Politics

The French Republic is a unitary semi-presidential republic with strong democratic traditions. The constitution of the Fifth Republic was approved by referendum on 28 September 1958. It greatly strengthened the authority of the executive in relation to parliament. The executive branch itself has two leaders: the President of the Republic, who is elected directly by universal adult suffrage for a 5-year term (formerly 7 years) and is the Head of State, and the Government, led by the president-appointed Prime Minister.

Poland is a democracy, with a President as a Head of State, whose current constitution dates from 1997.

Type: Constitutional monarchy.
Independence: 1839.
Constitution: 1868.
Branches: Executive - Grand Duke (head of state, ceremonial), Prime Minister (head of government). Legislative - unicameral parliament (Chamber of Deputies with Council of State serving as a consultative body). Judicial - Superior Court.
Political parties in parliament: Christian Social Union (CSV), Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP), Democratic Party (DP), Green Party, Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR).
Suffrage: Universal over age of 18.

Government system of Belgium is Constitutional Monarchy. Head of State and also main representative is a King of Belgium. However, true power lies in the hands of Prime Minister appointed by the King, Prime Minister is also head of the main political party in the country. Government is formed by representatives Valons and Flemings. Parliament consist of two Houses : Senate (181 members) and the House of Representatives (212 members). Belgian law is based on Civil Code supplemented by specific laws.

Germany is a federal republic. The head of the Federal Republic of Germany is a president. German Federation consists of 13 states and 3 free cities: Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Brandeburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedesachsen, Nordhein-Westfalen, Reinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Th?ringen and the three cities are: Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen. In terms of "European regions", Germany has 41 regions (at NUTS2 level). It is a country wirth most European regions. For comparison: Great Britain has 37,France 26, Spain 19, Italy 21 etc.

Since Lithuania declared independence on March 11, 1990, it has maintained strong democratic traditions.

After regaining its independence, Latvia began to work at reintegrating into the West. In 1991, Latvia joined the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and became a member of the United Nations (UN). It is party to a number of UN organizations as well as other international agreements including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank. Since 2004, Latvia has been an active member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU).

Estonia was one of the republics of the Soviet Union and was formally annexed as the Estonian SSR in August 1940.

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy, in which King Carl XVI Gustaf is head of state, but royal power has long been limited to official and ceremonial functions. The Economist Intelligence Unit, while admitting that democracy is difficult to measure, lists Sweden in first place in its index of democracy assessing 167 countries. The nation’s modern legislative body is the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament), with 349 members, which chooses the Prime Minister. Parliamentary elections are held every four years, on the third Sunday of September.

The main British parties support a strong transatlantic link, but have become increasingly absorbed by European issues as Britain’s economic and political ties to the continent grew in the post-Cold War world. Prime Minister Brown is expected to continue Blair’s policy of having the United Kingdom play a leading role in Europe even as the United Kingdom maintains its strong bilateral relationship with the United States. Britain’s relationship with Europe is a subject of considerable political discussion in the United Kingdom.