3600 BC Event Antiquity Malta
Megalithic temples
Ġgantija and Ħaġar Qim are built a millennium before the Egyptian pyramids.
A shared history
European construction did not begin in 1950. This thread links the ancient inheritance, the Judeo-Christian matrix and the contemporary Union.
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3600 BC
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Before 3501 BC — 1 event. Three millennia without continuous sources. Click to open.
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Ancient Greece
Early Middle Ages
Renaissance
Enlightenment
Concert of Europe
European integration
Rome
High and Late Middle Ages
Reformation and wars of religion
Age of revolutions
World wars
Cold War
600 BC
714
2029
183 events
3600 BC 3501 BC
1 event600 BC 501 BC
Ancient Greece 2 events509 BC Event Antiquity Italy
Birth of the Roman Republic
Kingship is abolished. Consuls, Senate and assemblies invent the balance of powers that modern constitutions will echo.
508 BC Event Antiquity Greece
Reforms of Cleisthenes
Athens entrusts power to the citizens’ assembly: the first documented democracy in history.
400 BC 301 BC
Ancient Greece 1 event336 BC Event Antiquity North Macedonia
Ancient Macedon
The kingdom of Philip and Alexander carries Hellenism from Egypt to the Indus.
300 BC 201 BC
Ancient Greece 1 event250 BC Event Antiquity Greece
The Septuagint
The Hebrew Bible is translated into Greek in Alexandria: a decisive bridge between Judaism and the Hellenistic world.
200 BC 101 BC
Rome 1 event146 BC Event Antiquity Albania
Via Egnatia
Rome opens the road linking Dyrrachium to Constantinople: a major imperial axis for a thousand years.
100 BC 1 BC
Rome 2 events52 BC Event Antiquity France
Alesia
Vercingetorix surrenders to Caesar. Gaul enters the Roman orbit for five centuries and adopts Latin.
19 BC Event Antiquity Spain
Hispania pacified
Augustus completes the conquest. Mérida, Tarragona and Italica become leading Roman cities.
0 99
Rome 2 events9 Event Antiquity Germany
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Arminius annihilates three of Varus's legions. Rome abandons the conquest of Germania and fixes its frontier on the Rhine and Danube.
45 Event Christianisation Cyprus
Paul and Barnabas in Cyprus
The first Christian mission outside Judaea recounted in Acts; the Roman proconsul converts.
100 199
Rome 1 event122 Event Antiquity United Kingdom
Hadrian’s Wall
The Empire fixes its northern frontier; the wall remains the island’s greatest Roman relic.
300 399
Rome 1 event305 Event Antiquity Croatia
Diocletian’s Palace
The emperor builds his retirement residence at Split: the modern city grew inside its walls.
500 599
Early Middle Ages 3 events529 Event Christianisation Italy
Rule of Saint Benedict
At Monte Cassino, Benedict writes the rule that will structure Western monasticism and preserve ancient texts.
537 Event Christianisation Türkiye
Hagia Sophia
Justinian completes a dome that European architecture will take a thousand years to equal.
590 Event Christianisation Ireland
Columbanus on the continent
The Irish monk founds Luxeuil then Bobbio and replants monastic life in Gaul and Italy.
600 699
Early Middle Ages 1 event681 Event Middle Ages Bulgaria
First Bulgarian Empire
Byzantium recognises a Bulgarian state south of the Danube: Europe’s oldest still-named Slavic state.
700 799
Early Middle Ages 1 event756 Event Middle Ages Vatican City
Birth of the Papal States
The Donation of Pepin founds a temporal power that will last eleven centuries.
800 899
Early Middle Ages 2 events870 Event Middle Ages Malta
Arab period
Two centuries of Aghlabid rule give Maltese its Semitic base.
893 Event Christianisation Bulgaria
Birth of the Cyrillic alphabet
The school of Preslav devises the script that will serve Russian, Serbian and Ukrainian.
900 999
Early Middle Ages 5 events907 Event Middle Ages Slovakia
End of Great Moravia
The first West Slavic state collapses; the territory passes to Hungary for a thousand years.
925 Event Middle Ages Croatia
Kingdom of Croatia
Tomislav is recognised as king; the country anchors itself in Latin Christendom.
962 Event Middle Ages Germany
Birth of the Holy Roman Empire
Otto I is crowned in Rome. The Empire claims direct descent from ancient Rome and acts as the secular arm of the Church.
965 Event Christianisation Denmark
Jelling stone
Harald Bluetooth proclaims the Christianisation of the Danes: the kingdom’s birth certificate.
