Religions:

Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish

Languages:

Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French,
Gaelic, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian,
Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish,
Swedish
note: only official languages are listed; German, the major language
of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, is the most widely spoken
mother tongue - over 19% of the EU population; English is the most
widely spoken language - about 49% of the EU population is
conversant with it (2007)

Government
European Union

Union name:

conventional long form: European Union
abbreviation: EU

Political structure:

a hybrid intergovernmental and supranational organization

Capital:

name: Brussels (Belgium), Strasbourg (France), Luxembourg
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, Belgium,
the European Parliament meets in Brussels and Strasbourg, France,
and the Court of Justice of the European Communities meets in
Luxembourg

Member states:

27 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands,
Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK;
note - Canary Islands (Spain), Azores and Madeira (Portugal), French
Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Reunion (France) are sometimes
listed separately even though they are legally a part of Spain,
Portugal, and France; candidate countries: Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey

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 the European Coal and Steel
Community to achieve 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; t