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.
955
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Is there a reason why the EU doesn't pursue a FTA with each individual ASEAN country instead of a region-region agreement?
Negotiations with Indonesia are ongoing and negotiations with Thailand
resumed recently, with the goal of further deepening bilateral trade
and investment relations with both countries. Bilateral Free ...
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3
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What are some roadblocks preventing a free trade agreement between the EU and the US?
Despite the US being the EU’s largest trade and investment partner,
there is no dedicated free trade agreement between the EU and the US.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) ...
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Why don't most European countries apply to regional trade pacts outside of Europe like the RCEP and the CPTPP?
Why do most European countries not apply to regional trade pacts outside of Europe like the RCEP and the CPTPP?
United Kingdom: The British Foreign Affairs Committee urged the UK
Government to assess ...
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Is there a difference between lobbying in a supranational government like the EU as opposed to a national government like the U.S.?
Is there a difference between lobbying in a supranational government like the EU as opposed to a national government like the U.S.? I am guessing that lobbying for the EU is a lot less effective than ...
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Has the EU, the UN, or even some Muslim countries proposed to fund or construct any bomb shelters for civilians in Gaza?
The EU in cooperation with the UN have at least renovated some [Soviet-era, I guess] bomb shelters in Ukraine (ibid).
So, have they tried to do something like that in Gaza? After all, the EU was ...
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Can the EU package aid through the IMF in exchange of political favors?
“European and some Gulf countries are trying to provide economic aid
in order for Egypt to play a strong role in the humanitarian crisis,”
Giuseppe Dentice, head of the MENA desk at the Centre for
...
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Time and place scope for the new EU law (proposal) that limits border closures
Sometime in September
the European Parliament’s home affairs committee on Wednesday [Sep 20] backed legislation that allows EU countries to enact border controls only when faced with emergencies such ...
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Does the European Union play any role in mediating conflicts related to industrial espionage between two member countries?
AFP - France is the top offender when it comes to industrial
espionage, and is even worse than China and Russia, the head of a
German company was quoted as saying in a leaked US diplomatic cable
made ...
- 30.9k
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0
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If the EU considers a group to be a terrorist group, does that mean every EU member also does?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/26/eu-court-upholds-hamas-terror-listing
The European Union’s top court has ruled that the Palestinian Islamist
movement, Hamas, should remain on the EU ...
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Why has the EU not used the Temporary Protection Directive for refugees from Syria?
Wikipedia says:
The Temporary Protection Directive (TPD; Council Directive 2001/55/EC) is a 2001 European Union directive providing for immediate, temporary protection for displaced people from ...
- 145k
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Is there a more exact quote/translation of what Orban said recently about aid to Ukraine?
RFERL has it as
Speaking in Brussels on the sidelines of the EU summit where discussion was focused on support for Ukraine, Orban said there was a “big battle” over the matter and added that he saw ...
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What are things that the Federal Reserve can do that a member state's central bank cannot do, because of the ECB?
The ECB Governing Council makes monetary policy for the Eurozone and
the European Union, administers the foreign exchange reserves of EU
member states, engages in foreign exchange operations, and ...
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Where Hungary stands in the EU politics?
From the last two years, it seems Orban is navigating closer and closer to Russia, and Hungary's relations with the EU are strained, to say the least.
It seems there is a disagreement in many areas, ...
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Why did the EU stop publishing the adjusted/unexplained wage gap numbers since 2018?
The latest EU report on the adjusted/"unexplained" gender wage gap only has data up to 2018.
Is it known why the EU stopped publishing this data back in 2018? Was it due to lack of funding ...
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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 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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2
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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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5
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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 ...
- 52.7k
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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 ...
- 30.9k
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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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0
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124
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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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1
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111
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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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2
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0
answers
73
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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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3
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787
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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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243
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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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2
answers
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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 ...
3
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1
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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) ...
- 52.7k
5
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1
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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 ...
- 52.6k
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2
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5k
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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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112
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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 ...
- 145k
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2
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509
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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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1
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483
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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 ...
- 52.7k
16
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2
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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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995
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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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140
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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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3
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222
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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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1
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324
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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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5
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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 ...
- 52.7k
2
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0
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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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0
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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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2
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1
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70
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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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1k
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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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1
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268
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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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5
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2k
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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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