The acronym "EU", when referring to a group of European nations, stands for what?

The acronym “EU” stands for European Union, a political and economic union of European member states. The EU coordinates policies and creates shared rules in areas such as trade, competition, consumer protection, agriculture, and regional development.

The modern European Union was formally established when the Maastricht Treaty came into force on November 1, 1993. Its origins reach back to postwar efforts to bind European countries together economically and politically, beginning with cooperation in coal and steel. The Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, created the European Economic Community, an important predecessor.

The EU is not the same as Europe, the continent, or the eurozone. Europe includes countries that are not EU members, while the eurozone is the smaller group of EU countries that use the euro currency. The Schengen Area is another related but separate arrangement focused mainly on passport-free travel across participating countries.