The European Union (EU) head office announced on April 21, 2005, that the ".eu" domain name should be operational by next year, allowing businesses and citizens to create an EU-wide identity on the internet, smh.com.au reported.
By the end of this year, the EU and several companies that oversee the use of domain names will have cleared up the technical and legal hurdles to make the .eu suffix a reality.
The next important step is for EURid, the consortium selected by the European Commission to operate the .eu registry, to begin accrediting registrars, the companies that register domains on behalf of Internet users.
The .eu domain name is not meant to replace the existing national domain names used by the 25 EU member states, such as .uk, .fr, and .pl. Instead, it will allow companies and public authorities to have a "pan-European" Internet identity.