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Flag Presidency insignia of the European Union Presidency insignia
Motto:  Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)  (Latin) "United in diversity"
Anthem: Ode to Joy  (orchestral)
Political centres	Brussels Strasbourg Luxembourg
Official languages	23 Bulgarian Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Finnish French German Greek Hungarian Irish Italian Latvian Lithuanian Maltese Polish Portuguese Romanian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swedish
Demonym(s)	European
Member states	27 Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom
Government	Sui generis supranationalism
• Commission	José Manuel Barroso (EPP)
• Parliament	Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP)
• Council	Portugal
• European Council	José Sócrates (PES)
Formation
• Treaty of Rome	25 March 1957
• Treaty of Maastricht	7 February 1992
Area
• Total	4,324,782 km (1,669,808 sq mi) (7th¹)
• Water (%)	3,08
Population
• 2007 estimate	494,070,000 (3rd¹)
• Density	114/km (295.3/sq mi) (69th¹)
GDP (PPP)	2007 (IMF) estimate
• Total	$14,953 billion (1st¹)
• Per capita	$28,213 (14th¹)
GDP (nominal)	2007 (IMF) estimate
• Total	$16,574 billion (1st¹)
• Per capita	$29,476 (13th¹)
Currency	15 Euro (€) (EUR) (de jure) British pound Bulgarian lev Cypriot pound Czech koruna Danish krone Estonian kroon Hungarian forint Latvian lats Lithuanian litas Maltese lira Polish złoty Romanian leu Slovak koruna Swedish krona
Time zone	UTC0 to +2
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 to +3
Internet TLD	.eu
If considered as a single entity.

The European Union (EU) is a political and economic community with supranational and intergovernmental features. It is composed of twenty-seven member states primarily located in Europe. In 1957, six European countries formed the European Economic Community (EEC) by the Treaty of Rome. Since then the EU has grown in size through the accession of new member states and has increased its powers by the addition of new policy areas to its remit. In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty established the current legal framework.

The EU created a single market which seeks to guarantee the freedom of movement of people, goods, services and capital between member states. It maintains a common trade policy, agricultural and fisheries policies, and a regional development policy. In 1999 the EU introduced a common currency, the euro, which has been adopted by thirteen member states. It has also developed a role in foreign policy, and in justice and home affairs. Passport control and customs checks between many member states were abolished under the Schengen Agreement.

With almost 500 million citizens the EU generates an estimated 31 % share of the world´s nominal GDP (€11.8 / US$17.3 trillion) in 2007. It represents its members in the WTO and observes at G8 summits and at the UN. Twenty-one EU countries are members of NATO. Important institutions of the EU include the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the European Court of Justice and the European Central Bank. EU citizens elect the Parliament every five years.

History

After the end of the Second World War the political climate favoured European unification. It was seen by many as an escape from the extreme forms of nationalism which had devastated the continent. One such attempt to unite Europeans occurred in 1951 with the European Coal and Steel Community which, while having the modest aim of centralised control of the previously national coal and steel industries of its member states, was declared to be "a first step in the federation of Europe". The founding members of the Community were Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and West Germany.

Two additional communities were created in 1957: the European Economic Community (EEC) establishing a Customs Union, and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) for cooperation in nuclear energy. In 1967 the Merger Treaty created a single set of institutions for the three communities, which were collectively referred to as the European Communities, although more commonly just as the European Community (EC).

In 1973 the European Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. In 1979 the first direct, democratic, elections of members of the European Parliament were held.

Greece, Spain and Portugal joined in the 1980s. In 1985 the Schengen Agreement was developed between European states to allow for the abolition of systematic border controls between the participating countries. In 1986 the European flag was adopted and leaders signed the Single European Act which was to reduce trade barriers and introduce European Political Cooperation. In 1990 after the fall of the iron curtain, the former East Germany became part of the Community as part of a newly reunited Germany. With enlargement toward eastern Europe on the agenda, the Copenhagen Criteria for candidate members to join the European Union were agreed.

The European Union was formally established when the Maastricht Treaty came into force on 1 November 1993. In 1995 Austria, Sweden and Finland joined the newly established EU. The Amsterdam Treaty, which was signed in 1997, amended the Maastricht treaty in areas such as democracy and foreign policy. Amsterdam was followed by the Treaty of Nice in 2001, which revised the Rome and Maastricht treaties to allow the EU to cope with further enlargement to the east. In 2002 euro notes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 of the member states. In 2004 ten new countries (eight of which had formerly been communist countries) joined the EU.

