Editing 2000s (section)

==== Europe ====
[[File:Tratado de Lisboa 13 12 2007 (081).jpg|thumb|[[Treaty of Lisbon]]]]
[[File:Tarja Halonen in 2000.png|thumb|[[Tarja Halonen]] served as [[Finland]]'s 11th President and the first female head of state from 2000 to 2012.]]
* The [[Mayor of London]] is an elected politician who, along with the [[London Assembly]] of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of [[Greater London]]. The role, created in 2000 after the [[London devolution referendum]], was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom.
* The Netherlands becomes the first country in the world to fully legalize [[same-sex marriage]] on April 1, 2001.
* [[Silvio Berlusconi]] becomes [[Prime Minister of Italy]] in 2001 and again in 2008, after two years of a government held by [[Romano Prodi]], dominating the political scene for more than a decade and becoming the longest-serving post-war Prime Minister.
* [[European integration]] makes progress with the definitive circulation of the euro in twelve countries in 2002 and the widening of [[European Union]] to 27 countries in 2007. A [[European Constitution]] bill is rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, but a similar text, the [[Treaty of Lisbon]], is drafted in 2007 and [[Signing of the Treaty of Lisbon|finally adopted]] by the 27 members countries.
* June 1–4, 2002 – The [[Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II]] was the international celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries.<ref name="Buck50">{{cite web |url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/TheQueenandspecialanniversaries/TheQueensGoldenJubilee/50factsaboutTheQueensGoldenJubilee.aspx |last=The Royal Household |title=Her Majesty The Queen > Jubilees and other milestones > Golden Jubilee > 50 facts about The Queen's Golden Jubilee |publisher=Queen's Printer |access-date=November 25, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054720/http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/TheQueenandspecialanniversaries/TheQueensGoldenJubilee/50factsaboutTheQueensGoldenJubilee.aspx |archive-date=September 21, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Blair |first=Tony |author-link=Tony Blair |date=November 23, 2000 |publication-date=January 13, 2003 |contribution=House of Commons Debate |editor-last=House of Commons Library |editor-link=House of Commons Library |editor2-last=Pond |editor2-first=Chris |title=Golden Jubilee 2002 |page=5 |location=Westminster |publisher=Queen's Printer |id=SN/PC/1435 |url=http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-01435.pdf |access-date=November 25, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605082313/http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-01435.pdf |archive-date=June 5, 2011}}</ref>
* [[Color revolutions]]: The [[Rose Revolution]] in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] leads to the ousting of [[Eduard Shevardnadze]] and the end of the Soviet era of leadership in the country.
* [[José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero]] replaced [[José María Aznar]] as President of the Government of Spain in 2004.
* [[Color revolutions]]: The [[Orange Revolution]] in Ukraine occurs in the aftermath of the [[2004 Ukrainian presidential election]].
* [[Pope John Paul II]] dies on April 2, 2005. [[Pope Benedict XVI]] is elected on April 19, 2005.
* [[Angela Merkel]] becomes the first female [[Chancellor of Germany]] in 2005.
* The [[St Andrews Agreement]] signed in [[St Andrews]], [[Fife]], [[Scotland]] to restore the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] and bring in the principle of policing by consent with the [[Police Service of Northern Ireland]] with all parties in 2006.
* [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] is elected President of France in 2007 succeeding [[Jacques Chirac]], who had held the position for 12 years.
* [[Gordon Brown]] succeeds [[Tony Blair]] as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] in 2007.
* [[Tony Blair]] was officially confirmed as Middle East envoy for the United Nations, European Union, United States, and Russia in 2007.
* [[Dmitry Medvedev]] succeeded [[Vladimir Putin]] as the [[President of Russia]] in 2008.
* Parties broadly characterised by political scientists as being [[Right-wing populism|right-wing populist]] soar throughout the 2000s, in the wake of increasing anti-Islam and anti-immigration sentiment in most Western European countries.<ref name="spie" /> By 2010, such parties (albeit often significant differences between them) were present in the national parliaments of Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Greece.<ref name="spie" /> In Austria, Italy and Switzerland, the [[Freedom Party of Austria]], [[Lega Nord]] and [[Swiss People's Party]], respectively, were at times also part of the national governments, and in Denmark, the [[Danish People's Party]] tolerated a right-liberal minority government from 2001 throughout the decade.<ref name="spie">{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,719842,00.html |work=Der Spiegel |title=Continent of Fear: The Rise of Europe's Right-Wing Populists |date=September 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311153412/http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0%2C1518%2C719842%2C00.html |archive-date=March 11, 2012 |url-status=dead}}, [http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,719842-2,00.html Part 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203114539/http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,719842-2,00.html |date=December 3, 2010 }}, [http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,719842-3,00.html Part 3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204024055/http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,719842-3,00.html |date=December 4, 2010 }}</ref> While not being present in the national parliaments of France and the United Kingdom, [[Jean-Marie Le Pen]] of the [[National Front (France)|National Front]] came second in the first round of the [[2002 French presidential election]]s, and in the [[2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2009 European Parliament election]], the [[UK Independence Party]] came second, beating even the Labour Party, while the [[British National Party]] managed to win two seats for the first time.