In 1957 when the EU was founded, it had no environmental policy, no environmenta l bureaucracy, and no environmental laws.

[186] Today, the EU has some of the mos t progressive environmental policies of any state in the world. The environmenta l policy of the EU has therefore developed in remarkable fashion in the past fou r decades. An increasingly dense network of legislation has emerged, which now e xtends to all areas of environmental protection, including: air pollution contro l; water protection; waste management; nature conservation; and the control of c hemicals, biotechnology and other industrial risks.[187] The Institute for Europ ean Environmental Policy estimates the body of EU environmental law amounts to w ell over 500 Directives, Regulations and Decisions.[188] Environmental policy ha s thus become a core area of European politics. Golden Cape, Croatia. Such dynamic developments are surprising in light of the legal and institutional conditions which existed in the late 1950s and 60s.[189] Acting without any leg islative authority, European policy-makers initially increased the EU's capacity to act by defining environmental policy as a trade problem. The most important reason for the introduction of a common environmental policy was the fear that t rade barriers and competitive distortions in the Common Market could emerge due to the different environmental standards.[190] However, in the course of time, E U environmental policy emerged as a formal policy area, with its own policy acto rs, policy principles and procedures. The legal basis of EU environmental policy was not more explicitly established until the introduction of the Single Europe an Act in 1987.[188] A wisent in the Bialowieza Forest, Poland. Initially, EU environmental policy was rather inward looking. More recently, how ever, the Union has demonstrated a growing leadership in global environmental go vernance. The role of the EU in securing the ratification and entry into force o f the Kyoto Protocol in the face of US opposition is an example in this regard. This international dimension is reflected in the EU's Sixth Environmental Action Programme, which recognises that its strategic objectives can only be achieved if a series of key international environmental agreements are actively supported and properly implemented both at an EU level and worldwide. The entry into forc e of the Lisbon Treaty further strengthens the EU's global environmental leaders hip ambitions.[191] The vast body of EU environmental law which now exists has p layed a vital role in improving habitat and species protection in Europe as well as contributed to improvements in air and water quality and waste management.[1 88] However, significant challenges remain, both to meet existing EU targets and aspirations and to agree new targets and actions that will further improve the environment and the quality of life in Europe and beyond. One of the top priorities of EU environmental policy is combatting climate chang e. In 2007, member states agreed that the EU is to use 20% renewable energy in t he future and that it has to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 by at least 20% compared to 1990 levels.[192] This includes measures that in 2020, 10% of t he overall fuel quantity used by cars and trucks in EU 27 should be running on r enewable energy such as biofuels. This is considered to be one of the most ambit ious moves of an important industrialised region to fight climate change.[193] Education and science Main articles: Educational policies and initiatives of the European Union and Fr amework Programmes for Research and Technological Development Erasmus Programme logo, representing the humanist Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterda m. Education and science are areas where the EU's role is limited to supporting nat ional governments. In education, the policy was mainly developed in the 1980s in

programmes supporting exchanges and mobility. The most visible of these has bee n the Erasmus Programme, a university exchange programme which began in 1987. In its first 20 years it has supported international exchange opportunities for we ll over 1.5 million university and college students and has become a symbol of E uropean student life.[194] There are now similar programmes for school pupils and teachers, for trainees in vocational education and training, and for adult learners in the Lifelong Learn ing Programme 2007 2013. These programmes are designed to encourage a wider knowle dge of other countries and to spread good practices in the education and trainin g fields across the EU.[195][196] 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-or dinate and stimulate research. The independent European Research Council allocat es EU funds to European or national research projects.[197] EU research and tech nological framework programmes deal in a number of areas, for example energy whe re it aims to develop a diverse mix of renewable energy for the environment and to reduce dependence on imported fuels.[198] Health care Further information: Healthcare in Europe European Health Insurance Card. (French version pictured) Although the EU has no major competences in the field of health care, Article 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union affirms that "A high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and impleme ntation of all Union policies and activities". All the member states have either publicly sponsored and regulated universal health care or publicly provided uni versal health care. The European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Consumers seeks to align national laws on the protection of people's health, on the consumers' rights, on the safety of food and other products.[199][200][201] Health care in the EU is provided through a wide range of different systems run at the national level. The systems are primarily publicly funded through taxatio n (universal health care). Private funding for health care may represent persona l contributions towards meeting the non-taxpayer refunded portion of health care or may reflect totally private (non-subsidised) health care either paid out of pocket or met by some form of personal or employer funded insurance. All EU and many other European countries offer their citizens a free European He alth Insurance Card which, on a reciprocal basis, provides insurance for emergen cy medical treatment insurance when visiting other participating European countr ies.[202] A directive on cross-border healthcare aims at promoting co-operation on health care between member states and facilitating access to safe and high-qu ality cross-border healthcare for European patients.[203][204][205] Demographics Main articles: Demographics of the European Union and Largest population centres in the European Union The combined population of all member states, excluding Croatia, which joined th e EU in 2013, was forecast to be 503,679,730 on 1 January 2012.[7] v t e Largest population centres of European Union Larger Urban Zones, according to Eurostat[206][207] Rank City name State Pop. London London Paris Paris 1 London United Kingdom 11,905,500 Madrid