Later in 2004, the European Constitution was signed in Rome. It was to replace all previous treaties with a single document, however it never completed ratification after rejection by French and Dutch voters in referenda. In 2007, it was agreed to replace that proposal with a new Reform Treaty, that would amend rather than replace the existing treaties. At the start of 2007 Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU and the euro was adopted by Slovenia.

Geography

The territory of the EU consists of the combined territories of its 27 member states with some exceptions outlined below. The territory of the EU is not the same as that of Europe, as significant parts of the continent, such as Switzerland, Norway and European Russia, are outside the EU, and some overseas territories are part of the EU while not being geographically part of Europe. The EU's member states cover a combined area of 4,422,773 square kilometres (1,707,642 sq mi). The total territory of the EU is the seventh largest territory in the world by area and its highest peak is Mont Blanc in the Alps at 4807 metres above sea level. The landscape, climate and economy of the EU are heavily influenced by its long coastline, which is 65,993 kilometres (41,006 mi) long. The EU has the second longest coastline, after Canada. The combined member states of the EU's share land borders with 21 non-member states for a total of 12,441 kilometres (7,730 mi), the fifth longest border in the world.

Some parts of member countries are not part of the EU. This is the sometimes the case even when these territories are part of the European continent. Examples include the Channel Islands and Faroe Islands. Several territories associated with member states that are outside geographic Europe are also not part of the EU (such as Greenland, Aruba, the Netherlands Antilles and all the non-European territories associated with the United Kingdom). On the other hand, some overseas territories are formally part of the EU even if they are not geographically part of Europe, such as the Azores, the Canary Islands, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Madeira, Martinique and Réunion.

When the overseas territories of member states are included, the EU includes most types of climate from Arctic to tropical, rendering meteorological averages for the EU as a whole meaningless. In practice, the majority of the population lives either in areas with a Mediterranean climate (Southern Europe), a temperate maritime climate (Western Europe), or a warm summer continental or hemiboreal climate (Eastern Europe).

Member states

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The European Union currently has 27 member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. There are currently three official candidate countries, Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Turkey. In addition the western Balkan countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia are officially recognised as potential candidates.

To join the EU, a country must meet the Copenhagen criteria, defined at the 1993 Copenhagen European Council. These require a stable democracy which respects human rights and the rule of law; a functioning market economy capable of competition within the EU; and the acceptance of the obligations of membership, including EU law. Evaluation of a country's fulfilment of the criteria rests with the European Council.

A number of Western European countries who have chosen not to join the EU have nevertheless been partly integrated into the EU's economy. Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are a part of the Single market through the European Economic Area while Switzerland has similar ties through bilateral treaties. The microstates' relationships include use of the euro and other co-operation.

Environment

The first environmental policy of the European Community was launched in 1972. Since then it has addressed issues such as acid rain, the thinning of the ozone layer, air quality, noise pollution, waste and water pollution. The Water framework directive is an example of a water policy, aiming for rivers, lakes, ground and coastal waters to be of "good quality" by 2015. Wildlife is protected through the Natura 2000 programme and covers 30,000 sites throughout Europe. In 2007, the Polish government sought to build a motorway through the Rospuda valley, but the Commission has been blocking construction as the valley is a wildlife area covered by the programme.

The REACH directive was a piece of EU legislation designed to ensure that 30,000 chemicals in daily use are tested for their safety. In 2006, toxic waste spill off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire, from a European ship, prompted the Commission to look into legislation regarding toxic waste. With members such as Spain now having criminal laws against shipping toxic waste, the Commission proposed to create criminal sentences for "ecological crimes". Although the Commission's right to propose criminal law was contested, it was confirmed in this case by the Court of Justice.

The EU was involved in the development of the Kyoto protocol and signed it alongside its member states. One way it has sought to counter climate change was by creating the Emissions Trading Scheme, the world's biggest multinational environmental trading scheme. The EU is also involved in trying to secure a post-Kyoto deal. In 2007, the EU agreed to an energy policy committing members to cut their carbon dioxide emissions by at least 20% from 1990 levels in 2020. If an international treaty can be achieved, the EU is willing to cut emissions further. The use of renewable energy in the EU should be increased to 20%. It is also planned that by 2020, 10% of all automobiles should run on biofuels.

Governance

The political leadership in the EU is derived from the European Council which consisting in two senior politicians from each member state (normally the prime and foreign ministers). It usually meets four times a year. It is headed by a rotating presidency, with every member state taking the helm of the EU for a period of six months during which they chair all meetings of the European Council and the Council of ministers. The head of Government of the member state holding the presidency becomes the President of the European Union. The member state holding the presidency typically uses it to drive a particular policy agenda such as economic reform, reform of the EU itself, enlargement or furthering European integration.