996 Event Middle Ages Austria
First mention of Ostarrîchi
An imperial charter names for the first time the “eastern realm”, origin of the name Österreich.
1000 1099
High and Late Middle Ages 1 event1016 Event Middle Ages Denmark
Empire of Cnut the Great
The Danish king rules England, Norway and Denmark: a North Sea empire.
1100 1199
High and Late Middle Ages 4 events1102 Event Middle Ages Croatia Hungary
Union with Hungary
An eight-century personal union, Croatia keeping its diet and its ban.
1143 Event Middle Ages Portugal
Independence of Portugal
The Treaty of Zamora recognises Afonso Henriques as king. Today’s borders begin to take shape.
1163 Event Middle Ages France
Notre-Dame and the Gothic surge
From Saint-Denis to Chartres, Gothic architecture turns light into theology and spreads across Europe.
1191 Event Middle Ages Cyprus
Lusignan kingdom
After the crusade, a Frankish dynasty rules the island for three centuries.
1200 1299
High and Late Middle Ages 8 events1215 Event Middle Ages United Kingdom
Magna Carta
The barons impose written limits on King John: the first milestone of constitutionalism.
1220 Event Middle Ages Iceland
The age of the sagas
Snorri Sturluson and his contemporaries commit Norse mythology and settler history to writing.
1222 Event Middle Ages Hungary
Golden Bull
Seven years after Magna Carta, the Hungarian nobility obtains written guarantees against royal arbitrariness.
1243 Event Middle Ages San Marino
First captains-regent
Two heads of state elected for six months: the system still operates today.
1278 Event Middle Ages Andorra
First paréage
The feudal act sharing sovereignty is still the country’s constitutional basis.
1278 Event Middle Ages Austria
Rise of the Habsburgs
Rudolf’s victory on the Marchfeld opens six centuries of dynastic rule.
1282 Event Middle Ages Latvia
Riga joins the Hanse
Trade in timber, flax and grain links Livonia to Lübeck, Bruges and Novgorod.
1297 Event Middle Ages Monaco
Capture of the rock
Francesco Grimaldi seizes the fortress; the dynasty has reigned ever since.
1300 1399
High and Late Middle Ages 6 events1346 Event Middle Ages Kosovo
Patriarchate of Peć
The seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church is established in Kosovo, spiritual heart of the kingdom.
1349 Event Middle Ages Serbia
Dušan’s Code
The emperor promulgates a code inspired by Byzantine law, among Europe’s oldest.
1354 Event Middle Ages Luxembourg
Elevation to duchy
Charles IV raises his native county to a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire.
1358 Event Middle Ages Croatia
Republic of Ragusa
Dubrovnik becomes an independent merchant republic and a diplomatic model.
1359 Event Middle Ages Romania
Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia
Two Orthodox, Romance-speaking states take shape between the Carpathians, Danube and Dniester.
1377 Event Middle Ages Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kingdom of Bosnia
Tvrtko I is crowned king; the country reaches its medieval zenith.
1400 1499
Renaissance 6 events1400 – 1550 Event Renaissance and Reformations Italy
The Florentine Renaissance
Brunelleschi, Alberti, Michelangelo: antiquity becomes again an aesthetic norm and an intellectual programme.
1415 Event Middle Ages Czechia
Jan Hus burned at the stake
Condemned at Constance, the Czech reformer becomes a national martyr and a forerunner of Luther.
1432 Event Renaissance and Reformations Belgium
The Ghent Altarpiece
In Ghent Van Eyck completes the altarpiece that inaugurates oil painting and the Northern Renaissance.
1453 Event Middle Ages Greece
Fall of Constantinople
Byzantine scholars flee to Italy with their manuscripts, feeding the Renaissance directly.
1453 Event Middle Ages Türkiye
Capture of Constantinople
Mehmed II ends the Eastern Roman Empire; Europe’s commercial and intellectual horizon shifts.
1492 Event Renaissance and Reformations Spain
1492
The fall of Granada, the decree expelling the Jews, Columbus’s departure: three ruptures in a single year.
1500 1599
Renaissance 11 events1506 Event Renaissance and Reformations Vatican City
Building of St Peter’s
Bramante, Michelangelo then Bernini build the largest Christian edifice in the world.
1516 Event Renaissance and Reformations Montenegro
Ecclesiastical principality
Power passes to the metropolitans of Cetinje: an Orthodox theocracy unique in Europe.
