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European Union

political and economic union of 27 European states

39 dated entries naming European Union, drawn from 28 separate years between 1950 CE and 2025 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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20th century

  • 1950May 9 – Robert Schuman presents his proposal for the creation of a pan-European organisation, which he believes to be indispensable to the maintenance of permanently peaceful relations between the different nations of the continent. This proposal, known as the "Schuman Declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what becomes the European Union.source
  • 1957March 25 – The Treaty of Rome (Patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC; predecessor of the European Union) between Italy, France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.source
  • 1973January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.source
  • 1981January 1 – Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.source
  • 1986January 1 – Spain and Portugal enter the European Community, which becomes the European Union in 1993.source
  • 1992February 7 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed, founding the European Union.source
  • 1993November 1 – The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.source
  • 1994November 13 – Voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union in a referendum.source
  • 1994November 28 – Voters in Norway decide not to join the European Union in a referendum.source
  • 1995January 1 – Austria, Finland and Sweden join the European Union.source
  • 1996April 9 – In a common statement, the European Union officially recognises the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.source
  • 1998March 21 – The European Union announces an arms embargo against Serbia and Montenegro.source
  • 1999July 1 – Europol (short for European Police Office) the European Union's criminal intelligence agency becomes fully operational.source

21st century

  • 2003April 16 – The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens between the European Union and ten countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia), concerning these countries' accession into the EU, leading to the 2004 enlargement of the European Union.source
  • 2003March 8 – Malta approves joining the European Union in a referendum.source
  • 2005October 3 – Croatia and Turkey's accession negotiations to the European Union officially starts.source
  • 2007January 1 – Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eurozone.source
  • 2009December 22 – Serbia applied for membership to the European Union.source
  • 2009November 3 – The Czech Republic becomes the final member-state of the European Union to sign the Treaty of Lisbon, thereby permitting that document's initiation into European law.source
  • 2009October 2 – Ireland holds a second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty. The amendment is approved by the Irish electorate, having been rejected in the Lisbon I referendum held last year.source
  • 2010April 27 – Standard & Poor's downgrades Greece's sovereign credit rating to junk 4 days after the activation of a €45-billion EU–IMF bailout, triggering the decline of stock markets worldwide and of the euro's value, and furthering a European sovereign debt crisis.source
  • 2010November 29 – The European Union agree to an €85 billion rescue deal for Ireland from the European Financial Stability Facility, the International Monetary Fund and bilateral loans from the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden.source
  • 2012January 23 – Iran–European Union relations: the European Union adopts an embargo against Iran in protest of its continued effort to enrich uranium.source
  • 2013July 1 – Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union.source
  • 2013November 21 – Euromaidan pro-EU demonstrations begin in Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych rejects an economic association agreement between the European Union and Ukraine in favor of closer ties to Russia.source
  • 2016June 23 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, triggering the so-called Brexit.source
  • 2017April 25 – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) unanimously adopted a call to place Turkey back under monitoring due to setbacks in democracy, human rights, the rule of law, freedom of expression, and judicial independence. Turkey last officially exited the monitoring process in 2004 when it began accession negotiations with the European Union.source
  • 2017March 29 – The United Kingdom triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, starting the Brexit negotiations, the talks for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.source
  • 2018May 20 – The 2018 Venezuelan presidential election was held with incumbent President Nicolás Maduro reelected with 67.8% of the vote and the lowest turnout in Venezuela's modern democratic history since the 1958 coup d'état. The elections were denounced as a "sham" by several Latin American countries, the United States, Canada, the Organization of American States and the European Union.source
  • 2018May 25 – The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect, imposing strict privacy controls for European citizens worldwide.source
  • 2019February 12 – The Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia, officially ending a decades-old dispute with Greece and paving the way for the former's integration into NATO and the EU.source
  • 2020December 24 – The United Kingdom and the European Union agree to a comprehensive free trade agreement prior to the end of the transition period.source
  • 2021April 28 – The European Union approves the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, governing the relationship between the EU and UK after Brexit.source
  • 2021May 19 – The European Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the formal suspension of accession negotiations between the European Union and Turkey.source
  • 2023February 14 – The European Parliament approves a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles in the European Union from 2035, citing the need to combat climate change in Europe and promote electric vehicles.source
  • 2023July 9 – New Zealand signs a free trade agreement with the European Union, increasing bilateral trade.source
  • 2024March 13 – The Artificial Intelligence Act, the world's first comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for artificial intelligence, is passed by the European Union.source
  • 2025December 19 – EU leaders approve a €90bn ($105bn) loan for Ukraine for the next two years, which Kyiv will repay only once Russia pays reparations.source
  • 2025January 1 – Poland takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Hungarian presidency.source

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