2006 in the European Union

Events from the year 2006 in the European Union.

Incumbents

 * 🇪🇺 President of the European Council
 * 🇦🇹 Wolfgang Schüssel (Jan – Jun 2006)
 * 🇫🇮 Matti Vanhanen (July – Dec 2006)
 * 🇪🇺 Commission President
 * José Manuel Barroso
 * 🇪🇺 Council Presidency:
 * 🇦🇹 Austria (January – June)
 * 🇫🇮 Finland (July - December)
 * 🇪🇺 Parliament President
 * 🇪🇸 Josep Borrell
 * 🇪🇺 High Representative
 * 🇪🇸 Javier Solana

Events

 * 1 January: Austria takes the Presidency.
 * 2 February:
 * The Commission launches a white paper on communication policy.
 * European Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini backs the freedom of speech of Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten during the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.
 * 16 February: The Commission's 'Bolkestein Directive' is approved at its first reading by the MEPs admit large protests outside the Parliament.
 * 7 April: .eu domain opens to the public.
 * 4 May: The Commission adopts a green paper on the European Transparency Initiative.
 * 3 June: Montenegro declares independence, leads to separate relations and accession negotiations.
 * 21 June: Barroso attends EU-US summit in Vienna.
 * 1 July: Finland takes the Presidency.
 * 12 July: Kroes gives Microsoft a 280.5 million euro fine for its anti-competitive behaviour.
 * 24 July: The Council adopts a common position on the Bolkestein Directive
 * 15 November: European Parliament adopts the Bolkestein Directive at its second reading.
 * 12 December: Parliament approves the Bulgarian and Romanian Commissioners despite concerns over the weakness of the Multilingualism portfolio.