1523 Event Renaissance and Reformations Sweden
Gustav Vasa
Break with Denmark and with Rome: the birth of the modern Lutheran Swedish state.
1526 Event Renaissance and Reformations Hungary
Disaster of Mohács
The Hungarian army is annihilated by Suleiman. The kingdom is partitioned for 150 years.
1534 Event Renaissance and Reformations United Kingdom
Act of Supremacy
Henry VIII breaks with Rome and declares himself head of the Church of England.
1536 Event Renaissance and Reformations Switzerland
Calvin in Geneva
The Institutes of the Christian Religion make Geneva a centre of the European Reformation.
1536 Event Renaissance and Reformations Slovakia
Pressburg, capital of Hungary
After Mohács, Bratislava becomes capital and coronation city of the Hungarian kingdom.
1550 Event Renaissance and Reformations Slovenia
First books in Slovene
Primož Trubar publishes a catechism and a primer: the birth of the written language.
1566 Event Renaissance and Reformations Bosnia and Herzegovina
Old Bridge of Mostar
The architect Mimar Hayruddin completes a work that became the symbol of Bosnian intermixing.
1573 Event Renaissance and Reformations Poland
Warsaw Confederation
The nobility guarantees religious peace while Europe sinks into wars of religion.
1581 Event Renaissance and Reformations Netherlands
Act of Abjuration
The United Provinces depose their sovereign: one of the first texts asserting that power serves the people.
1600 1699
Reformation and wars of religion 6 events1607 Event Early modern period Andorra France
Co-principality confirmed
Henry IV rules that the king of France, later the head of state, will be co-prince.
1631 Event Early modern period San Marino
Papal recognition
The Holy See formally recognises the republic’s independence.
1632 Event Early modern period Sweden
Gustavus Adolphus at Lützen
Death of the “Lion of the North”, who had made Sweden the dominant Baltic power.
1648 Event Early modern period Netherlands
Independence of the Netherlands recognised
The Peace of Münster confirms the United Provinces as a fully fledged European power.
1670 Event Early modern period Netherlands
Spinoza and tolerance
The Theological-Political Treatise founds historical criticism of the Bible and argues for freedom of thought.
1688 Event Early modern period United Kingdom
Glorious Revolution
The Bill of Rights subjects the crown to Parliament: the matrix of parliamentary government.
1800 1824
Age of revolutions 4 events1806 Event Early modern period Liechtenstein
Sovereignty acquired
The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire leaves Liechtenstein fully sovereign.
1809 Event Early modern period Finland
Autonomous grand duchy
Attached to Russia, Finland keeps its Swedish laws and develops its institutions.
1812 Event Early modern period Moldova
Annexation of Bessarabia
Russia takes the eastern half of the principality at the Treaty of Bucharest.
1814 Event Early modern period Sweden
Beginning of neutrality
Sweden’s last war. Two centuries of non-alignment begin.
1825 1849
Concert of Europe 4 events1830 Event Early modern period Belgium
Belgian independence
The Brussels revolution creates a constitutional kingdom, neutral and guaranteed by the powers.
1830 Event Early modern period Greece
Greek independence
Backed by European philhellenism, Greece becomes a state again after four Ottoman centuries.
1843 Event Early modern period Slovakia
Codification of Slovak
Ľudovít Štúr fixes the literary standard, a precondition of modern nationhood.
1848 Event Early modern period Slovenia
United Slovenia programme
The springtime of peoples sees the first national political claim formulated.
1850 1874
Concert of Europe 6 events1859 Event Early modern period Romania
Union of the principalities
Cuza is elected in both Iași and Bucharest: modern Romania appears on the map.
1861 Event Early modern period Italy
Italian unification
The Risorgimento produces the Kingdom of Italy; Rome joins in 1870, ending the Papal States.
1863 Event Early modern period Monaco
Monte-Carlo Casino
The Société des bains de mer turns a poor rock into a European destination.
1864 Event Early modern period Lithuania
Ban on the Lithuanian press
Forty years of book smuggling keep the language alive.
1871 Event Early modern period Germany
Proclamation of the German Empire
At Versailles, Bismarck completes unification. A first-rank industrial power arises at the centre of the continent.
1873 Event Early modern period Latvia
First song festival
Dozens of choirs gather in Riga: song becomes the nation’s political expression.
1875 1899
Concert of Europe 3 events1878 Event Early modern period Serbia
Independence of Serbia recognised
The Congress of Berlin confirms Serbian sovereignty after four Ottoman centuries.
