Navigate with ↑ ↓, open with Enter
15 big questions about the EU, each with a short answer, an explanation, an example and its sources.
Yes, legally it can. The EU treaties say that a country that has left and wants to come back must apply like any other candidate, under Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union, which requires the unanimous agreement of all member states and the consent of the European Parliament.
Read the explainer →Europe is a continent, while the European Union is a political and economic union of 27 European countries. Many European countries, such as Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom or Ukraine, are in Europe but not in the EU.
Read the explainer →The European Union has 27 member states. It had 28 until the United Kingdom left on 31 January 2020, and the most recent country to join was Croatia, on 1 July 2013.
Read the explainer →The EU grew from six founding countries in 1958 to 28 in 2013 through seven enlargements, the largest being ten countries in 2004. It went down to 27 when the United Kingdom left on 31 January 2020.
Read the explainer →The European Union is a political and economic union of 27 European countries that have agreed to make some decisions together and to share common rules, a single market and common institutions. It was created under that name by the Maastricht Treaty, in force since 1 November 1993.
Read the explainer →Many European countries are outside the EU, including the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, the microstates such as Monaco or Andorra, the nine official candidates such as Ukraine and Serbia, and Russia and Belarus. Some of them still apply many EU rules.
Read the explainer →The United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020 because a majority of voters, 51.9%, chose to leave in a referendum held on 23 June 2016. Leave voters most often cited the principle that decisions about the UK should be taken in the UK, followed by control over immigration.
Read the explainer →The European Council is the meeting of the EU's national leaders, who set overall priorities. The Council of the EU is where national ministers adopt EU laws with the European Parliament. The Council of Europe is not part of the EU at all: it is a separate human-rights organisation with 46 member states.
Read the explainer →The EU works through institutions set up by treaties: the European Commission proposes laws, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU (national ministers) adopt them, the European Council of national leaders sets priorities, and the Court of Justice makes sure the law is applied the same way everywhere.
Read the explainer →In most areas, EU laws are proposed by the European Commission and adopted jointly by the European Parliament, elected by citizens, and the Council of the EU, made up of national ministers. Neither can adopt a law without the other.
Read the explainer →The Schengen Area is a group of 29 European countries that have abolished passport checks at their common borders. It includes 25 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland; Cyprus and Ireland are EU members outside it.
Read the explainer →The European Economic Area extends the EU single market to three countries that are not EU members: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. In force since 1 January 1994, it lets goods, services, capital and people move freely across the 30 countries, in exchange for applying EU single market rules.
Read the explainer →The euro area, or eurozone, is the group of EU countries that use the euro as their currency. Since Bulgaria joined on 1 January 2026, it has 21 of the 27 EU member states, and its monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank.
Read the explainer →Swiss voters rejected the European Economic Area in a referendum on 6 December 1992, and the government then put its EU membership application on hold, withdrawing it formally in 2016. Since then, Switzerland has chosen to work with the EU through more than 120 bilateral agreements instead of joining.
Read the explainer →The EU spends within a seven-year plan, the multiannual financial framework, adopted unanimously by member states with the European Parliament's consent. For 2021-2027 it amounts to €1,210.9 billion in current prices, plus €806.9 billion for the NextGenerationEU recovery instrument.
Read the explainer →