Questions tagged [european-union]
For questions on the European Union, a union of twenty-seven European countries, and how it relates to national governments and other international organs.
942
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What is the answer of Coal and Steel / EU based security framework regarding Russia [closed]
It is postulated many times that the EU was created to prevent a war between large countries of Europe and was successful in doing so:
The European Coal and Steel Community which is designed ...
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Why is Hungary an EU member but Turkey isn't? [closed]
I was checking the web and saw a blog about why Turkey isn't a part of the EU.
Some points were pretty striking and almost racist/Islamophobic, like:
Religion
Having a predominantly Muslim population ...
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Why does the ECB hold a large foreign currency reserve?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_foreign-exchange_reserves
In addition to capital subscriptions, the NCBs of the member states
participating in the euro area provided the ECB with ...
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Does the EU mitigate for circumstances where an EU member doesn't have an embassy with another EU country?
Map of countries host to a Portuguese Diplomatic mission (Portugal is shown in dark green) (Source: Wikipedia)
I noticed Portugal doesn't have embassies with certain EU countries, so I was wondering ...
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Why did Eastern EU members embrace refugees from Ukraine but not refugees from other nations? [duplicate]
During the Russian Ukrainian war, Eastern EU members have accepted millions of Ukrainian refugees without complaint. This was in stark contrast to refugees from Africa and the Middle East which were ...
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Would it make sense for a country to have an embassy for the whole of the EU instead of an embassy in each country?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_missions_of_the_European_Union
Would it make sense for a country to have an embassy for the whole of the EU instead of an embassy in each country? I was ...
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Why does the EU believe that there's no need for an across the board harmonisation of member states' tax systems?
In this Communication, the Commission reiterated its belief that there
is no need for an across the board harmonisation of Member States' tax
systems. Provided that they respect EU rules, Member ...
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How do EU countries handle trade disputes between each other?
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_by_country_e.htm
I was looking at this and it seems European countries are sometimes respondent to WTO disputes, and not the EU as a whole, so I was ...
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Who does the EU represent when negotiating with other countries on trade?
China’s trade surplus with Europe soared during the pandemic as
Europeans bought more goods such as personal protective equipment or
electronics to allow working from home. From 2020 to 2022 the ...
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How does the EU determine that invoking Article 7 against an EU member state is too harsh?
In early 2000, Austria formed a government which included the
right-wing populist[3][4] Freedom Party. Invoking Article 7 was deemed
excessive so other member states threatened to cut off diplomatic
...
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What can the EU do to prevent the circumventions of sanctions against Russia?
The Russian economy appears more resilient than expected and the
Russian military retains the capacity to destroy civilian
infrastructure and military targets and terrorise the Ukrainian
population. ...
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How successful was the French Initiative for Western Balkans? [closed]
I'm trying to write an essay about the "French Initiative for Western Balkans" and the consequent results of their new methodology. It has been 4 years since the process started and there is ...
5
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692
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Political countermeasures for "Web Environment Integrity"
It looks like Google is trying to enable the "Web Environment Integrity" API, which will allow web servers to determine if the browser has been tampered with, e.g., using an ad-blocker or ...
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Are there more recent (e.g post 2022) EU opinion polls on Turkey joining the EU?
I'm curious if public opinion in the EU countries on Turkey joining the EU has changed significantly in the past 6-7 years or so. I'm aware of one 2016 survey in which the public opinion about Turkey ...
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Why has Turkey attached the EU accession condition late?
Turkey could have attached the EU accession condition with Finish NATO membership.
Why has it given Finland a free pass?
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Why does Russia specifically fund far-rights in Europe?
Far-right and left most pro-Kremlin in EU Parliament, data finds
Putin’s friends in Europe
Examining the Kremlin’s and Far-Right Parties Cooperation
Russian funding is a reward for ideological ...
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How do countries vote when appointing a judge to the European Court of Justice?
The Court of Justice consists of 27 Judges who are assisted by 11
Advocates-General. The Judges and Advocates-General are appointed by
common accord of the governments of the member states[7] and hold
...
