Canada and the World Backgrounder articles from December 2003

Canada and the World Backgrounder archives from December 2003

The power of unity: Europe has come a long way in the last half century. It has been transformed from a group of war-torn countries to a continent some think is a good model for the rest of the world.(Europe--Introduction)
December 1, 2003... In a column in Toronto's Sunday Star newspaper in July 2003 Rick Anderson says that old European countries ate new again; that modern Europe is a powerhouse economically, intellectually, politically and diplomatically. After spending part...

Growing pains.(Europe--Expansion)(European Union)
December 1, 2003... In May 2004, the European Union expands its membership from 15 to 25. The former Communist bloc countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia join the group, as well as Cyprus and Malta....

Transatlantic misalliance: for more than a century, the Transatlantic Alliance has been a cornerstone of foreign policy in North America and Europe.(Europe--Foreign Policy)
December 1, 2003... The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on 4 April 1949. That treaty created NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), which includes 19 countries from North America and Europe. The main purpose of NATO is to safeguard the freedom and...

The (almost) single market: the euro is now the currency used by 12 of the European Union's current 15 members; its common usage across national borders is an important step towards the creation of one, Europewide economy.(Europe--Economic Integration)
December 1, 2003... The deutschmark has gone; so have the schilling, the franc, and the peseta. There ate no more lires in Italy, drachmas in Greece, or guilders in the Netherlands. The British pound is still hanging in though, and so are the krone in Denmark and...

Creating the superstate: the European Commission is a huge bureaucracy that administers the EU. Some see it as a positive force for the closer economic, political, and social integration of member states; others see it as a tyrannical and wasteful paper-shuffling machine.(Europe--European Commission)
December 1, 2003... Ever since the European Union's foundation, the trend has been towards harmonizing makes and regulations. It makes sense. Why not have a single sizing system for nuts and bolts? Of, an arrest warrant that's the same in all countries? Or, one...

Containing the flow: in 1992, a European Commission survey found that 20 million people in Central and Eastern Europe wanted to emigrate to Western Europe. And, it's estimated that at least half a million people enter the EU illegally every year. While many believe legal immigration needs to be easier, others say it's important to manage the flow carefully.(Europe--Migrants)
December 1, 2003... Europe is connected to the Middle East and Asia by land, and is within eyesight of Africa across the Straits of Gibraltar. The affluent lifestyle enjoyed by most Europeans is a magnet for the desperately poor people who live on its edges. Many...

Whither Europe? In the spring of 2003, Europeans got a first look at a blueprint for their continent's future in the form of a draft constitution for the European Union.(Europe--Future)
December 1, 2003... Valery Giscard d'Estaing was President of France from 1974 to 1981. In 2002, he was handed the monumental task of producing a constitution to guide the European Union into the future. For a year and a half, Mr. Giscard d'Estaing and his 104...

Quote ... unquote.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... 'The most pressing task (for the Atlantic Alliance) is to anchor a democratizing Ukraine to the West. Also urgent is the need to abolish Europe's remaining totalitarian dictatorship in Belarus. And finally, the West must help Russia continue...

Notes and websites.
December 1, 2003... Statistics can be helpful in understanding problems and issues, but they should always be approached with caution. Numbers collected in Europe are probably among the most reliable in the world, but they still can't be guaranteed as 100 percent...

Economic indicators.
December 1, 2003... ECONOMIC INDICATORS GDP GDP $ billions per capita 2002 income Albania $18.2 $5,850 Austria $293.8...

Social indicators.
December 1, 2003... SOCIAL INDICATORS Population Population Life Expec- 2003 Growth Rate tancy at Birth In Millions 2003 2003 Male/Female ...

Albania.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Tirana Head of State: President Alfred Moisiu (since July 2002) President elected by the People's Assembly for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Fatos Nano (since July 2002) Appointed by President ...

Austria.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Capital: Vienna Head of State: President Thomas Klestil (since July 1992) President elected by direct popular vote for a six-year term Head Of Government: Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel (since February 2000) Post is given to the leader...

Belarus.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Minsk Head of State: President Aleksandr Lukashenko (since July 1994) President elected by direct popular vote for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky (acting; since July 2003) Appointed by the...

Belgium.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Brussels Head of State: King Albert II (since August 1993). Inherited title that is mostly ceremonial Head of Government: Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (since July 2003) The leader of the party with the most seats in the...

Bosnia and Herzegovina.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Sarajevo The terms of the Dayton Peace Acc0i-d (1995) set up a very complex system of sharing between the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska, a region of mostly ethnic-Serbian people. Both entities have...

Bulgaria.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Sofia Head of State: President Georgi Purvanov (since January 2002) Elected by popular vote for a five-year term Head of Government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (since July...

