Big Four (Western Europe)

The Big Four, also known as the E4 or G4, refers to France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. France and the United Kingdom are official nuclear-weapon states and are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power of veto, which enables any one of them to prevent the adoption of any "substantive" draft Council resolution, regardless of its level of international support. The United Kingdom is the only country of the Big Four which is not a member state of the European Union, having ended its membership in 2020, pursuant to a referendum held in 2016. France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom are considered major European powers and they are the Western European countries individually represented as full members of the G7 and the G20. They have been referred to as the "Big Four of Europe" since the interwar period.

Issues

The leaders of the four countries usually have a series of joint video conference calls with the US president (see NATO Quint), or with other leaders, on international issues. With US President Barack Obama, for example, they discussed the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the Syrian civil war and the use of chemical weapons during the conflict, the Russian annexation of Crimea and international sanctions against Russia, the post-civil war violence in Libya, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the 2014 American intervention in Iraq and the Ebola virus disease. With Russian President Vladimir Putin, they discussed, for example, the Vienna peace talks for Syria. ==Statistics==

Statistics

Council of EU voting, where procedure indicates a qualified majority vote, requires a double majority of at least 55% of EU member states and 65% of EU population to adopt Commission proposals. This increases to 72% of EU member states and 65% of EU population when the proposal originates from a member state. ==History==

History

France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom have been referred to as the "Big Four of Europe" since the interwar period (1919–1939), when the four countries signed the Four-Power Pact and the Munich Agreement. It operates as a "directoire" of various entities such as NATO and the G7/G20. Brexit A European Union membership referendum took place on Thursday 23 June 2016 in the UK and resulted in an overall vote to leave the EU, by 51.9%. The British government triggered Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union to begin the process to leave the EU, which concluded on 31 January 2020. The G4 now consists of the UK and the new EU big three (Germany, France and Italy), the large founding members of the European Communities that have retaken a leading role in Europe following the decision of the UK to leave the EU. ==Current government leaders==

Current government leaders

File:Emmanuel Macron - June 2025 (3x4 cropped).jpg| FranceEmmanuel Macron, President File:2025-02-23 Bundestagswahl – Wahlabend CDU by Sandro Halank–070.jpg| GermanyFriedrich Merz, Chancellor File:Giorgia Meloni Official 2024 (cropped).jpg| ItalyGiorgia Meloni, Prime Minister File:Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer election infobox.jpg| United KingdomKeir Starmer, Prime Minister ==See also==

Source: Wikipedia ↗

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