The European Union’s external relations

The European Union is playing an ever greater role on the world stage. The Union has not only built up relations with virtually every country in the world, but is increasingly being referred to as an important political actor, and is of course the biggest provider of aid.

In this part of the website you can find out more about the development of the EU’s external relations, including at the institutional level. You can also find details of the relations maintained by the EU with various continents, sub-regions and individual countries and learn about the EU’s main support programmes, especially Twinning and TAIEX.

Various links are provided to other sections of the site containing additional information.