what is the european union eu 
the european union eu is a political and economic alliance of 27 countries it promotes democratic values in its member nations and is one of the world s most powerful trade blocs nineteen of the countries share the euro as their official currency the eu grew out of a desire to strengthen economic and political cooperation throughout the continent of europe in the wake of world war ii its gross domestic product gdp totaled 14 45 trillion euros in 2021 that s about us 15 49 trillion the gdp of the u s for the same period was about us 23 trillion 12history of the european unionthe eu traces its roots to the european coal and steel community which was founded in 1950 and had just six members belgium france germany italy luxembourg and the netherlands it became the european economic community in 1957 under the treaty of rome and subsequently was renamed the european community ec 45this served to deepen the integration of the member nations foreign security and internal affairs policies the eu established a common market the same year to promote the free movement of goods services people and capital across its internal borders the ec initially focused on a common agricultural policy and the elimination of customs barriers denmark ireland and the u k joined in 1973 in the first wave of expansion direct elections to the european parliament began in 1979 5in 1986 the single european act embarked on a six year plan to create a common european market by harmonizing national regulations 5the maastricht treaty took effect in 1993 replacing the ec with the eu the euro debuted as a common single currency for participating eu members on january 1 1999 6 denmark and the u k negotiated opt out provisions that permitted countries to retain their own currencies if they chose 7several newer members of the eu have also either not yet met the criteria for adopting the euro or chosen to opt out the european debt crisisin the wake of the 2007 2008 global financial crisis the eu and the european central bank struggled to deal with high sovereign debt and sluggish growth in italy spain portugal ireland and greece greece and ireland received financial bailouts from the eu in 2010 conditioned on the implementation of fiscal austerity measures portugal followed in 2011 a second greek bailout was needed in 2012 8the crisis abated after the eu and the european central bank adopted a series of measures to support the sovereign and banking sector debt of the affected countries these included the establishment in october 2012 of the european stability mechanism esm established to assist eu members experiencing severe financial problems including an inability to access the bond markets the esm supplanted the temporary european financial stability facility backstop in place since 2010 9the european central bank conducted a series of targeted longer term refinancing operations in 2014 2016 and 2019 to provide financing on favorable terms for eu financial institutions 10in 2015 the eu loosened the provisions of the 2011 stability and growth act requiring member states to target public debt of below 60 of gross domestic product and annual government budget deficits below 3 of gdp over the medium term 11the same year a new eu agency the single resolution board assumed responsibility for resolving bank failures in the euro area 12eu s north south issueswhile the relief measures addressed the crisis they haven t tackled one of its principal causes the wide disparity in wealth and economic growth between the eu s heavily industrialized north and its poorer southern periphery which remains less urbanized and more dependent on agriculture 13because the industrialized north and the more rural south share a common currency struggling southern economies can t take advantage of currency depreciation to improve their international competitiveness without currency depreciation southern exporters ultimately struggle to compete with their northern rivals which benefit from faster productivity growth 14in the u s federal transfer payments help to address similar economic disparities between regions and states states with higher average incomes tend to contribute a disproportionately large share of federal revenue while those with lower incomes tend to account for a higher share of federal outlays 15in the eu the covid 19 pandemic prompted joint spending measures some have called an incomplete and fragile fiscal union in the making 16the brexit bombafter rejecting earlier calls for a popular referendum on the u k s eu membership conservative prime minister david cameron promised a vote in 2013 and scheduled it in 2016 it was a time of growing popularity for the u k independence party which opposed eu membership after trailing in late polls the leave option won with nearly 52 of the vote on june 23 2016 cameron resigned the next day the u k officially left the eu on january 31 2020 317in july 2020 a report by the intelligence and security committee of the u k parliament noted widespread media reports of russian efforts on behalf of the leave option and faulted the government for failing to investigate russian involvement in british politics 1819