Paul has explained what England, Scotland and so on are. I felt I might write a few words on the Europe and EU.

Here is a map of the current EU and how it will look after 1 May 2004 if all candidate countries vote for joining.

[Linked Image from ecdel.org.au]

Europe and the EU is not the same thing: Just like you wouldn't refer to North America as the USA you wouldn't refer to Europe as the EU. But just as using America to refer to the USA is common, Europe is sometimes used for the EU. (This use will most likely increase)

Currently the EU has 378.5 million citizens. The new member states will add 74.5 million, thus totalling just over 450 million. Three more countries are in the pipe line: Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. Should they be allowed to join (ca 2008-2010) the EU will be the home of some 550 million people. This is of course dwarfed by India and China, but it's a lot compared to the 280 million of the USA.

The EU has similarities with the federal government in the US, but there are important differences: The EU has got a directly elected parliament and two (!) "governments": The Comission and the Council of Ministers. The former deals mostly with boring trade issues. The latter is simply all member country ministers of a specific area: E.g. all ministers of transportation.

I know many people have very strong feelings about the EU, for good reasons. It is huge, often inefficient, all too often held hostage by France and in urgent need of reform. (Not to be confused with the people who wants to build an iron curtain around their country and ban travel and trade. Yes, these people really exist and they spread all sorts of lies about the EU and other Europeans.)

I hope I did stay reasonably politically neutral. [Linked Image]