The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. The Union has a total area of 4,233,255 km2 (1,634,469 sq mi) and an estimated total population of over 449 million. The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.
The European Union (EU) has 24 official languages, of which three – English, French and German – were considered "procedural" languages, but this notion was abandoned by the European Commission. Today, English and French are used in the day-to-day workings of the institutions of the EU. Institutions have the right to define the linguistic regime of their working, but the Commission and a number of other institutions have not done so, as indicated by several judicial rulings.
Christianity is the largest religion in Belgium, with the Catholic Church representing the largest community, though it has experienced a significant decline since the 1950s. Belgium's policy separates the state from the churches, and freedom of religion of the citizens is guaranteed by the country's constitution.
Turkey is negotiating its accession to the European Union (EU) as a member state, following its application to become a full member of the European Economic Community (EEC), the predecessor of the EU, on 14 April 1987.
The Czech Republic is bound to adopt the euro in the future and to join the eurozone once it has satisfied the euro convergence criteria by the Treaty of Accession since it joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. The Czech Republic is therefore a candidate for the enlargement of the eurozone and it uses the Czech koruna as its currency, regulated by the Czech National Bank, a member of the European System of Central Banks, and does not participate in European Exchange Rate Mechanism II.
While the Hungarian government has been planning since 2003 to replace the Hungarian forint with the euro, the government has not set a target date and the forint is not part of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. In 2023, György Matolcsy, governor of the Hungarian National Bank and former Minister of the National Economy stated that adoption of the Euro by Hungary could take place "perhaps around 2030 or a bit later", calling it "club of the rich" and saying that at that time, in Hungary, "the economy is unprepared for it".
Poland does not use the euro as its currency. However, under the terms of their Treaty of Accession with the European Union, all new Member States "shall participate in the Economic and Monetary Union from the date of accession as a Member State with a derogation", which means that Poland is obliged to eventually replace its currency, the złoty, with the euro.
The Slovenian Catholic Church, or Catholic Church in Slovenia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. The 2018 Eurobarometer data shows 73.4% of Slovenian population identifying as Catholic that fell to 72.1% in the 2019 Eurobarometer survey. According to the Catholic Church data, the Catholic population fell from 78.04% in 2009 to 72.11% in 2019.
Bulgaria plans to adopt the euro and become the 21st member state of the eurozone. The Bulgarian lev has been on a currency board since 1997, with a fixed exchange rate initially against the Deutsche Mark and subsequently its replacement the euro. Bulgaria's target date for introduction of the euro was 1 January 2025. However, the 2024 ECB convergence report concluded that Bulgaria did not meet the convergence criteria due to high inflation, so this timeline has been delayed. The Bulgarian National Bank and several Bulgarian politicians had expressed their desire to join as soon as possible, and projected that inflation would be low enough by the end of 2024. If Bulgaria adopts the euro, it will become the second national currency of the country after the lev, which was introduced over 140 years ago. The fixed exchange rate is 1.95583 lev for 1 euro.
Romania's national currency is the leu / RON. After Romania joined the European Union (EU) in 2007, the country became required to replace the leu with the euro once it meets all four euro convergence criteria, as stated in article 140 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. As of 2023, the only currency on the market is the leu and the euro is not yet used. The Romanian leu is not part of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, although Romanian authorities are working to prepare the changeover to the euro. To achieve the currency changeover, Romania must undergo at least two years of stability within the limits of the convergence criteria.
Sweden does not currently use the euro as its currency and has no plans to replace the existing Swedish krona in the near future. Sweden's Treaty of Accession of 1994 made it subject to the Treaty of Maastricht, which obliges states to join the eurozone once they meet the necessary conditions. Sweden maintains that joining the European Exchange Rate Mechanism II, participation in which for at least two years is a requirement for euro adoption, is voluntary, and has chosen to remain outside pending public approval by a referendum, thereby intentionally avoiding the fulfilment of the adoption requirements.
The enlargement of the eurozone is an ongoing process within the European Union (EU). All member states of the European Union, except Denmark which negotiated an opt-out from the provisions, are obliged to adopt the euro as their sole currency once they meet the criteria, which include: complying with the debt and deficit criteria outlined by the Stability and Growth Pact, keeping inflation and long-term governmental interest rates below certain reference values, stabilising their currency's exchange rate versus the euro by participating in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, and ensuring that their national laws comply with the ECB statute, ESCB statute and articles 130+131 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The obligation for EU member states to adopt the euro was first outlined by article 109.1j of the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, which became binding on all new member states by the terms of their treaties of accession.
Religion in the European Union is diverse. The largest religion in the EU is Christianity, which accounted for 72.8% of EU population as of 2018. Smaller groups include those of Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and some East Asian religions, most concentrated in Germany and France. Also present are revival movements of pre-Christianity European folk religions including Heathenism, Rodnovery, Romuva, and Druidry.
The Young Europeans Reports is a series of representative surveys of young Europeans (15-24) conducted on behalf of the European Commission, and is part of the Eurobarometer. While the first survey, conducted in 1982, covered only ten countries, the second and third included 12 members of the EU, and fourth included 15 EU countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, and Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The surveys repeat many of the same questions, thus allowing comparison over time. They are each carried out in conjunction with the large and more general Eurobarometer surveys, thus allowing comparison between the young population and general population.
The demographics of the European Union show a highly populated, culturally diverse union of 27 member states. As of 1 January 2024, the population of the EU is around 449 million people.
Irreligion in Belgium pertains to citizens of Belgium that are atheist, agnostic, or otherwise unaffiliated with any religion. Irreligion is the second most common religious stance in Belgium, following Catholicism.
Corruption in Lithuania describes the prevention and occurrence of corruption in Lithuania.
Corruption in Slovenia is examined on this page.
Cyprus became a full member of the European Union in 2004. Despite being a divided country, the entire island is EU territory. Turkish Cypriots are eligible for EU citizenship, however EU law is suspended in certain areas. Cyprus has two official languages: Greek and Turkish, but only Greek is an official EU language. EU trade accounts for 34% of Cyprus’ exports and 59% of imports. Enthusiasm within Cyprus for the EU has waxed and waned over the years, mainly in synchrony with the health of the economy. Since 2019 support is on the upswing, mainly due to heavy investments by the EU in green energy and digital technologies.
![At 2023 Eurobarometer answered "Benefited" for question "Taking everything into account, would you say that [OUR COUNTRY] has on balance benefited or not from being a member of the EU?":
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91-100%
81-90%
71-80%
61-70%
51-60% Poll about perceived EU balance benefit (2023).png](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Poll_about_perceived_EU_balance_benefit_%282023%29.png/220px-Poll_about_perceived_EU_balance_benefit_%282023%29.png)