Madrid Berlin Berlin 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Paris France Madrid Spain Berlin Germany Barcelona Athens Greece Rome Italy Hamburg Germany Milan Italy Katowice

11,532,409 5,804,829 4,971,331 Spain 4,440,629 4,013,368 3,457,690 3,134,620 3,076,643 Poland 2,710,397

The EU contains 16 cities with populations of over one million, the largest bein g London. Besides many large cities, the EU also includes several densely populated region s that have no single core but have emerged from the connection of several cites and now encompass large metropolitan areas. The largest are Rhine-Ruhr having a pproximately 11.5 million inhabitants (Cologne, Dortmund, Dsseldorf et al.), Rand stad approx. 7 million (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht et al.), Frankf urt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region approx. 5.8 million (Frankfurt, Wiesbaden et al.), the Flemish Diamond approx. 5.5 million (urban area in between Antwerp, Br ussels, Leuven and Ghent), Katowice and its Upper Silesian metropolitan area app rox. 5.3 million and the resund Region approx. 3.7 million (Copenhagen, Denmark a nd Malm, Sweden).[208] In 2010, 47.3 million people lived in the EU, who were born outside their reside nt country. This corresponds to 9.4% of the total EU population. Of these, 31.4 million (6.3%) were born outside the EU and 16.0 million (3.2%) were born in ano ther EU member state. The largest absolute numbers of people born outside the EU were in Germany (6.4 million), France (5.1 million), the United Kingdom (4.7 mi llion), Spain (4.1 million), Italy (3.2 million), and the Netherlands (1.4 milli on).[209] Languages Main article: Languages of the European Union European official languages report (EU-28) Language Native Speakers Total English 13% 51% German 16% 27% French 12% 24% Italian 13% 16% Spanish 8% 15% Polish 8% 9% Romanian 5% 5% Dutch 4% 5% Hungarian 3% 3% Portuguese 2% 3% Czech 2% 3% Swedish 2% 3% Greek 2% 3% Bulgarian 2% 2% Slovak 1% 2% Danish 1% 1% Finnish 1% 1% Lithuanian 1% 1% Croatian 1% 1% Slovenian <1% <1% Estonian <1% <1% Irish <1% <1% Latvian <1% <1% Maltese <1% <1%

