Background: Following the two devastating World Wars of the first half of the 20th century a number of European leaders in the late 1940s became convinced that the only way to establish a lasting peace was to unite the two chief belligerent nations - France and Germany - both economically and politically. In 1950 the French Foreign Minister Robert SCHUMAN proposed an eventual union of all Europe the first step of which would be the integration of the coal and steel industries of Western Europe. 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.

Map reference: Europe

Area
Total: 3,976,372 km²
Comparative: less than one-half the size of the US

Land boundaries
Total: 11,214.8 km
Border countries: (17) Albania 282 km; , Andorra 120.3 km; , Belarus 1,050 km; , Bulgaria 494 km; , Croatia 999 km; , Holy See 3.2 km; , Liechtenstein 34.9 km; , Macedonia 246 km; , Monaco 4.4 km; , Norway 2,348 km; , Romania 443 km; , Russia 2,257 km; , San Marino 39 km; , Serbia 151 km; , Switzerland 1,811 km; , Turkey 206 km; , Ukraine 726 km
Note: data for European Continent only

Coastline: 65,414 km

Maritime claims: NA

Climate: cold temperate; potentially subarctic in the north to temperate; mild wet winters; hot dry summers in the south

Terrain: fairly flat along the Baltic and Atlantic coast; mountainous in the central and southern areas

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Lammefjord, Denmark -7 m; Zuidplaspolder, Netherlands -7 m
Extremes highest point: Mont Blanc 4,807 m; note - situated on the border between France and Italy

Natural resources: iron ore arable land: natural gas petroleum coal copper lead zinc hydropower uranium potash fish

Land use
Arable land: NA
Permanent crops: NA
Other: NA

Irrigated land: 131,250 km² (2003)

Natural hazards: flooding along coasts; avalanches in mountainous area; earthquakes in the south; volcanic eruptions in Italy; periodic droughts in Spain; ice floes in the Baltic

Population: 456,953,258 (July 2006 est.)
Growth rate: 0.15% (2006 est.)
Below poverty line: see individual country listings

Languages: Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Finnish French German Greek Hungarian Italian Latvian Lithuanian Maltese Polish Portuguese Slovak Slovene Spanish Swedish; note - only official languages are listed; Irish (Gaelic) will become the 21st language on 1 January 2007

Religions: Roman Catholic Protestant Orthodox Muslim Jewish

Age structure
0-14 years: 16.03% (male 37,608,010/female 35,632,351)
15-64 years: 67.17% (male 154,439,536/female 152,479,619)
65 years and over: 16.81% (male 31,515,921/female 45,277,821) (2006 est.)

Median age: NA

Population growth rate: 0.15% (2006 est.)

Birth rate: 10 births/1000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate: 10.1 deaths/1000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.5 migrant(s)/1000 population (2006 est.)

Environment
Current issues: NA
International agreements party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 82, Tropical Timber 94
International agreements signed but not ratified: Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds

Sex ratio
At birth: NA
Under 15 years: 1.06 male/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male/female
65 years and older: 0.69 male/female
Total population: 0.96 male/female

Infant mortality rate
Total: 5.1 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 5.6 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 4.5 deaths/1000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 78.3 years
Male: 75.1 years
Female: 81.6 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.47 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: NA
People living with hivaids: NA
Deaths: NA

Capital
Name: Brussels (Belgium)
Geographic coordinates: 50 50 N, 4 20 E
Time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Note: the Council of the European Union meets in Brussels, the European Parliament meets in Strasbourg, France, and the Court of Justice of the European Communities meets in Luxembourg

Independence: 7 February 1992 (Maastricht Treaty signed establishing the EU); 1 November 1993 (Maastricht Treaty entered into force)

National holiday: Europe Day 9 May (1950); note - a Union-wide holiday the day that Robert SCHUMAN proposed the creation of an organized Europe

Constitution: based on a series of treaties: the Treaty of Paris which set up the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951; the Treaties of Rome which set up the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) in 1957; the Single European Act in 1986; the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht) in 1992; the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997; and the Treaty of Nice in 2001; note - a new draft Constitutional Treaty signed on 29 October 2004 in Rome gave member states two years for ratification either by parliamentary vote or national referendum before it was scheduled to take effect on 1 November 2006; defeat in French and Dutch referenda in May-June 2005 caused a suspension of the ratification process