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Are there any political parties in the EU (or UK) who support scrapping GDPR regulations?
There's all kinds of parties in the European Parliament and national parliaments of individual members. Are there any parties that would like to scrap General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ...
- 51.4k
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Examples of planned rotation of power in the governing coalition within the European Union
According to the conditions agreed upon when the Liberals and the Social Democrats decided to govern together in the autumn of 2021, the current Romanian Prime Minister should have resigned and ...
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Is Northern Cyprus the only EU territory under foreign occupation?
Northern Cyprus is a territory in Cyprus that is occupied by Turkey, according to everyone except Turkey. Cyprus is part of the EU, which makes Northern Cyprus an EU territory under foreign occupation....
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Precedents for member states unilaterally overriding EU trade policy (or at least attempting to do that)?
The European Commission has rejected bans introduced by Poland and Hungary on Ukrainian grain imports.
The two countries said the measures were necessary to protect their farming sectors from cheap ...
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What does Emmanuel Macron mean exactly when he said “We want allies, but we want to be able to choose them” in his recent speech in The Hague?
I can't find a transcript of the whole speech, so I can only rely on what I read in media. For example, the journalist Dave Keating says:
President Emmanuel Macron is right now delivering a landmark ...
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Why do industrial actions in France seem to happen more frequently, visibly, and intensely than in other EU states?
Obviously asking due to ongoing protests against pension reform in France.
This might be just a perception issue, but it seems France has a reputation for having more frequent, visible, and intense ...
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Why did Poland, Finland and some other EU countries ban Russian citizens from entering? [duplicate]
I was surprised to learn that Estonia, Czechia, Finland, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania banned Russian citizens from entering for tourism purposes. What are the practical reasons for doing so? Or was it ...
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Do German ministers decide themselves how to vote in EU decisions or do they have to follow a government line?
Example/ background: The EU is currently discussing whether there should be a strict law against the sale of cars with a combustion engine starting in 2035. Volker Wissing (of the FDP party) is the ...
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988
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Is UK vaccine rollout really a Brexit benefit?
I heard multiple times from different UK government officials that the UK did really good with Covid-19 vaccine rollout because the UK left the EU.
Is this true?
What EU policy/law would have forced ...
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Is membership in the European Parliament incompatible with membership in German district councils?
Inspired by another question:
According to European Parliament legislative resolution of 3 May 2022, Article 24.1:
The office of Member of the European Parliament shall be incompatible with the ...
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Is membership in the European Parliament compatible with membership in the Electoral College for Non-Residents?
When browsing through the lists of candidates for the elections for the Electoral College Non-Residents in The Netherlands on 15 March 2023, I recognised some names of candidates who are currently ...
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What happens to Scotland energy if it leaves the UK? [closed]
If Scotland leaves the UK and joins the EU, does its current arrangement with England change?
I understand the EU has some sort of a system to distribute energy among members. If Scotland becomes part ...
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2
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What % of asylum seekers who entered the EU during the 2015 European migrant crisis are now fluent in the local language?
According to Wikipedia:
The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into ...
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How long will the war in Ukraine have to last for Ukrainian refugees to become permanent residents?
If the war in Ukraine were to end tomorrow, it is likely that the majority of Ukrainian refugees would have their status revoked and be asked to return home. However, if the war were to last for 20 ...
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How does the EU decide involvement for conflict prevention, peace and stability for a specific case?
According to this archived map the EU is and has been involved in many projects under the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) umbrella.
A fraction of these projects are related to Conflict ...
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Why would it be in Russia's interests if the Nord Stream 1 was left unoperational? [duplicate]
Supply through NordStream-1 is disrupted. Accusations were made that Russia was responsible for it. If Russia indeed was responsible for it, how would that be in Russia's interest?
Destroying its own ...
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Can a minister be removed from the Council of the EU?
In law, is there any provision that enables a minister to be removed from their position in the Council of the EU? Is there a removal process?
What about the European Council? Is there any way to ...
