European Union

The **European Union** (abbreviation: **EU**) is a union of 27 member countries in Europe on the  landmass of Eurasia. It was created by the Maastricht Treaty in 1993. It is a unique political organization; 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" organization, which means the EU is so unique that it is hard to compare it to anything else.)

## Infobox (infobox)

- **subbox**: yes
- **bodystyle**: font-size:77%;font-weight:normal;
- **rowclass1**: mergedrow
- **label1**: Bulgarian language, Bulgarian:
- **rowclass2**: mergedrow
- **label2**: Croatian language, Croatian:
- **rowclass3**: mergedrow
- **label3**: Czech language, Czech:
- **rowclass4**: mergedrow
- **label4**: Danish language, Danish:
- **rowclass5**: mergedrow
- **label5**: Dutch language, Dutch:
- **rowclass6**: mergedrow
- **label6**: Estonian language, Estonian:
- **rowclass7**: mergedrow
- **label7**: Finnish language, Finnish:
- **rowclass8**: mergedrow
- **label8**: French language, French:
- **rowclass9**: mergedrow
- **label9**: German language, German:
- **rowclass10**: mergedrow
- **label10**: Greek language, Greek:
- **rowclass11**: mergedrow
- **label11**: Hungarian language, Hungarian:
- **rowclass12**: mergedrow
- **label12**: Irish language, Irish:
- **rowclass13**: mergedrow
- **label13**: Italian language, Italian:
- **rowclass14**: mergedrow
- **label14**: Latvian language, Latvian:
- **rowclass15**: mergedrow
- **label15**: Lithuanian language, Lithuanian:
- **rowclass16**: mergedrow
- **label16**: Luxembourgish language, Luxembourgish:
- **rowclass17**: mergedrow
- **label17**: Maltese language, Maltese:
- **rowclass18**: mergedrow
- **label18**: Polish language, Polish:
- **rowclass19**: mergedrow
- **label19**: Portuguese language, Portuguese:
- **rowclass20**: mergedrow
- **label20**: Romanian language, Romanian:
- **rowclass21**: mergedrow
- **label21**: Slovak language, Slovak:
- **rowclass22**: mergedrow
- **label22**: Slovene language, Slovene:
- **rowclass23**: mergedrow
- **label23**: Spanish language, Spanish:
- **rowclass24**: mergedrow
- **label24**: Swedish language, Swedish:


## Infobox (geopolitical organisation)

- **common name**: the European Union
- **linking name**: the European Union
- **image flag**: Flag of Europe.svg
- **alt flag**: Circle of 12 gold stars on a blue background
- **englishmotto**: "United in Diversity"
- **anthem**: "Anthem of Europe, Ode to Joy" (instrumental)
- **image map**: EU_on_a_globe.svg
- **map width**: 220px
- **alt map**: Globe projection with the European Union in green
- **largest settlement**: Berlin; Paris.::.
- **admin center type**: Capital city
- **admin center**: Brussels
- **languages type**: Official scripts
- **religion year**: 2019
- **demonym**: Citizenship of the European Union, European
- **org type**: Political union, Political and economic union
- **membership type**: Member states
- **government type**: Supranational union, Supranational and intergovernmentalism, intergovernmental
- **leader title1**: President of the European Commission, President of the Commission
- **leader name1**: Ursula von der Leyen
- **leader title2**: President of the European Parliament, President of the Parliament
- **leader name2**: Roberta Metsola
- **leader title3**: President of the European Council, President of the Council
- **leader name3**: António Costa
- **sovereignty type**: History of the European Union, Formation
- **established event1**: Treaty of Rome
- **established date1**: 1 January 1958
- **established event2**: Single European Act
- **established date2**: 1 July 1987
- **established event3**: <span style=white-space:nowrap;>Maastricht Treaty, Treaty of Maastricht</span>
- **established date3**: 1 November 1993
- **established event4**: Treaty of Lisbon
- **established date4**: 1 December 2009
- **established event5**: 2013 enlargement of the European Union, Last polity admitted
- **established date5**: 1 July 2013
- **established event6**: Brexit, Last polity withdrawn
- **established date6**: 31 January 2020
- **area km2**: 4,233,262
- **percent water**: 3.08
- **population estimate**: 447,206,135
- **population estimate year**: 2023
- **population density km2**: 106
- **population density sq mi**: 307.5
- **gdp ppp**: $29.240 trillion
- **gdp ppp year**: 2023
- **gdp ppp per capita**: $45,541
- **gdp nominal**: $21.097 trillion
- **gdp nominal year**: 2022
- **gdp nominal per capita**: $35,851
- **gini year**: 2018
- **gini change**: increase
- **gini**: 30.9
- **hdi year**: 2019
- **hdi change**: increase
- **hdi**: 0.899
- **currency**: Euro (ISO 4217, EUR; €; in eurozone) and
- **time zone**: Western European Time, WET, Central European Time, CET, Eastern European Time, EET
- **utc offset**:  to UTC+2
- **time zone dst**: Western European Summer Time, WEST, Central European Summer Time, CEST, Eastern European Summer Time, EEST
- **utc offset dst**: +1 to UTC+3
- **dst note**: (Summer Time in Europe)
Note: with the exception of the Canary Islands and Madeira, the Special member state territories and the European Union#Outermost regions, outermost regions observe different time zones not shown.
- **date format**: dd.mm.yyyy (Common Era, CE)
yyyy-mm-dd
Date and time notation in Europe
- **cctld**: .eu
- **area rank**: 7th