The EU is governed by a number of institutions, primarily the Council of the European Union the European Commission, and European Parliament. The Commission acts as the EU's executive arm and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the EU. It is currently composed of 27 commissioners, one from each member state. The President of the Commission and all the other commissioners are nominated by the Council. The President and then the Commission in its entirety, need to be confirmed by Parliament.

The Council of the European Union (also known as the Council of Ministers, and not be confused with the European Council) forms one half of the EU's legislative branch. It is composed of the national ministers responsible for the area of policy being addressed. In addition to its legislative functions, the Council also exercises executive functions in relations to the Common Foreign and Security Policy.

The other half of the EU's legislative branch is the European Parliament. The 785 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are directly elected by EU citizens every five years. Although members of parliament are elected in on a national basis, they sit according to political groups rather than their nationality. Parliament has near-equal legislative powers with the Council in Community matters and has the power to reject or censure the Commission. The speaker of the Parliament, its president, and is elected by MEPs every two and a half years.

Politics

The EU is often described as being divided into three "pillars". Under this conception the European Community, upon which the EU was founded, forms the first pillar of the EU. The second pillar consists of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The third pillar originally consisted of Justice and Home Affairs, however owing to changes introduced by the Amsterdam and Nice treaties, it currently only consists of Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters. Broadly speaking, the second and third pillars can be described as the intergovernmental pillars because the supranational institutions of the Commission, Parliament and the Court of Justice play less of a role or none at all, while the lead is taken by the intergovernmental Council (of ministers) and the European Council. Most activities of the EU come under the first, Community pillar. This is mostly economically orientated and the same supranational institutions which are, more or less, excluded from the second and third pillars, have more influence.

An important leader of the EU is the president of the Commission; in which country appoints one of the 27 commissioners. Citizens are represented directly through the Parliament, through elections every five years. In the Parliament each country has a set number of seats, that is taken up by representatives of the parties that entered in the election in that country. Some parties (most actively the Greens) are forming European parties.

Major internal political issues of the EU are the processes of European integration and enlargement. The two processes of integration and enlargement are seen by many as parallel processes, both are important for the EU. Enlargement, the accession of new states to the EU, is a highly politicised issue. Supporters argue it aids democracy in new members, as well as supporting the European economy as a whole. Opponents fear the EU is expanding beyond its current political capabilities, and/or cultural boundaries. Public opinion, and hence political party viewpoint, has been in increased opposition since the simultaneous accession of 10 members in 2004. This is most acute in relation to the candidacy of Turkey. Integration is another political issue, where national interest in the public view often collides with EU interest. This is caused by the increasing harmonisation between states due to powers having been transferred to European level. This is criticised by eurosceptics who fear the loss of national sovereignty. In 2004 the European Constitution was signed by government leaders. However it did not come into force after it was rejected in referenda in two states.

In October 2007 European leaders finalised a new Lisbon Treaty which contains much of the now defunct constitution, without the latter's constitutional baggage. It is expected to come into force in 2009. If ratified the treaty will introduce more majority voting in the Council and increase the powers of the European Parliament. The treaty also proposes to abolish the EU's pillar system. More aspects of foreign policy will now be subject to the supranational, as opposed to intergovernmental, institutions.

Legal system

The EU is based on a series of 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. National courts are required to enforce the EU treaties and the laws enacted under them, even if doing so requires them to ignore their national law and constitution.

EU legislation (other than the treaties themselves) comes in two forms: directives and regulations. Directives require member states to achieve a certain result while leaving them free to choose how to achieve that result. One of the main advantages being that policy choices can be made at a European level while leaving the details of their implementation to national governments. Regulations are legislative acts which become law in all member states the moment they come into force, without the requirement for any implementing measures to have been taken. Once in force their contents automatically override conflicting domestic provisions.

One of the complicating features of the EU's legal system is the multiplicity of legislative procedures used to enact directives and regulations. The treaties micro-manage the EU's powers, indicating different ways of adopting legislation for different policy areas and for different areas within the same policy areas. A common feature of the EU's legislative procedures, however, is that almost all legislation must be proposed by the Commission, rather than member states or European parliamentarians. The two most common procedures are co-decision, under which the European Parliament can veto proposed legislation, and consultation, under which Parliament is only permitted to give an opinion which can, subsequently, be ignored by European leaders.

The judicial branch of the EU consists of the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance. Together they interpret and apply the treaties and the law of the EU. The Court of First Instance mainly deals with cases taken by individuals and companies directly before the EU's courts. While the Court of Justice deals with cases taken by member states, the institutions and cases referred to the EU's courts by the courts of member states. Decisions from the Court of First Instance can be appealed to the Court of Justice but only on a point of law.

