Big Four (European Union)

European Union

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US President Barack Obama with EU4 leaders Hollande, Cameron, Merkel and Renzi during the 2014 Wales summit.

The Big Four in the European Union (EU big four), also known as G4, refers to France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.[1][2][3][4][5][6] These countries are considered major European powers and they are the EU countries individually represented as full members of the G7, the G8 and the G20. The term G4 was used for the first time when French president Nicolas Sarkozy called for a meeting in Paris[7] with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel to consider the response to the financial crisis during the Great Recession. The OECD describes them as the "The Four Big European Countries".[8]

Big Four leaders attempt to lead both European domestic policy[9] (as well as the G6 interior ministers) and European foreign policy (as well as the EU3 foreign ministers).[10] The leaders of the four countries usually have a series of joint video conference calls with US president, or with other leaders, on international issues. With Barack Obama they discussed for example the TTIP, the Syrian civil war and the use of chemical weapons during the conflict,[11] the Crimean Crisis and international sanctions against Russia,[12] the Post-civil war violence in Libya [13] the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,[14] the 2014 American intervention in Iraq and the Ebola virus disease.[15]

Statistics

A cartogram depicting population distribution within the European Union at the member state level. More than half of all citizens of the EU live in the four largest member states: Germany, France, the UK, and Italy.
EU Big Four
Country population votes in the Council Contribution to EU budget in Euro MEPs
 France 66,616,416 29 8.4% 17,303,107,859 16.44% 74
 Germany 80,716,000 29 8.4% 22,218,438,941 21.11% 96
 Italy 60,782,668 29 8.4% 14,359,479,157 13.64% 73
 United Kingdom 64,100,000 29 8.4% 13,739,900,046 13.05% 73

Current Leaders

See also

References

  1. ↑ Europe's Big Four
  2. ↑ The Quint Acknowledging the Existence of a Big Four-US Directoire at the Heart of the European Union
  3. ↑ "Leading indicators and tendency surveys". Oecd.org. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "EU 'Big Four' in bailout row". The Independent. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "RFI - European leaders meet in Paris". Rfi.fr. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "A Parigi il Vertice G4 sulla crisi finanziaria - Apiceuropa". Rfi.fr. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "RFI - Rescue of German bank falls through, G4 summit closes". Rfi.fr. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms - Composite leading indicator zones Definition". Stats.oecd.org. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "Francois Fillon Pictures - European G4 Leaders Meet For Financial Crisis Summit - Zimbio". Zimbio. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Obama, European chiefs discuss Syria". The Washingtion Times. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  11. ↑ "Obama discusses further Syrian intervention with European leaders". CNN. 15 June 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ "Renzi calls for ceasefire as Italians flee Libya". M.thelocal.it. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  14. ↑ "Telefonata Renzi-Obama-Merkel-Cameron-Hollande su Gaza, Ucraina, Libia". Europa Quotidiano. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  15. ↑ http://m.independent.ie/world-news/ebola/british-pm-cameron-joins-ebola-talks-with-us-president-obama-30666248.html