Published in June 2012.[210] Survey conducted in February March 2012. Native: Native language[211] Total: EU citizens able to hold a conversation in this language[212] Among the many languages and dialects used in the EU, it has 24 official and wor king languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Fi nnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ma ltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, and Swedish.[213] [214] Important documents, such as legislation, are translated into every offici al language. The European Parliament provides translation into all languages for documents and its plenary sessions.[215] Some institutions use only a handful o f languages as internal working languages.[216] Catalan, Galician, Basque, Scott ish Gaelic and Welsh are not official languages of the EU but have semi-official status in that official translations of the treaties are made into them and cit izens of the EU have the right to correspond with the institutions using them. Language policy is the responsibility of member states, but EU institutions prom ote the learning of other languages.[t][217] English is the most spoken language in the EU, being spoken by 51% of the EU population when counting both native a nd non-native speakers.[218] German is the most widely spoken mother tongue (abo ut 88.7 million people in 2006). 56% of EU citizens are able to engage in a conv ersation in a language other than their mother tongue.[219] Most official langua ges of the EU belong to the Indo-European language family, except Estonian, Finn ish, and Hungarian, which belong to the Uralic language family, and Maltese, whi ch is an Afroasiatic language. Most EU official languages are written in the Lat in alphabet except Bulgarian, written in Cyrillic, and Greek, written in the Gre ek alphabet.[220] Besides the 24 official languages, there are about 150 regional and minority lan guages, spoken by up to 50 million people.[220] Of these, only the Spanish regio nal languages (Catalan, Galician, and Basque), Scottish Gaelic, and Welsh[221] c an be used by citizens in communication with the main European institutions.[222 ] Although EU programmes can support regional and minority languages, the protec tion of linguistic rights is a matter for the individual member states. The Euro pean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ratified by most EU states provi des general guidelines that states can follow to protect their linguistic herita ge. The European Day of Languages is held annually on 26 September and is aimed at e ncouraging language learning across Europe. Religion Main article: Religion in the European Union Circle frame.svg Religiosity in the European Union (2012)[223] Catholicism (48%) Protestantism (12%) Orthodoxy (8%) Other Christianity (4%) Islam (2%) Atheism / Agnosticism (23%) Other / Don't know (3%) The EU is a secular body with no formal connection to any religion. The Article 17 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union recognises the "status under national law of churches and religious associations" as well as that of " philosophical and non-confessional organisations".[224] The preamble to the Treaty on European Union mentions the "cultural, religious a nd humanist inheritance of Europe".[224] Discussion over the draft texts of the European Constitution and later the Treaty of Lisbon included proposals to menti on Christianity or God or both, in the preamble of the text, but the idea faced opposition and was dropped.[225]

Christians in the EU are divided among followers of Roman Catholicism, numerous Protestant denominations, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Other world religions are also represented in the EU population. In 2009, the EU had an estimated Mus lim population of 13 million,[226] and an estimated Jewish population of over a million.[227] According to new polls about Religiosity in the European Union in 2012 by Euroba rometer Christianity is the largest religion in the European Union, Catholics ar e the largest Christian group in EU, account 48% EU citizens, While Protestants make up 12%, and Eastern Orthodoxs make up 8%, and Other Christians account 4% E U population.[228] Eurostat's Eurobarometer opinion polls showed in 2005 that 52% of EU citizens be lieved in a God, 27% in "some sort of spirit or life force", and 18% had no form of belief.[229] Many countries have experienced falling church attendance and m embership in recent years.[230] The countries where the fewest people reported a religious belief were Estonia (16%) and the Czech Republic (19%).[229] The most religious countries are Malta (95%; predominantly Roman Catholic), and Cyprus a nd Romania both with about 90% of the citizens believing in God (both predominan tly Orthodox). Across the EU, belief was higher among women, increased with age, those with religious upbringing, those who left school at 15 with a basic educa tion, and those "positioning themselves on the right of the political scale (57% )."[229] Culture and sport Main articles: Art of Europe, Western culture, Cultural policies of the European Union, and Sport policies of the European Union Acropolis and Colosseum, symbols of the Greco-Roman world. Athens (Greece) and F lorence (Italy) were the first European Capitals of Culture. Cultural co-operation between member states has been a concern of the EU since i ts inclusion as a community competency in the Maastricht Treaty.[231] Actions ta ken in the cultural area by the EU include the Culture 2000 7-year programme,[23 1] the European Cultural Month event,[232] the MEDIA Programme,[233] orchestras such as the European Union Youth Orchestra[234] and the European Capital of Cult ure programme where one or more cities in the EU are selected for one year to as sist the cultural development of that city.[235] Sport is mainly the responsibility of an individual member states or other inter national organisations rather than that of the EU. However, there are some EU po licies that have had an impact on sport, such as the free movement of workers wh ich was at the core of the Bosman ruling, which prohibited national football lea gues from imposing quotas on foreign players with European citizenship.[236] The Treaty of Lisbon requires any application of economic rules to take into accoun t the specific nature of sport and its structures based on voluntary activity.[2 37] This followed lobbying by governing organisations such as the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, due to objections over the applications of free mark et principles to sport which led to an increasing gap between rich and poor club s.[238] The EU does fund a programme for Israeli, Jordanian, Irish, and British football coaches, as part of the Football 4 Peace project.[239] See also Portal icon European Union portal Portal icon Europe portal Outline of the European Union Wikipedia book European Union at Wikipedia books European Year of Intercultural Dialogue Presseurop (news service) Statue of Europe Notes Footnotes

