European Union: An Overview

We know that EU is a group of a European country that participates as one unit in the global economy. Hence, we state that EU is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It consists of a group of countries that acts as single economic unit in the world economy. In particular, it has an area of 4,475,757 km2 (1,728,099 sq. mi) and an estimated population of about 513 million. Its approved currency is the Euro, 19 of its 28 members now-a-days adopt the currency. Fundamentally, the EU has been inaugurated as the European Coal & Steel Community, initially founded in 1952 by the countries of - Italy; France; Luxembourg; West Germany and Belgium. The European Coal & Steel Community had named European Economic Community after the Treaty of Rome; and afterward, became the European Community (EC). Later on, in 1973, UK became a member of EC. The EC fundamentally is expanded, and Denmark Ireland, Greece and Spain became the new members. The Maastricht Treaty took effect on 11th November, 1993 and thereby the EU replaced by the European Community. In summary, as of now, the EU countries are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK. We find that the EU maintains a comparative value against the US Dollar and the EU becomes one of the top producers in the globe. Therefore, we conclude that EU is one of the largest sources and destination for foreign direct investment as well.