Executive branch:
chief of union: President of the European Commission Jose DURAO
BARROSO (since 22 November 2004)
election results: European Parliament approved the European
Commission by an approval vote of 449-149 with 82 abstentions
elections: the president of the European Commission is designated by
member governments; the president-designate then chooses the other
Commission members; the European Parliament confirms the entire
Commission for a five-year term; election last held 18 November 2004
(next to be held 2009)
cabinet: European Commission (composed of 25 members, one from each
member country; each commissioner responsible for one or more policy
areas)
note: the European Council brings together heads of state and
government and the president of the European Commission and meets at
least twice a year; its aim is to provide the impetus for the major
political issues relating to European integration and to issue
general policy guidelines
Legislative branch:
Council of the European Union (25 member-state ministers having 321
votes; the number of votes is roughly proportional to member-states'
population); note - the Council is the main decision-making body of
the EU; European Parliament (732 seats; seats allocated among member
states by proportion to population); members elected by direct
universal suffrage for a five-year term
election results: percent of vote - NA%; seats by party - EPP-ED
268, PES 202, ALDE 88, Greens/EFA 42, EUL/NGL 41, IND/DEM 36, UEN
27, independents 28
elections: last held 10-13 June 2004 (next to be held June 2009)
Judicial branch:
European Court of Justice (ensures that the treaties are
interpreted and applied correctly) - 25 Justices (one from each
member state) appointed for a six-year term; note - for the sake of
efficiency, the court can sit with 11 justices known as the "Grand
Chamber"; Court of First Instance - 25 justices appointed for a
six-year term
Political parties and leaders:
Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe or ALDE
[Graham R. WATSON]; Independence/Democracy Group or IND/DEM
[Jens-Peter BONDE and Nigel FARAGE]; Group of Greens/European Free
Alliance or Greens/EFA [Monica FRASSONI and Daniel Marc
COHN-BENDIT]; Socialist Group in the European Parliament or PES
[Martin SCHULZ]; Confederal Group of the European United Left-Nordic
Green Left or EUL/NGL [Francis WURTZ]; European People's
Party-European Democrats or EPP-ED [Hans-Gert POETTERING]; Union for
Europe of the Nations Group or UEN [Brian CROWLEY and Cristiana
MUSCARDINI]
International organization participation:
European Union: ASEAN (dialogue member), ARF (dialogue member),
EBRD, IDA, OAS (observer), OECD, WTO
European Commission: Australian Group, CBSS, CERN, FAO, G-10, NSG
(observer), UN (observer)
European Central Bank: BIS
European Investment Bank: WADB (nonregional member)
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador John BRUTON chancery: 2300 M Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037 FAX: [1] (202) 429-1766 telephone: [1] (202) 862-9500
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Rockwell SCHNABEL embassy: 13 Zinnerstraat (Rue Zinner), B-1000 Brussels mailing address: same as above telephone: [32] (2) 508-2222 FAX: [32] (2) 512-5720
Flag description:
on a blue field, 12 five-pointed gold stars arranged in a circle,
representing the union of the peoples of Europe; the number of stars
is fixed
Economy European Union
Economy - overview:
Domestically, the European Union attempts to lower trade barriers,
adopt a common currency, and move toward convergence of living
standards. Internationally, the EU aims to bolster Europe's trade
position and its political and economic power. Because of the great
differences in per capita income (from $10,000 to $28,000) and
historic national animosities, the European Community faces
difficulties in devising and enforcing common policies. For example,
both Germany and France since 2003 have flouted the member states'
treaty obligation to prevent their national budgets from running
more than a 3% deficit. In 2004, the EU admitted 10 central and
eastern European countries that are, in general, less advanced
technologically and economically than the existing 15. The Economic
and Monetary Union (EMU), an associated organization, introduced the
euro as the common currency on 1 January 1999. The UK, Sweden, and
Denmark do not now participate; the 10 new countries may choose to
join the EMU when they meet its fiscal and monetary criteria and the
member states so agree.