European Union

The European Union is the most ambitious peace project in history: twenty-seven nations that chose to pool part of their sovereignty to build a shared future. Born from the ruins of the Second World War, from the Schuman Declaration of 1950 and the Treaty of Rome of 1957, it has turned a continent once torn by war into a community of democracies bound by common values and the rule of law.

Today the Union brings together 27 member states and around 450 million citizens (2024), making it one of the world's largest economies and its foremost community of democracies. Through the single market, the euro, free movement and common policies, it has woven the lives of Europeans together as never before — while its successive enlargements, from six founding members to twenty-seven, have reunited a continent long divided.

At its democratic heart stands the European Parliament, the only EU institution directly elected by citizens, with 720 members (2024) representing every corner of the Union. It is here that the European Democrats work, within the Renew Europe group, to give citizens a stronger voice in the decisions that shape their lives.

The European Union is not a finished construction but a project in the making — and a fragile one, never to be taken for granted. To defend it, to reform it, and to bring it closer to its citizens is the very purpose of the European Democrats: a sovereign, democratic Europe, strong enough to protect its people and to stand as an alliance of democrats in a changing world.