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How did the UK race ahead of France in GDP
Source of data
In 2019,
GDP of the UK was 2,743.586 Billion USD, while that of France was 2,707.074 B.
That is just a difference of 1.33 percent. Some might even dismiss it as noise.
In 2022 however,...
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Would it make sense to move the "capital" of Europe away from Brussels? [closed]
Brussels, while not officially the capital of Europe, is de facto considered as such. The European Union has expanded eastward considerably in the last few decades and England has exited the EU. In ...
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Is the EU Border Guard Agency able to tell Russian passports issued in Ukraine or Georgia from the legitimate ones?
On 8 December 2022, the European Council has adopted a resolution on not accepting Russian travel documents issued in Ukraine and Georgia.
I'm wondering if the Frontex (European Border and Coast Guard ...
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Could the Kaliningrad region join the EU without becoming an independent state if a referendum or proposition is voted for by the people?
Through the scheme decided by the highest court with jurisdiction in and over Russia at the time, the European Court of Human Rights declared what the terrorist regime of Russia (see Parliamentary ...
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3
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Is the UK not member of Schengen, Customs Union, Economic Area, Free Trade Association among others anymore now after Brexit?
I have picture showing where the UK is now compared to other countries. (Outside of European Free Trade Association, European Economic Area, Schengen Area, European Union, Eurozone, EU Customs Union).
...
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What will be the practical implications if European Parliament designates Russian Federation a state sponsor of terrorism?
Today (as of the time this question is created) there will be a vote in the European Parliament on this. If the designation is supported, then I wonder what the practical implications will be if any.
...
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Can the NATO Command sue for the nullification of the treaty of accession of Hungary for non-compliance on the 2% contribution requirement?
Mr. Orban, Hungary's political leader, seems to be trying to use Hungary's membership in NATO by threatening to vote to not approve Sweden’s and Finland’s accession to the alliance unless it gets ...
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What is the procedure for changing unanimity EU policy?
It seems quite unnatural to have a unanimity requirement for voting in large organizations. European Union is 27-member strong with some of the countries "misbehaving" quite often (Hungary ...
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Why do travel organisers still require "full immunisation"?
In the EU, a set of three Covid vaccinations was titled "full immunisation" in 2021 which is tantamount to "complete protection" from Covid.
Meanwhile it has turned out that the ...
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What is the actual cost and human load (short and long term cost) of immigration across EU countries?
There is currently (November 2022) increased tension between France and Italy regarding the reception of migrants from Africa who were rescued by the humanitarian boat Ocean Viking. The boat has been ...
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Which EU country has the harshest punishment for disrespecting the flag and anthem?
Which EU country has the harshest punishment for disrespecting the flag and anthem?
What are those punishments?
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What is the status of the infringement procedure against Romania due to high pollution in Bucharest?
Background
Virtually any Bucharest inhabitant can smell that something has burned during the night. This is confirmed by the air quality monitoring platforms such as Airly:
Air pollution in Bucharest ...
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What is the current status of EU payments to Poland (2022-11)?
During a discussion with Polish acquaintances about the current situation in Poland, the topic of EU payments was raised for a moment. The core of the discussion was about the war in Ukraine and I ...
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What are the limits for the waivers to sanctions against Russia within the European Union?
According to this article, the Dutch government has issued 91 waivers from sanctions against Russia since the country invaded Ukraine late in February:
In April, the European Union banned ships ...
- 52.5k
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Why does the EU restrict the maximum power drawn by various consumer electronics instead of taxing them higher?
According to this article, EU restrictions related to various appliances will go into effect on 2023.03.01. If nothing changes, most high-end TV cannot be sold in the EU:
If nothing changes between ...
- 52.5k
3
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1
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Why would Gazprom operate (the maintenance of) TurkStream through a Dutch subsidiary?
According to Gazprom (as quoted by RFERL) the Dutch government has suspended the license of South Stream Transport B.V., which apparently is a Gazprom subsidiary registered in the Netherlands. South ...
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