1878 Event Early modern period Montenegro
Independence of Montenegro recognised
The Congress of Berlin confirms a state the Ottomans had never fully subdued.
1878 Event Early modern period Bosnia and Herzegovina
Austro-Hungarian administration
The Congress of Berlin entrusts Bosnia to Vienna, which annexes it in 1908.
1900 1924
Concert of Europe 15 events1900 Event Early modern period Austria
Vienna 1900
Freud, Klimt, Mahler, Wittgenstein: the capital becomes the laboratory of European modernity.
1905 Event Early modern period Norway Sweden
Independence of Norway
The union with Sweden is peacefully dissolved after a massive referendum.
1906 Event Early modern period Finland
Universal suffrage
Finland is the first country in Europe to grant women both the vote and eligibility for office.
1910 Event Early modern period Portugal
Proclamation of the Republic in Portugal
The monarchy falls; the instability that follows will open the way to the Estado Novo.
1912 Event Early modern period Albania
Independence of Albania
Proclaimed at Vlora on 28 November, at the end of the Balkan wars.
1914 Event Contemporary period Belgium
Violation of neutrality
The German invasion brings the United Kingdom into the war and freezes the Yser front.
1917 Event Contemporary period Finland
Independence of Finland
On 6 December Finland separates from revolutionary Russia.
1918 Event Early modern period Romania
Greater Romania
Union with Transylvania and Bessarabia doubles the territory and population.
1918 Event Early modern period Czechia
Birth of Czechoslovakia
Masaryk founds a parliamentary democracy that will remain unique in Central Europe.
1918 Event Early modern period Latvia
Proclamation of independence
On 18 November the Republic of Latvia is proclaimed in Riga.
1918 Event Early modern period Estonia
Independence of Estonia
Proclaimed on 24 February, it is successfully defended in the war of liberation.
1918 Event Early modern period Slovenia
Entry into Yugoslavia
The fall of Austria-Hungary brings Slovenia into the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
1918 Event Early modern period Montenegro
End of the kingdom
Montenegro is absorbed into the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
1918 Event Early modern period Moldova Romania
Union with Romania
The Sfatul Țării votes for union, annulled by the USSR in 1940.
1923 Event Contemporary period Liechtenstein Switzerland
Customs union with Switzerland
The Swiss franc becomes official currency; Bern represents the principality abroad.
1925 1949
World wars 7 events1929 Event Contemporary period Vatican City
Lateran Accords
Vatican City State is created; the Roman question is closed.
1942 Event Contemporary period Malta
George Cross
King George VI decorates the entire island for its endurance under bombardment.
1943 Event Contemporary period Bulgaria
Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews
Under pressure from the Orthodox Church and parliamentarians, deportation is cancelled.
1943 Event Contemporary period Denmark
Rescue of the Danish Jews
In a few nights, more than 7,000 Jews are evacuated to neutral Sweden.
1944 Event Contemporary period Iceland
Proclamation of the Republic in Iceland
On 17 June, at Þingvellir, Iceland breaks the link with the Danish crown.
1944 Event Contemporary period San Marino
Sheltering refugees
The neutral republic houses more than 100,000 people, ten times its population.
1944 Event Contemporary period Netherlands
Benelux customs union
Signed in London by the governments in exile, it prefigures the common market.
1950 1974
European integration 13 events1957 Event European construction
Treaties of Rome
The EEC and Euratom are established; the common market and the four freedoms are laid down.
1960 Event Contemporary period Cyprus
Independence of Cyprus
The Republic of Cyprus is born of a compromise between Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
1964 Event Contemporary period Malta
Independence of Malta
Malta leaves the British Empire and becomes a republic ten years later.
1967 Event Contemporary period Albania
Religion banned
Albania proclaims itself the world’s first atheist state; churches and mosques are closed.
1968 Event Contemporary period Czechia
Prague Spring
“Socialism with a human face” is crushed by Warsaw Pact tanks in August.
1968 Event European construction
Customs union
Internal tariffs disappear eighteen months ahead of schedule.
1973 Event European construction Denmark
Accession of Denmark to the Communities
The first Nordic member, Denmark enters alongside the United Kingdom and Ireland.
1973 Event European construction Ireland
Accession of Ireland to the Communities
Ireland joins with the United Kingdom and begins its economic transformation.
1973 Event European construction United Kingdom
Accession of the United Kingdom to the Communities
After two French vetoes, the United Kingdom enters the EEC with Denmark and Ireland.