Foreign relations

The foreign relations of the EU are primarily dealt with through the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Co-operation in international trade negotiations, under the Common Commercial Policy, dates back to the establishment of the Community in 1957. The CFSP itself has its origins in the formation of European Political Co-operation in 1970. European Political Co-operation was an informal consultation process between member states on foreign policy matters, with the aim of forming common policies. It was formally introduced into the then European Community by the Single European Act and subsequently renamed as the "Common Foreign and Security Policy" by the Maastricht Treaty.

The Maastricht Treaty gives the Common Foreign and Security Policy the aims of promoting both the EU's own interests and those of the international community as a whole. This includes promoting international co-operation, respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

The Amsterdam Treaty created the office of the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (currently held by Javier Solana) to co-ordinate the EU's foreign policy. The High Representative, in conjunction with the current Presidency, speaks on behalf of the EU in foreign policy matters and can have the task of articulating ambiguous policy positions created by disagreements among member states. The Common Foreign and Security Policy requires unanimity among the now 27 member states on the appropriate policy to follow on any particular policy. The unanimity and difficult issues treated under the CFSP makes disagreements, such as those which occurred over the war in Iraq, are not uncommon.

Besides the emerging international policy of the European Union, the international influence of the EU is also felt through the enlargement. The potential benefits of becoming a member of the EU act as an incentive for both political and economic reform in states wishing to fulfil the EU's accession criteria, and are considered a major factor contributing to the reform of former Communist countries in Eastern Europe. This influence on the internal affairs of other countries is generally referred to as "soft power", as opposed to military "hard power". Finnish Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen, cited the common foreign policy as a factor why Finland is, de facto, no longer a neutral country. It is not known if this view is shared by the leaders of the other neutral countries in the EU.

Besides the CFSP, the Commission is also has its own representation in international organisations, its representation in international bodies is primarily through the European Commissioner for External Relations, who works along side the High Representative. In the UN the EU has gained influence in areas such as aid due to its large contributions in that field (see below). In the G8, the EU has the rights of membership besides that of chairing/hosting summit meetings. The EU is represented at the G8 by the presidents of the Commission and the Council. In the World Trade Organisation (WTO), where all 27 member states are represented, the EU as a body is represented by Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.

Humanitarian aid

The European Community humanitarian aid office, or "ECHO", provides humanitarian aid from the EU to developing countries. In 2006 its budget amounted to 671 million euro, 48% of which went to the ACP countries. Counting the EU's own contributions and those of its member states together, the EU is the largest aid donor in the world.

The EU's aid has previously been criticised by the think-tank Open Europe for being inefficient, mis-targeted and linked to economic objectives. Furthermore, some charities have claimed European governments have inflated the amount they have spent on aid by incorrectly including money spent on debt relief, foreign students, and refugees. Under the de-inflated figures, the EU did not reach its internal aid target in 2006 and the EU would not reach the international target of 0.7% of GNP until 2015. However only a few countries have reached that target. In 2005 EU aid was 0.34% of the GNP which was higher than that of the United States and Japan. The current commissioner for aid, Louis Michel, has called for aid to be delivered more rapidly, to greater effect, and on humanitarian principles.

Security and defence

The EU itself has limited military capability. Member states are responsible for their own territorial defence. Many EU members are also members of NATO. The Western European Union (WEU) is a European security organisation related to the EU. In 1992, the WEU's relationship with the EU was defined, when the EU assigned it the "Petersberg tasks" (humanitarian missions such as peacekeeping and crisis management). These tasks were later transferred from the WEU to the EU by the Amsterdam Treaty; they formed part of the new CFSP and the European Security and Defence Policy. Elements of the WEU are currently being merged into the EU's CFSP, and the President of the WEU is currently CFSP High Representative.

Following the Kosovo war in 1999, the European Council agreed that "the Union must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and the readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO." To that end, a number of efforts were made to increase the EU's military capability, notably the Helsinki Headline Goal process. After much discussion, the most concrete result was the EU Battlegroups initiative, each of which is planned to be able to deploy quickly about 1500 men each. EU forces have been deployed on peacekeeping missions from Africa to the former Yugoslavia and the middle east. EU military operations are supported by a number of bodies, including the European Defence Agency, satellite centre and the military staff.

