly in proportion to population size; members elected by proportional representation to serve 5-year terms); note - the European Parliament President, Roberta METSOLA, was elected in January 2022 by a majority of fellow members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and represents the Parliament within the EU and internationally; the Council of the EU and the MEPs share responsibilities for adopting the bulk of EU legislation; the two bodies must come to agreement for a commission proposal to become law, after negotiations in which they reconcile differences in each body's text of the proposal, except in the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy, which is governed by consensus of the EU member-state governments)"
"text":"percent of vote - NA; seats by party (as of 13 April 2023) - EPP 175, S&D 144, RE 101, Greens/EFA 72, ECR 66, ID 62, GUE-NGL 38, non-attached 47; Parliament composition - men 428, women 277, percent of women 39.3%; note - composition of the European Council - men 23, women 4, percent of women 14.8%; total Council and Parliament percent of women 38.4%"
"text":"Court of Justice of the European Union, which includes the Court of Justice (informally known as the European Court of Justice or ECJ) and the General Court (consists of 27 judges, one drawn from each member state); the ECJ includes 11 Advocates General while the General Court can include additional judges; both the ECJ and the General Court may sit in a \"Grand Chamber\" of 15 judges in special cases but usually in chambers of 3 to 5 judges"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the ECJ is the supreme judicial authority of the EU; it ensures that EU law is interpreted and applied uniformly throughout the EU, resolves disputes among EU institutions and member states, and reviews issues and opinions regarding questions of EU law referred by member state courts"
"text":"European United Left-Nordic Green Left or GUE/NGL [Manon AUBRY and Martin SCHIRDEWAN]<br>European Conservatives and Reformists or ECR [Raffaele FITTO and Ryszard LEGUTKO]<br>European Greens/European Free Alliance or Greens/EFA [Ska KELLER and Philippe LAMBERTS]<br>European People's Party or EPP [Manfred WEBER]<br>Identity and Democracy Party or ID [Marco ZANNI]<br>Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats or S&D [Iratxe GARCIA]<br>Renew Europe or RE [Stephane SEJOURNE] (successor to Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe or ALDE)"
"text":"a blue field with 12 five-pointed gold stars arranged in a circle in the center; blue represents the sky of the Western world, the stars are the peoples of Europe in a circle, a symbol of unity; the number of stars is fixed"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"a circle of 12, five-pointed, golden yellow stars on a blue field; union colors: blue, yellow"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> official EU anthem since 1985; the anthem is meant to represent all of Europe rather than just the organization, conveying ideas of peace, freedom, and unity"
"text":"among the world's largest and most technologically advanced regions, the EU industrial base includes: ferrous and non-ferrous metal production and processing, metal products, petroleum, coal, cement, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, rail transportation equipment, passenger and commercial vehicles, construction equipment, industrial equipment, shipbuilding, electrical power equipment, machine tools and automated manufacturing systems, electronics and telecommunications equipment, fishing, food and beverages, furniture, paper, textiles"
"text":"cars and vehicle parts, packaged medicines, vaccines and cultures, refined petroleum, aircraft, integrated circuits, medical instruments, gas turbines (2021)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control"
"text":"<p>the EU's Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) provides the civilian, military, and political structures for EU crisis management and security issues; the highest bodies are:</p> <p>the <strong>Political and Security Committee (PSC)</strong>, which meets at the ambassadorial level as a preparatory body for the Council of the EU; it assists with defining policies and preparing a crisis response</p> <p>the <strong>European Union Military Committee (EUMC)</strong> is the EU's highest military body; it is composed of the chiefs of defense (CHODs) of the Member States, who are regularly represented by their permanent Military Representatives; the EUMC provides the PSC with advice and recommendations on all military matters within the EU</p> <p>the <strong>Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CIVCOM) </strong>provides advice and recommendations to the PSC in parallel with the EUMC on civilian aspects of crisis management</p> <p>the<strong> Politico-Military Group (PMG)</strong> provides advice and recommendations to the PSC on political aspects of EU military and civil-military issues, including concepts, capabilities and operations and missions, and monitors implementation</p> <p>other bodies set up under the CSDP include the Security and Defense Policy Directorate (SECDEFPOL), the Integrated approach for Security and Peace Directorate (ISP), the EU Military Staff (EUMS), the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC), the Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC), the European Defense Agency, the European Security and Defense College (ESDC), the EU Institute for Security Studies, and the EU Satellite Center (2023)</p>",
