European Union

European Union Bulgarian: Европейски съюз Croatian: Europska unija Czech: Evropská unie Danish: Den Europæiske Union Dutch: Europese Unie Estonian: Euroopa Liit Finnish: Euroopan unioni French: Union européenne German: Europäische Union Greek: Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση Hungarian: Európai Unió Irish: An tAontas Eorpach Italian: Unione europea Latvian: Eiropas Savienība Lithuanian: Europos Sąjunga Luxembourgish: Europäesch Unioun Maltese: Unjoni Ewropea Polish: Unia Europejska Portuguese: União Europeia Romanian: Uniunea Europeană Slovak: Európska únia Slovene: Evropska unija Spanish: Unión Europea Swedish: Europeiska unionen
Flag
Motto: "In Varietate Concordia" (Latin) "United in Diversity"
Anthem: "Ode to Joy" (instrumental)
Capital city	Brussels
Largest city	Paris
Official languages	24 languages[a] Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish
Official scripts[2]	Latin Greek Cyrillic
Religion (2015)	71.6% Christian 45.3% Roman Catholic 11.1% Protestant 9.6% Eastern Orthodox 5.6% other Christian 24% No religion 1.8% Muslim 2.6% other faiths[3]
Demonym(s)	European[4]
Type	Political and economic union
Member states	27 states  Austria  Belgium  Bulgaria  Croatia  Cyprus  Czech Republic  Denmark  Estonia  Finland  France  Germany  Greece  Hungary  Ireland  Italy  Latvia  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Malta  Netherlands  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain  Sweden
Government	Supranational and intergovernmental
• President of the Commission	Ursula von der Leyen
• President of the Parliament	Roberta Metsola
• President of the Council	António Costa
Formation[5]
• Treaty of Rome	1 January 1958
• Single European Act	1 July 1987
• Treaty of Maastricht	1 November 1993
• Treaty of Lisbon	1 December 2009
• Last polity admitted	1 July 2013
• Last polity withdrawn	31 January 2020
Area
• Total	4,233,262 km2 (1,634,472 sq mi) (7th)
• Water (%)	3.08
Population
• 2020 estimate	447,206,135[6]
• Density	106/km2 (274.5/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2020 estimate
• Total	$20.366 trillion[7]
• Per capita	$45,541
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	$16.033 trillion[8]
• Per capita	$35,851
Gini (2018)	30.9[9] medium
HDI (2017)	0.899[b] very high
Currency	Euro (EUR; €; in eurozone) and 7 others Lev (BGN; Bulgaria) Koruna (CZK; Czech Republic) Krone (DKK; Denmark) Forint (HUF; Hungary) Złoty (PLN; Poland) Leu (RON; Romania) Krona (SEK; Sweden)
Time zone	UTC to UTC+2 (WET, CET, EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 to UTC+3 (WEST, CEST, EEST)
	(Summer Time in Europe) Note: with the exception of the Canary Islands and Madeira, the outermost regions observe different time zones not shown.[c]
Date format	dd.mm.yyyy (CE) yyyy-mm-dd Date and time notation in Europe
Internet TLD	.eu[d]
Website europa.eu

The European Union (abbreviation: EU) is a union of 27 member countries in Europe. It was created by the Maastricht Treaty in 1993. It is a unique political organisation; in some ways, it acts like a federation, and in other ways, it acts like a confederation. (Political scientists call the EU a "sui generis" organisation, which means the EU is so unique that it is hard to compare it to anything else.)

The EU grew out of the European Economic Community (EEC), which was formed by the Treaty of Rome in 1957. It has created a common economic area with Europe-wide laws, allowing the citizens of EU countries to move and trade in other EU countries almost the same as they do in their own. Nineteen of these countries also share the same type of money: the euro.

The Treaty of Lisbon is the most recent treaty that explains how the Union is run. Every member state signed it, to show that they each agreed with what it says. Most importantly, it says which jobs (’powers’) the Union should do for the members and which jobs they should do themselves. The members decide how the Union should act by voting for or against proposals.

The objective of the EU is to bring its member states closer together, while also respecting human rights and democracy. It does this by helping its members to decide on common rules for many things, like law enforcement, passports, and how to trade fairly with each other.

Most members share a common currency (the euro) and most allow people to travel from one country to another without having to show a passport.

1. ↑ "European Commission – Frequently asked questions on languages in Europe". europa.eu.
2. ↑ Leonard Orban (24 May 2007). "Cyrillic, the third official alphabet of the EU, was created by a truly multilingual European" (PDF). europe.eu. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
3. ↑ "DISCRIMINATION IN THE EU IN 2015", Special Eurobarometer, 437, European Union: European Commission, 2015, archived from the original on 14 March 2020, retrieved 15 October 2017 – via GESIS
4. ↑ The New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Ed., Erin McKean (editor), 2051 pages, 2005, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-517077-6.
5. ↑ Current Article 1 of the Treaty on European Union reads: "The Union shall be founded on the present Treaty and on the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Those two Treaties shall have the same legal value. The Union shall replace and succeed the European Community".
6. ↑ "Population on 1st January by age, sex and type of projection". Eurostat. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
7. ↑ "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2019". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
8. ↑ "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2019". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
9. ↑ "Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income - EU-SILC survey". ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Eurostat. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
10. ↑ "Human Development Report 2018 Summary". The United Nations. Retrieved 19 March 2018.