Justice, freedom and security

Much of the EU's competence in the justice and home affairs area originates from the signing of the Schengen Agreement in 1985 on gradual abolition of border controls between six, of the then ten, European Community member states. In order to implement the Schengen Agreement, the signatory states included measures designed to compensate for effect of the reduced border controls in the areas of asylum, immigration and criminal justice. The Maastricht Treaty transferred many of the Schengen agreements (although not those on the abolition of border controls) to the EU. Additional competencies were assigned to the EU by the Maastricht treaty to facilitate the freedom of movement of people by adopting common rules in civil matters, such as contract and family law.

Amendments to these treaties by the Amsterdam Treaty added a new aim of the EU as the creation of an "area of Justice, Freedom and Security". That treaty also made it easier to pass laws in the justice and home affairs area and more difficult for member states to veto them. It also increased the powers of the European Parliament in relation to Justice and Home affairs' measures. Recent legislation include the European Arrest Warrant and directives on family law.

The EU has established agencies to co-ordinate its actions in the justice and home affairs area: Europol for co-operation of police forces, Eurojust for co-operation between prosecutors, and Frontex for co-operation between border control authorities. The EU also operates the Schengen Information System which provides a common database for police and immigration authorities.

Rights

The EU has developed a role in human rights protection. Prohibitions against sexual and nationality discrimination have a long standing in the treaties. The Amsterdam Treaty supplemented these, by supporting further legislation against discrimination based on race, religion, disability, age and sexual orientation. Using these powers the EU has enacted legislation on sexual discrimination in the work-place, age discrimination and racial discrimination. All EU states have abolished the death penalty for all crimes and the EU has been a prominent campaigner for global abolition.

Signing the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is a condition for EU membership, however the institutions of the EU are not covered by this. As the EU was not capable of signing the ECHR without a treaty change, the EU drew up the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The charter consolidated not only the rights of the ECHR but from other UN and EU agreements, covering economic, political and social rights including "third generation" rights such as good governance and a clean environment. Although it was proclaimed in 2000, it has no legal force at present (2007). Under the Reform Treaty, the Charter would become legally binding and the EU would accede to the ECHR, which would make the European Court of Human Rights, currently totally separate from the EU, the highest court in the EU for Human Rights, above the EU's Court of Justice. Even without joining, the Court of Justice and Court of Human Rights co-operate to ensure their case-law does not conflict, thus the Court of Justice already treats the ECHR as though it was part of EU law.

Economy

The EU was created first and foremost as an economic union. The first, oldest, and largest entity, the European Community, was founded as the European Economic Community. Creating and maintaining the EU's single market has been a prominent goal of the Community, ensuring free movement of people, goods, services and capital. These four freedoms are extended to the non-member states of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway via the European Economic Area.

Considered as a single economy the EU is the largest in the world with a nominal gross domestic product of €11.8 (US$16.6) trillion in 2007 amounting to 31% of the world´s total economic output. The EU is also the largest exporter in the world, and the second largest importer. It is the biggest trading partner to many countries, among others China and India. Among the world´s largest corporations (Fortune Global 500) measured by revenue, 163 are headquartered in the EU. In May 2007 unemployment in the EU stood at 7%.

Thirteen members of the EU have adopted a common currency, the euro. Collectively the territories of these countries are called the eurozone. The currency is also used by a number of countries outside of the EU. The euro is controlled by the European Central Bank (ECB) which sets the eurozone's monetary policy.

The EU also operates a competition policy aimed at furthering its aim of ensuring undistorted competition within the single market. Under the Competition policy the Competition Commissioner exercises the power to put up conditions for or block mergers between companies. The Commissioner can also take action against companies for abusing a dominant position in the marketplace.

Regional development

There are substantial economical disparities across the EU. Even corrected for purchasing power, the difference between the richest and poorest regions is about a factor of ten. On the high end Frankfurt has €68,751 PPP per capita, Paris €67,980, and Inner London €65,138, while Romania's Nord-Est has €5,070 PPP per capita and Bulgaria's Severozapaden has €5,502 PPP per capita. Compared to the EU average, the United States GDP per capita is 35% higher and the Japanese GDP per capita is approximately 15% higher.

To support development of underdeveloped areas of the EU, there are a number of Structural Funds and Cohesion Funds aimed at promoting development of these regions. These regions are primarily located in the new member states of eastern Europe. Several funds provide emergency aid, support for candidate members to transform their country to conform to the EU's standard (Phare, ISPA, and SAPARD), and support to the commonwealth of independent states (TACIS). Furthermore the EU Framework Programmes, sponsors research conducted by consortia from all EU members to work towards a single European Research Area.

Agriculture

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one the oldest policies of the European Community and was one of its core aims. The policy has the objectives of increasing agricultural production, providing certainty in food supplies, ensuring a high quality of life for farmers, stabilising markets and ensuring reasonable prices for consumers. (article 33 of the Treaty of Rome). It was, until recently, operated by a system of subsidies and market intervention. Until the 1990s the policy accounted for over 60% of the then European Communities' annual budget, and still accounts for around 35%.

The policy's price controls and market interventions led to a great deal of overproduction resulting in so-called butter mountains and wine lakes. These were intervention stores which were built up from produce bought by the Community to ensure minimum price levels. In order to reduce the levels of these stores, agricultural produce was often sold on the world market at prices considerably below Community guaranteed prices, or farmers were offered subsidies (amounting to the difference between the Community and world prices) to export their produce outside the Community. This system has been criticised for under-cutting farmers in the developing world. The overproduction has also been criticised on environmental grounds in that it encourages environmentally unfriendly intensive farming methods. Supporters of CAP say that the economic support which it gives to farmers provides them with a reasonable standard of living, in what would otherwise be an economically unviable way of life. However currently the EU's small farmers only receive 8% of CAP's available subsidies.

Since the beginning of the 1990s CAP has been subject to a series of reforms. Initially these reforms included the introduction of milk quotas (by the McSharry reforms in 1992) and, more recently, the 'de-coupling' (or disassociation) of the money farmers receive from the EU and the amount they produce (by the Fischler reforms in 2004). It is intended to move away from subsidy payments linked to specific produce, toward direct payments based on farm size. This is intended to have the effect of allowing the market to dictate production levels while maintaining agricultural income levels. The most recent reform entailed the abolition of the EU's sugar regime which previously involved the carving up of the sugar market between member states and certain African-Caribbean nations with a privileged relationship with the EU.

Energy

The EU has been a legislative power in the area of energy policy for most of its existence. This involvement has its roots in the original European Coal and Steel Community. The introduction of a mandatory and comprehensive European energy policy was approved at the meeting of the European Council in October 2005. The first draft policy was published in January 2007.

The EU currently imports 82% of its oil and 57% of its gas, making it the world's leading importer of these fuels. In 2007, member states legally agreed the EU to use 20% renewable energy and cut carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 by at least 20% compared to 1990 levels. This includes measures that in 2020, one-tenth of all cars and trucks in EU 27 should be running on biofuels. This is considered to be one of the most ambitious moves of an important industrialised region to fight global warming.

Besides concerns about global warning there are concerns that the EU is largely dependent on other countries, primarily Russia for its energy. This concern has grown following a series of clashes between Russia and its neighbours, threatening the flow of gas. As a result the EU is attempting to diversify its energy supply. The EU is involved with six other countries to develop ITER, a fusion reactor which will be built in the EU at Cadarache. ITER builds on the previous project, Joint European Torus, which is currently the largest nuclear fusion reactor in the world.

Infrastructure

The EU is working to improve cross-border infrastructure within the EU, for example through the Trans-European Networks (TEN). Projects under TEN include the Channel Tunnel, TGV Est, the Fréjus Rail Tunnel, the Oresund bridge and the Brenner Base Tunnel. In 2001 it was estimated that by 2010 the network would cover: 75,200 km of roads; 78,000 km of railways; 330 airports; 270 maritime harbours; and 210 internal harbours.

The developing European transport policies will increase the pressure on the environment in many regions by the increased transport network. In the pre-2004 EU members, the major problem in transport deals with congestion and pollution. After the recent enlargement, the new states that joined since 2004 added the problem of solving accessibility to the transport agenda. The Polish road network in particular was in poor condition. At the time of Poland's accession to the EU, 4,600 roads needed to be upgraded to EU standards demanding an approximate expenditure of 17 billion euro.

Another infrastructure project is the Galileo positioning system. Galileo is a proposed Global Navigation Satellite System, to be built by the EU and launched by the European Space Agency (ESA). The Galileo project was launched to reduce the EU's dependency on the US-operated Global Positioning System. Galileo extends its co-operation to other nations outside the EU and is to be operational by 2010. It has been criticised by some due to costs, delays, and the perception of redundancy due to the existing GPS system.

Demographics

The combined population of all 27 member countries was approximately 493 million in 2006. There is some increase in population expected, primarily due to net immigration, present in most European countries.

The EU's population is 7.3% of the world total, yet the EU covers just 3% of the earth's land, amounting to a population density of 114/km² making the EU one of the most densely populated regions of the world. Eighty percent of EU citizens live in an urban area and a third live in cities of over a million people. The EU is home to more global cities than any other region in the world and 16 cities with populations of over one million (using city proper figures).