"note":"<strong>note 1: </strong>Frontex is the European Border and Coast Guard Agency that supports EU Member States and Schengen-associated countries in the management of the EU’s external borders and the fight against cross-border crime; it has a standing corps of uniformed border guard officers directly employed by Frontex as staff members and regularly deployed to border guarding missions, plus thousands of other officers seconded by EU member states <br><br><strong>note 2:</strong> in 2017, the EU set up the Permanent Structured Cooperation on Defense (PESCO), a mechanism for deepening defense cooperation amongst member states through binding commitments and collaborative programs on a variety of military-related capabilities such as cyber, maritime surveillance, medical support, operational readiness, procurement, and training; similar efforts to promote collaboration and cooperation that same year amongst members included the Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC), the Coordinated Annual Review on Defense (CARD), and the European Defense Fund (EDF)"
"note":"<strong>note 1:</strong> the European Defense Fund (EDF) has a budget of approximately $8 billion for 2021-2027; about $2.7 billion is devoted to funding collaborative defense research while about $5.3 billion is allocated for collaborative capability development projects that complement national contributions; EDF \"categories for action\" include areas such as information air and missile defense, cyber and information security, digital transformation, force protection, medical services, space, training, and air, ground, and naval combat capabilities<br><br><strong>note 2:</strong> NATO is resourced through the direct and indirect contributions of its members; NATO’s common funds are direct contributions to collective budgets, capabilities and programs, which equate to only 0.3% of total NATO defense spending (approximately $3.3 billion for 2023) to develop capabilities and run NATO, its military commands, capabilities, and infrastructure; NATO's 2014 Defense Investment Pledge called for NATO members to meet the 2% of GDP guideline for defense spending and the 20% of annual defense expenditure on major new equipment by 2024; since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a majority of the NATO countries have committed to investing more in defense and at a more rapid pace"
"text":"the 27 EU countries have a cumulative total of approximately 1.34 million active duty troops; the largest EU country military forces belong to France, Germany, and Italy (2021)",
"text":"since 2003, the EU has launched more than 30 civilian and military crisis-management, advisory, and training missions in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia and a naval operation in the Mediterranean to disrupt human smuggling and trafficking networks and prevent the loss of life at sea (2023)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU announced that it would develop a rapid deployment force consisting of up to 5,000 troops by 2025"
"text":"<p>as a political union, the EU has no border disputes with neighboring countries, but Estonia has no land boundary agreements with Russia, Slovenia disputes its land and maritime boundaries with Croatia, and Spain has territorial and maritime disputes with Morocco and with the UK over Gibraltar; the EU has set up a Schengen area - consisting of 23 EU member states that have signed the convention implementing the Schengen agreements or \"acquis\" (1985 and 1990) on the free movement of persons and the harmonization of border controls in Europe; these agreements became incorporated into EU law with the implementation of the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam on 1 May 1999; in addition, non-EU states Iceland and Norway (as part of the Nordic Union) have been included in the Schengen area since 1996 (full members in 2001), Switzerland since 2008, and Liechtenstein since 2011 bringing the total current membership to 27; the UK (since 2000) and Ireland (since 2002) take part in only some aspects of the Schengen area, especially with respect to police and criminal matters; nine of the 13 new member states that joined the EU since 2004 joined Schengen on 21 December 2007; EU member state Croatia joined on 1 January 2023; of the three remaining EU states, Romania and Bulgaria are obligated to eventually join, while Cyprus' entry is held up by the ongoing Cyprus dispute</p>",
"note":"<strong>note: </strong>three of Europe's microstates - Monaco, San Marino, and the Holy See (Vatican City) - maintain open borders for passenger traffic with their neighbors and are thus <em>de facto</em> members of the Schengen Area, since it is impossible to travel to or from them without transiting another Schengen member country"