1973 Event European construction
First enlargement
Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom join the Communities, which grow from six to nine.
1974 Event Contemporary period Portugal
Carnation Revolution
On 25 April an almost bloodless military coup restores democracy.
1974 Event Contemporary period Cyprus
Division of the island
The coup and Turkish intervention cut Cyprus in two; the Green Line crosses Nicosia.
1974 Event Contemporary period Kosovo
Constitutional autonomy
The Yugoslav constitution grants Kosovo near-republican attributes.
1975 1999
European integration 35 events1979 Event European construction
First European elections
For the first time citizens directly elect their MEPs; Simone Veil chairs the assembly.
1980 Event Contemporary period Poland
Solidarity
At the Gdańsk shipyards the Soviet bloc’s first free trade union is born. Communism loses its workers’ legitimacy.
1980 Event Contemporary period Iceland
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Iceland elects the world’s first woman head of state by direct universal suffrage.
1981 Event European construction Greece
Accession of Greece to the Communities
As the tenth member, Greece anchors its restored democracy in Community Europe.
1984 Event Contemporary period Liechtenstein
Women’s suffrage
The last country in Europe to grant it, by a male-only referendum.
1986 Event European construction Spain
Accession of Spain to the Communities
With Portugal, Spain joins the EEC: southern enlargement consecrates democratisation.
1986 Event European construction Portugal
Accession of Portugal to the Communities
Portugal joins the EEC on the same day as Spain and begins rapid economic catch-up.
1988 Event Contemporary period Estonia
Singing Revolution
Three hundred thousand Estonians sing banned anthems together: dissent becomes massive.
1989 Event Contemporary period Romania
December revolution
The only violent fall of a European communist regime; Ceaușescu is executed on 25 December.
1989 Event Contemporary period Czechia
Velvet Revolution
In a few weeks and without violence the regime falls; Václav Havel becomes president.
1989 Event European construction Hungary
Pan-European Picnic
On 19 August Hungary opens its border with Austria: the first breach in the Iron Curtain.
1989 Event Contemporary period Lithuania
Baltic Way
Two million people form a human chain from Tallinn to Vilnius.
1989 Event European construction
Fall of the Berlin Wall
9 November opens German reunification and, in time, that of the continent.
1990 Event Contemporary period Germany
German reunification
A year after the Wall fell, the five eastern Länder join the Federal Republic and the European Community.
1990 Event Contemporary period Lithuania
Independence restored
On 11 March Lithuania is the first republic to leave the USSR.
1991 Event Contemporary period Croatia
Independence of Croatia
The declaration of 25 June opens four years of war on Croatian territory.
1991 Event Contemporary period Latvia
Independence of Latvia restored
After the Singing Revolution, Latvia regains its sovereignty.
1991 Event Contemporary period Estonia
Independence of Estonia restored
On 20 August Estonia again proclaims its sovereignty.
1991 Event Contemporary period Ukraine
Independence of Ukraine
More than 90 % of voters approve leaving the USSR on 1 December.
1991 Event Contemporary period Albania
End of the communist regime
After forty-seven years of isolation, pluralism is restored.
1991 Event Contemporary period North Macedonia
Peaceful independence
The only Yugoslav republic to separate without war.
1991 Event Contemporary period Moldova
Independence of Moldova
The republic proclaims sovereignty on 27 August, days after the Moscow putsch.
1991 Event Contemporary period Belarus
Independence of Belarus
The Belavezha Accords, signed in Belarus, formalise the dissolution of the USSR.
1992 Event European construction Switzerland
Rejection of the EEA
The people reject the European Economic Area; the bilateral path prevails.
1992 Event Contemporary period Moldova
Transnistria conflict
A ceasefire freezes a de facto secession that has lasted more than thirty years.
1993 Event Contemporary period Slovakia
Independence of Slovakia
On 1 January the Slovak Republic is born of a negotiated, peaceful separation.
1993 Event Contemporary period Belgium
Federal Belgium
The fourth state reform enshrines in the Constitution a federal state of communities and regions.
1993 Event Contemporary period Czechia Slovakia
Velvet Divorce
Czechia and Slovakia separate peacefully on 1 January, a rare case in Europe.
1994 Event European construction Norway
Second rejection of membership
52.2 % of Norwegians reject Union entry; the EEA takes over.
1995 Event Contemporary period Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dayton Accords
Peace establishes a two-entity state whose architecture still governs the country.
1995 Event European construction Sweden
Accession of Sweden to the Union
With Austria and Finland, Sweden joins the EU; it will reject the euro by referendum in 2003.
