The EU's influence and limits

The EU began as an economic group but now acts more and more like a state: it has its own flag, anthem, founding date and currency, and something of a common foreign and security policy. A full EU constitution, though, was rejected by voters.

Sources of the EU's influence:

• Economic: one of the largest economies in the world, about $19.35 trillion GDP (2024). The euro could challenge the US dollar. Its share of world trade is bigger than that of the US, so it carries great weight in trade talks and the WTO.
• Political and diplomatic: one member, France, holds a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. The EU prefers dialogue and diplomacy to force, as in its talks with China on human rights and its role in the Iran nuclear question.
• Military: its members' combined armed forces are the second largest in the world, and their defence spending is second only to the US. France has nuclear weapons. The EU is also a leader in space and communication technology.

Schengen: a visa from one Schengen country lets a traveller move through most EU countries without border checks. For Europeans it means travelling, working and studying almost freely across the continent.

Limits:

• Members are still sovereign states and often disagree. When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, Britain joined it while Germany and France opposed it.
• Euro-skepticism: many people distrust giving power to Brussels. Britain's prime minister Margaret Thatcher kept the UK out of the European Market; Denmark and Sweden refused the euro; and Britain finally left with Brexit.

So the EU is powerful when it acts together, and weak when its members pull in different directions.