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The European Union is an economic and political union of 28 countries, located primarily in Europe. Tracing its origins from the devastated post-World War II Europe, the EU has grown in size by the accession of new countries and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. The union has 500 million citizens, and the European Commission, the EU Council, the European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Central Bank and the European Parliament are among its institutions. Read more...

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The European Parliament (Europarl or EP) is the directly elected parliamentary body of the European Union. Together with the Council of the European Union (the Council), it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the Union's institutions and has been described by some one of the most powerful legislatures in the world. The Parliament, together with the Council, form the highest legislative body within the Union. This is only within the competencies of the European Community being limited to specific policy areas, however Union law does override national law. The Parliament is composed of 785 MEPs (Member of the European Parliament) who serve the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (492 million).

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St Stephen's Green

Photograph: Dronepicr

St Stephen's Green is a city centre public park in Dublin, Ireland. The current landscape of the park was designed by William Sheppard. It was officially re-opened to the public in 1880. The park is adjacent to one of Dublin's main shopping streets, Grafton Street, and to a shopping centre named for it, while on its surrounding streets are the offices of a number of public bodies as well as a stop on one of Dublin's Luas tram lines. At 22 acres (89,000 m²), it is the largest of the parks in Dublin's main Georgian garden squares.

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The High Representative for Foreign Affairs secures a deal with the European Parliament on the institutional setup of the new European External Action Service, the EU's diplomatic body intended to strengthen Europe's voice in international negotiations with streamlined, common European foreign policy goals

The European Union creates a European Financial Stability Facility in response to the looming sovereign debt crisis of seeveral member states, enabling member states to guarantee their bonds with the full weight of the bloc, thus lowering the interest rates at which these can be placed on the market, alongside other mechannisms aiming to stabilize the single currency

The Lisbon Treaty enters into force after an almost 10 year-long struggle to provide the enlarged bloc with a new, more dynamic and more democratic set-up, which includes obligatory parliamentary approval for almost any policy field, and far more majority voting within the European Council as opposed to vetoing

The European Space Agency sends the resupply spacecraft Jules Verne to the International Space Station.

The European Commission fines Microsoft US$1.44 billion for non-compliance with a 2004 antitrust ruling, the largest penalty the EU has ever imposed on a single company.

Hungary agrees to join the South Stream gas pipeline project. (Reuters)

Kosovo's parliament endorses a unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia and adopts a flag (pictured); response from the international community is mixed.

The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, announces plans to nationalise the Northern Rock bank following credit problems caused by the subprime mortgage crisis.

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Paris is the capital city of France. Situated on the banks of the river Seine in north-central France, it is also the capital of the Île-de-France région, which encompasses Paris and its suburbs. The City of Paris had an estimated mid-2004 population of 2,144,700. The Paris urban area, extending well beyond the city boundaries, has today an estimated population of 9.9 million. The Paris metropolitan area (including satellite towns) stood at 11.5 million in 1999.

It produces more than a quarter of France's wealth, with a GDP of €478.7 billion in 2005. With La Défense, one of the largest business districts in Europe, Paris also hosts the head offices of almost half of the major French companies. Paris is a leading global cultural, business and political centre and has a major international influence in fashion, gastronomy and the arts. It is widely regarded as one of the world's major global cities, with notably the headquarters of many international organisations such as UNESCO, the OECD, the ICC.

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