Jump up ^ Not including overseas territories Jump up ^ .eu is representative of the whole of the EU; member states also have their own TLDs. Jump up ^ This figure includes the extra-European territories of member states w hich are part of the European Union and excludes the European territories of mem ber states which are not part of the Union. For more information see Special mem ber state territories and the European Union. Jump up ^ Referred to by the EU as the "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". ^ Jump up to: a b See Article 288 (ex Article 249 TEC) of the Treaty on the Func tioning of the European Union, on eur-lex.europa.eu Jump up ^ According to the principle of Direct Effect first invoked in the Court of Justice's decision in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belas tingen, Eur-Lex (European Court of Justice 1963). See: Craig and de Brca, ch. 5. Jump up ^ According to the principle of Supremacy as established by the ECJ in C ase 6/64, Falminio Costa v. ENEL [1964] ECR 585. See Craig and de Brca, ch. 7. Se e also: Factortame litigation: Factortame Ltd. v. Secretary of State for Transpo rt (No. 2) [1991] 1 AC 603, Solange II (Re Wuensche Handelsgesellschaft, BVerfG decision of 22 October 1986 [1987] 3 CMLR 225,265) and Frontini v. Ministero del le Finanze [1974] 2 CMLR 372; Raoul George Nicolo [1990] 1 CMLR 173. Jump up ^ It is effectively treated as one of the Copenhagen criteria, Assembly. coe.int. It should be noted that this is a political and not a legal requirement for membership. Jump up ^ The European Convention on Human Rights was previously only open to me mbers of the Council of Europe (Article 59.1 of the Convention), and even now on ly states may become member of the Council of Europe (Article 4 of the Statute o f the Council of Europe). Jump up ^ Opinion (2/92) of the European Court of Justice on "Accession by the C ommunity to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Funda mental Freedoms" 1996 E.C.R. I-1759 (in French), ruled that the European Communi ty did not have the competence to accede to the ECHR. Jump up ^ See: Case 34/73, Variola v. Amministrazione delle Finanze [1973] ECR 9 81. Jump up ^ To do otherwise would require the drafting of legislation which would have to cope with the frequently divergent legal systems and administrative syst ems of all of the now 28 member states. See Craig and de Brca, p. 115 Jump up ^ See Articles 157 (ex Article 141) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, on eur-lex.europa.eu Jump up ^ See Article 2(7) of the Amsterdam Treaty on eur-lex.europa.eu Jump up ^ Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principl e of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (OJ L 180, 19 July 2000, p. 22 26); Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupatio n (OJ L 303, 2.12.2000, p. 16 22). Jump up ^ Article 3(1)(g) of the Treaty of Rome Jump up ^ In order to meet the euro convergence criteria it is necessary first t o join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, something Sweden has declined to do : "ERM II". Danish Finance Ministry. 20 March 2009. Retrieved 26 December 2009. Jump up ^ Note that although almost all Uranium is imported, Nuclear Power is considered primary energy produced in the EU Jump up ^ Article 39 (ex Article 33) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the Eur opean Union, on eur-lex.europa.eu Jump up ^ See Articles 165 and 166 (ex Articles 149 and 150) of the Treaty on th e Functioning of the European Union, on eur-lex.europa.eu Citations Jump up ^ Barnard, Catherine (August 2007). The Substantive Law of the EU: The f our freedoms (2 ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 447. ISBN 978-0-19-929035-2. ^ Jump up to: a b "United in diversity". Europa (web portal). European Commissio n. Retrieved 20 January 2010. "'United in diversity' is the motto of the Europea n Union. The motto means that, via the EU, Europeans are united in working toget her for peace and prosperity, and that the many different cultures, traditions a

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