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of union: President of the European Commission Jose Manuel DURAO BARROSO (since 22 November 2004)
Cabinet: European Commission (composed of 25 members, one from each member country; each commissioner responsible for one or more policy areas)
Elections: the president of the European Commission is designated by member governments; the president-designate then chooses the other Commission members; the European Parliament confirms the entire Commission for a five-year term; election last held 18 November 2004 (next to be held 2009)
Election results: European Parliament approved the European Commission by an approval vote of 449 to 149 with 82 abstentions
Note: the European Council brings together heads of state and government and the president of the European Commission and meets at least twice a year; its aim is to provide the impetus for the major political issues relating to European integration and to issue general policy guidelines

Legislative branch
Elections: last held 10-13 June 2004 (next to be held June 2009)
Election results: percent of vote - NA%; seats by party - EPP-ED 268, PES 202, ALDE 88, Greens/EFA 42, EUL/NGL 41, IND/DEM 36, UEN 27, independents 28

Judicial branch: Court of Justice of the European Communities (ensures that the treaties are interpreted and applied correctly) - 25 justices (one from each member state) appointed for a six-year term; note - for the sake of efficiency the court can sit with 11 justices known as the 'Grand Chamber'; Court of First Instance - 25 justices appointed for a six-year term

Political parties and leaders: Confederal Group of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left or EUL/NGL [Francis WURTZ]; European People's Party-European Democrats or EPP-ED [Hans-Gert POETTERING]; Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe or ALDE [Graham R. WATSON]; Group of Greens/European Free Alliance or Greens/EFA [Monica FRASSONI and Daniel Marc COHN-BENDIT]; Independence/Democracy Group or IND/DEM [Jens-Peter BONDE and Nigel FARAGE]; Socialist Group in the European Parliament or PES [Martin SCHULZ]; Union for Europe of the Nations Group or UEN [Brian CROWLEY and Cristiana MUSCARDINI]

International organization participation
European union: ASEAN (dialogue member), ARF (dialogue member), IDA, OAS (observer), UN (observer), WTO
European commission: Australian Group, CBSS, CERN, FAO, EBRD, G-10, NSG (observer), OECD, UNRWA, ZC (observer)
European central bank: BIS
European investment bank: EBRD, WADB (nonregional member)

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador John BRUTON
In the us chancery: 2,300 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20,037
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 862-9,500
In the us fax: [1] (202) 429-1766
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador C. Boyden GRAY
From the us embassy: 13 Zinnerstraat/Rue Zinner, B-1000 Brussels
From the us mailing address: same as above
From the us telephone: [32] (2) 508-2,222
From the us fax: [32] (2) 512-5,720

Flag description: on a blue field 12 five-pointed gold stars arranged in a circle representing the union of the peoples of Europe; the number of stars is fixed

Economy overview: Domestically the European Union attempts to lower trade barriers adopt a common currency and move toward convergence of living standards. Internationally the EU aims to bolster Europe's trade position and its political and economic power. Because of the great differences in per capita income (from $15,000 to $56,000) and historic national animosities the European Community faces difficulties in devising and enforcing common policies. For example since 2003 Germany and France have flouted the member states' treaty obligation to prevent their national budgets from running more than a 3% deficit. In 2004 the EU admitted 10 central and eastern European countries that are in general less advanced technologically and economically than the other 15. Twelve EU member states introduced the euro as their common currency on 1 January 1999 but the UK Sweden and Denmark do not participate. The 10 new member states may choose to adopt the euro when they meet the EU's fiscal and monetary criteria and the other euro states so agree.

Real gdp purchasing power parity: $12.18 trillion (2005 est.)

Real gdp growth rate: 1.7% (2005 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $28,100 (2005 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 2.2%
Industry: 27.3%
Services: 70.5% (2004 est.)

Agriculture products: wheat barley oilseeds sugar beets wine grapes; dairy products cattle sheep pigs poultry; fish

Industries: among the world's largest and most technologically advanced the European Union 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 beverage processing furniture paper textiles tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 1.3% (2005 est.)

Labor force: 218.5 million (2005 est.)
By occupation agriculture: 4.4%
By occupation industry: 27.2%
By occupation services: 67.2%
By occupation note: the remainder is in miscellaneous public and private sector industries and services (2005 est.)

Unemployment rate: 9.4% (2005 est.)

Population below poverty line: see individual country listings

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 2.8%
Highest 10: 25.5% (1995 est.)

Distribution of family income gini index: 32 (2003 est.)

Inflation rate consumer prices: 2.2% (2005 est.)

Electricity
Production: 2.925 trillion kWh (2002 est.)
Consumption: 2.711 trillion kWh (2002 est.)
Exports: 282.6 billion kWh (2002)
Imports: 281.2 billion kWh (2002 est.)