1995 Event European construction Liechtenstein
EEA accession
The principality joins the European internal market without entering the Union.
1995 Event European construction Austria
Accession of Austria to the Union
Austria joins the EU by referendum and becomes a pivot towards Central Europe.
1995 Event European construction
Nordic enlargement
Austria, Finland and Sweden bring the Union to fifteen members.
1999 Event European construction
Birth of the euro
Eleven currencies are irrevocably fixed; the European Central Bank takes up its functions.
2000 2024
European integration 26 events2002 Event European construction
Euro notes and coins
Three hundred million Europeans change currency on 1 January.
2002 Event European construction Montenegro
Unilateral euro adoption
Without being in the euro area, the country makes the euro its official currency.
2004 Event European construction
The big bang enlargement
Ten states, eight of them formerly communist, join the Union: the continent’s division ends.
2004 Event European construction Poland
Accession of Poland to the Union
With nine other states, Poland joins the EU: the political reunification of the continent.
2004 Event European construction Slovenia
Accession of Slovenia to the Union
The only former Yugoslav republic in the great enlargement of 2004.
2004 Event European construction Cyprus
Accession of Cyprus to the Union
Cyprus joins the EU; the acquis remains suspended in the northern part of the island.
2004 Event European construction Malta
Accession of Malta to the Union
The smallest member state joins the EU and adopts the euro four years later.
2006 Event Contemporary period Montenegro
Independence referendum
55.5 % of voters choose separation from Serbia.
2007 Event European construction Romania
Accession of Romania to the Union
With Bulgaria, Romania joins the EU and becomes its eastern frontier on the Black Sea.
2007 Event European construction Slovenia
Euro adoption in Slovenia
The first of the 2004 new member states to join the single currency.
2008 Event European construction Switzerland
Schengen entry
Without Union membership, Switzerland abolishes its border controls.
2009 Event European construction Slovakia
Euro adoption in Slovakia
The first Visegrád economy to join the euro area.
2013 Event Contemporary period Ukraine
Euromaidan
The refusal to sign the EU association agreement triggers months of protest.
2013 Event European construction Croatia
Accession of Croatia to the Union
As the twenty-eighth member state, Croatia is the first Western Balkan country to enter.
2014 Event European construction Latvia
Euro adoption in Latvia
The lats gives way to the euro five years after one of Europe’s severest financial crises.
2016 Event European construction
British referendum
51.9 % of voters choose to leave the Union: a first in the history of European construction.
2017 Event Contemporary period Montenegro
NATO accession of Montenegro
The country joins the Alliance despite strong internal opposition.
2020 Event European construction United Kingdom
Brexit
On 31 January the United Kingdom becomes the first state to leave the European Union.
2020 Event Contemporary period Belarus
2020 protests
Contestation of the presidential election is repressed; the EU does not recognise the result.
2020 Event European construction
NextGenerationEU
Facing the pandemic, the Union borrows 750 billion jointly: a major break in its budgetary workings.
2020 Event Contemporary period North Macedonia
NATO accession of North Macedonia
The country becomes the 30th member of the Atlantic Alliance.
2022 Event European construction Albania
Opening of negotiations
Union accession talks open, jointly with North Macedonia.
2023 Event Contemporary period Finland
NATO accession of Finland
On 4 April Finland doubles the Alliance’s land border with Russia.
2023 Event European construction Croatia
Euro and Schengen
On 1 January Croatia joins the single currency and the free movement area on the same day.
2024 Event Contemporary period Sweden
NATO accession of Sweden
On 7 March Sweden becomes the 32nd ally, ending two centuries of neutrality.
2024 Event European construction
2024 European elections
720 members are elected in 27 states; the right and sovereignist groups gain ground.
2025 2049
European integration 4 events2025 Event European construction Romania
Full Schengen entry
Land border controls are lifted on 1 January, thirteen years after the first application.
2025 Event European construction
Schengen at 29
The area has twenty-nine members: twenty-five Union states and four EFTA neighbours. Two member states remain outside — Ireland, by choice, and Cyprus, which has yet to join.
2026 Event European construction Bulgaria
Euro adoption in Bulgaria
On 1 January the lev gives way to the euro: Bulgaria becomes the area’s 21st member.
2026 Event European construction
Euro area at 21
Twenty-one of the twenty-seven member states now share the currency. Of the six outside, only Denmark holds an opt-out: the other five are legally bound to join, with no deadline.