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.

The aims of the European Union within its borders are: 

• promote peace, its values and the well-being of its citizens;

• offer freedom, security and justice without internal borders, while also taking appropriate measures at its external borders to regulate asylum and immigration and prevent and combat crime;

• establish an internal market;

• achieve sustainable development based on balanced economic growth and price stability and a highly competitive market economy with full employment and social progress;

• protect and improve the quality of the environment;

• promote scientific and technological progress;

• combat social exclusion and discrimination;

• promote social justice and protection, equality between women and men, and protection of the rights of the child;

• enhance economic, social and territorial cohesion and solidarity among EU countries;

• respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity;

• establish an economic and monetary union whose currency is the euro

The aims of the EU within the wider world are:

• uphold and promote its values and interests:

• contribute to peace and security and the sustainable development of the Earth:

• contribute to solidarity and mutual respect among peoples, free and fair trade, eradication of poverty and the protection of human rights:

• strict observance of international law: