The structural and electronic properties of the Eu-induced 2 ϫ 3 reconstruction on Si͑100͒ have been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy ͑STM͒, scanning tunneling spectroscopy ͑STS͒, and high-resolution Si 2p core-level spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation. STM images of this reconstruction are found to be drastically dependent on the bias voltage and tunneling current. STS measurements show that the 2 ϫ 3-Eu surface is semiconducting. Two occupied states at −0.9 and −1.75 V and three unoccupied states at +0.35, +0.8, and +1.5 V are identified in the ͑dI / dV͒ / ͑I / V͒ spectrum of this surface. The Si 2p core-level spectra taken at various photon energies and emission angles are revealed to include four surface-related components S1−S4 with core-level shifts of −0.54, −0.24, +0.21, and +0.51 eV, respectively. The S1, S2, and S4 components are assigned to first-layer Si atoms in the 2 ϫ 3-Eu structure and the S3 component is shown to arise from the second-layer Si atoms. The results are discussed in the context of structural models reported recently for other metal-induced Si͑100͒2 ϫ 3 reconstructions. Finally, an atomic model is proposed for the 2 ϫ 3-Eu phase.