Acquisitions, investments, purchases of intangible assets and divestitures - Acquisitions and Investments (Details) - EUR (€)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018	Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2017
Disclosure of detailed information about business combination [line items]
Cash consideration, net of cash acquired	€ 181,403,000	€ 160,211,000
Acquisitions
Cash consideration, net of cash acquired	(30,338,000)	€ (152,531,000)
Goodwill.	€ 11,834,584,000		€ 12,103,921,000

The cash outflow, net of cash acquired, for acquisitions, investments, and intangible assets.

No definition available.

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- Definition

The fair value, at acquisition date, of cash transferred as consideration in a business combination. [Refer: Business combinations [member]]

+ References

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- References

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Line items represent concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes of the table.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

The amount of assets representing the future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognised. [Refer: Business combinations [member]]

+ References

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