Besides many large cities, the EU also includes several densely populated regions that have no single core but have emerged from the connection of several cites and are now encompassing large metropolitan areas. The largest are Rhine-Ruhr having approximately 10.5 million inhabitants (Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf et al.), Randstad approx. 7 million (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht et al.), Frankfurt Rhine Main Area approx. 5.8 million (Frankfurt, Wiesbaden et al.) and the Upper Silesian Industry Area approx. 3.5 million. (Katowice, Sosnowiec et al.).

Languages

The EU has 23 official and working languages: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish. Important documents, such as legislation, are translated into every official language. The European Parliament provides translation into all languages for documents and its plenary sessions. Some institutions use only a handful of languages as internal working languages. Language policy is the responsibility of member states, but EU institutions promote the learning of other languages.

German is the most widely spoken mother tongue (about 88.7 million people as of 2006), followed by English, French and Italian. English is by far the most spoken foreign language, with German and French following suit. 56% of European citizens are able to engage in a conversation in a language other than their mother tongue. Most official languages of the EU belong to the Indo-European language family, except Estonian, Finnish, and Hungarian, which belong to the Uralic language family, and Maltese, which is a Semitic language. Most EU official languages are written in the Latin alphabet except Bulgarian, written in Cyrillic, and Greek, written in the Greek alphabet.

Besides the 23 official languages, there are about 150 regional and minority languages, spoken by up to 50 million people. Of these, only the Spanish regional languages: Catalan, Galician, and Basque can be used in the communication with the Council of the European Union, the Commission, the Economic and Social Committee, the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman, as well as in the Committee of the Regions. Although EU programmes can support regional and minority languages, the protection of linguistic rights is a matter for the individual member states.
Besides the many regional languages a broad variety of languages from other parts of the world are spoken by immigrant communities in the Member States. Turkish, Maghreb Arabic, Russian, Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Ukrainian, and Balkan languages are spoken in many parts of the EU. Many older immigrant communities are bilingual, being fluent in both the local (EU) language and in that of their ancestral community. Migrant languages have no formal status or recognition in the EU or in the EU countries, although from 2007 they are eligible for support from the language teaching section of the EU's Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013.

Religion

The EU is a secular body, with no formal connections to any religion and no mention of religion in any current or proposed treaty. Discussion over the draft texts of the European Constitution and later the Reform Treaty have included proposals to mention Christianity and/or God in the preamble of the text. However this idea has faced opposition and has thus been dropped. Reference to Christianity stems from Christianity being the dominant religion in Europe, and thus the EU. Christianity in the EU can be roughly divided into Roman Catholicism, a wide range of Protestant churches (especially in northern Europe) and Eastern Orthodoxy (in south eastern Europe). Other religions such as Judaism and Islam are also represented in the EU population. In 2002 the EU had an estimated Jewish population of roughly over a million and a Muslim population in 2006 of 16 million people.

Finding by Eurostat, the EU statistics agency which monitors the religious beliefs of EU citizens as part of its Eurobarometer opinion polls, show that the majority of EU citizens have some form of belief system but that only 21% see it as important. There is increasing atheism or agnosticism among the general population in Europe, with falling attendance and membership in many countries. The 2005 Eurobarometer show that of the European citizens (of the 25 members at that time), 52% believe in a god, 27% in some sort of spirit or life force and 18% had no form of belief. The countries where the fewest people reported a religious belief were the Czech Republic (19%) and Estonia (16%). In these countries, those who reported a faith can be wary of an organised religious movement. The most religious societies are those in Malta (95%; predominantly Roman Catholic), and Cyprus and Romania both with about 90% of citizens believing in a god. Across the EU, belief was higher among women, increased with age, those with religious upbringing, those with the lowest levels of formal education, those leaning towards right-wing politics, and those reflecting more upon philosophical and ethical issues.

Culture

EU culture is intertwined with the culture of Europe and its specific national heritage; many of the policies on culture are with the individual member states. Cultural co-operation between member states has become a community competency since its inclusion in the Maastricht Treaty. Actions taken in the cultural area by the EU include the Culture 2000 7-year programme, the European Cultural Month event, the Media Plus programme, orchestras such as the European Union Youth Orchestra and the European Capital of Culture programme – where one or more cities in the EU are selected for one year to assist the cultural development of the city. In addition, the EU gives grants to cultural projects (totalling 233 in 2004) and has launched a Web portal dedicated to Europe and culture, responding to the European Council's expressed desire to see the Commission and the member states "promote the networking of cultural information to enable all citizens to access European cultural content by the most advanced technological means."

Within the EU, supporters of European integration often appeal to a shared European historical/cultural heritage, typically including Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the feudalism of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment, 19th century Liberalism and (sometimes) negative elements such as the World Wars. European values are assumed to be grounded in this shared heritage.

Education and research

Education and science are areas where the EU's role is limited to supporting national governments. In education, the policy was mainly 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 has supported international exchange opportunities for well over 1.5 million university and college students and has become a symbol of European student life. There are now similar programmes for school pupils and teachers, for trainees in 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, 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. Since January 2000 the European Commission has set its sights on a more ambitious objective, known as the European Research Area; extensively funding research in a few key research areas. This has the support of all member states, and extends the existing financing structure of the frameworks. It aims to focus on co-ordination, sharing knowledge, ensuring mobility of researchers around Europe, improving conditions for researchers and encouraging links with business and industry as well as removing any legal and administrative barriers.

See also

Template:European Union-related topics Template:Supranav

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137. "Mercator Newsletter - n. 29". Mercator Central. 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-01. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
138. Rettman, Andrew (2006-09-12). . EU Observer. Retrieved 2007-07-21. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
139. "Chrisianity". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2007-07-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
140. Jewish population figures may be unreliable. These estimates are taken from: Sergio DellaPergola. "World Jewish Population (2002)". American Jewish Year Book. The Jewish Agency for Israel. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
141. "In Europa leben gegen­wärtig knapp 53 Millionen Muslime". Islam.de. 2006-02-25. Retrieved 2007-07-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); soft hyphen character in |title= at position 22 (help)
142. Cline, Austin (2005-02-28). "Secularism in Europe". About.com. Retrieved 2007-07-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
143. ^ "Eurobarometer 225: Social values, Science & Technology" (PDF). Eurostat. 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
144. Cline, Austin (2006-02-25). "Czech Republic: Most Atheist Country in Europe?". About.com. Retrieved 2007-07-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
145. ^ Bozoki, Andras. "Cultural Policy and Politics in the European Union" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-07-13.
146. "European Culture Month". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 2007-07-13.
147. "Media programme". Philatelism.com. 2007-07-05. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
148. "An Overture to the European Union Youth Orchestra". The European Youth Orchestra. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
149. Bozoki, Andras. "European Capitals of Culture". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
150. "Cultural heritage as a vehicle of cultural identity". philatelism.com. 2007-07-05. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
151. For example: Hans-Gert Poettering (2007-02-13). "Priority is dialogue for partnership and tolerance". Inaugural speech by the new president of the European Parliament. European Parliament. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
152. "The Erasmus programme celebrates its 20th anniversary". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 2007-07-21.; Jean-Sébastien, Lefebvre (2007-01-22). "Erasmus turns 20 - time to grow up?". Café Babel. Retrieved 2007-08-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
153. "Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 2007-07-21.; "Lifelong Learning Programme". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 2007-07-21.
154. "European Research Council: What is the ERC?". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 2007-07-21.
155. "What is the European Research Area?". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 2007-07-21.

Further reading

• EU Law, Text, Cases and Materials, by Paul Craig and Grainne De Burca, 3rd ed., (Oxford University Press 2003) ISBN 0198765096
• The Economist Guide to the European Union (Profile Books 2005) ISBN 978-1-86197-930-8
• Access to European Union: law, economics, policies by Nicholas Moussis (European Study Service, 2007 — 16th ed.) ISBN 978-2-930119-43-4
• Europe Recast: A History of European Union by Desmond Dinan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) ISBN 978-0-333-98734-6
• Understanding the European Union 3rd ed by John McCormick (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) ISBN 978-1-4039-4451-1
• The Institutions of the European Union edited by John Peterson, Michael Shackleton, 2nd edition (Oxford University Press, 2006) ISBN 0198700520
• The Government and Politics of the European Union by Neill Nugent (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) ISBN 978-0-333-98461-1
• The European Union: A Very Short Introduction by John Pinder (Oxford, 2001) ISBN 978-0-19-285375-2
• The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the end of American Supremacy by T.R. Reid (Penguin Press, 2004) ISBN 978-1-59420-033-5
• This Blessed Plot: Britain and Europe from Churchill to Blair by Hugo Young (Macmillan, 1998) ISBN 978-0-333-57992-3
• The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream by Jeremy Rifkin (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2004) ISBN 978-1-58542-345-3
• Template:PDFlink by Hans Köchler, Singapore Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 9 (2005), Accessed January 25, 2007

External links

• EUROPA — the official EU web portal

Column-generating template families

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• European Union
• Supranational unions
• Continental unions
• Federalism
• Political systems
• International organizations of Europe
• 1992 establishments