Croatia.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Capital: Zagreb Head of State: President Stjepan (Stipe) Mesic (since February 2000) Elected by popular vote for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Ivo Sanader (since November 2003) Nominated by the President in line...

Cyprus.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Nicosia People of Turkish and Greek ethnic backgrounds live on the island but have not been able to get along with each other. Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 to protect, it claims, the Turkish minority from Greek attacks. Since...

Czech Republic.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Prague Head of State: President Vaclav Klaus (since March 2003) Elected by Parliament for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla (since July 2002) Appointed by the President Parliament:...

Denmark.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Copenhagen Head of State: Queen Margrethe II (since January 1972) Inherited title that is mostly ceremonial Head of Government: Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen (since November 2001) The leader of the majority party or the...

Estonia.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Tallinn Head of State: President Arnold Ruutel (since October 2001) President is elected by Parliament for a five-year term; if he or she does not secure two-thirds of the votes after three rounds of balloting in the Parliament,...

Finland.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Capital: Helsinki Head of State: President Tarja Halonen (since March 2000) President elected by popular vote for a six-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (since June 2003) Prime minister appointed from the...

France.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Paris Head of State: President Jacques Chirac (since May 1995) President is elected by popular vote for a five-year term (changed from seven-year term in 2001) Head of Government: Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin (since May...

Germany.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Berlin Head of State: President Johannes Rau (since July 1999) President elected for a five-year term by a Federal Convention including all members of the Federal Assembly and an equal number of delegates elected by the state...

Greece.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Capital: Athens Head of State: President Konstandinos (Kostis) Stephanopoulos (since March 1995) President elected by Parliament for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Costas Simitis (since January 1996) Prime minister...

Hungary.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Budapest Head of State: Ferenc Madl (since August 2000) President elected by the National Assembly for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy (since May 2002) Prime minister elected by the National...

Ireland.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Dublin Head of State: President Mary McAleese (since November 1997) President elected by popular vote for a seven-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (since June 1997) Prime minister nominated by the...

Italy.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Rome head of State: President Carlo Ciampi (since May 1999) President is chosen by an electoral college consisting of both houses of Parliament and 58 regional representatives for a seven-year term Head of Government: Prime...

Latvia.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Riga Head of State: President Vaira Vike-Freiberga (since July 1999) President elected by Parliament for a four-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Einars Repse (since November 2002) Leader of the party with most...

Lithuania.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Vilnius Head of State: President Rolandas Paksas (since January 2003) President is elected by popular vote for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas (since July. 2001) Prime Minister is...

Luxembourg.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Luxembourg Head of State: Grand Duke Henri (since October 2000) Position is inherited and mostly ceremonial, Head of Government: Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker (since January 1995) After popular elections to the Chamber of...

Macedonia, former Yugoslav Republic.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Skopje Head of State: President Boris Trajkovski (since December 1999) Elected by popular vote for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski (since November 2002) Elected by Parliament ...

Malta.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Valletta Head of State: President Guido de Marco (since April 1999) Elected by the House of Representatives for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Eddie Adami (since September 1998); Following legislative...

Moldova.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Chisinau Head of State: President Vladimir Voronin (since April 2001) Elected by Parliament for a four-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev (since April 2001) Prime minister designated by the president,...

Netherlands.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Amsterdam Head of State: Queen Beatrix (since April 1980) Inherited title and mostly ceremonial position Head of Government: Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende (since May 2003) Following legislative elections, the leader of...

Norway.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Oslo Head of State: King Harald V (since January 1991) Inherited title and mostly ceremonial position Head of Government: Prime Minister Kjell Bondevik (since October 2001 Following parliamentary elections, the leader of the...

Poland.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Warsaw Head of State: President Aleksander Kwasniewski (since December 1995) President elected by popular vote for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Leszek Miller (since October 2001) Prime Minister appointed...

Portugal.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Lisbon Head of State: President Jorge Sampaio (since March 1996) President is elected by popular vote for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Jose Manuel Barroso (since April 2002) Following legislative...

Romania.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Bucharest Head of State: President Ion Iliescu (since December 2000) President elected by popular vote for a four-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Adrian Nastase (since December 2000) Appointed by the president ...

Serbia/Montenegro.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Belgrade Head of State: President Svetozar Marovic (since March 2003) President elected by the Parliament for a four-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Dragisa Pesic (since July 2001) Prime minister appointed by the...

Slovakia.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Bratislava Head of State: President Rudolf Schuster (since June 1999) President elected by direct; popular vote for a five-year term Head, of Government: Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda (since October 1998) Following National...

Slovenia.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Ljubljana Head of State: President Janez Drnovsek (since December 2002) President elected by popular vote for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Anton Rop (since December 2002) The leader of the majority party...

Spain.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Madrid Head of State: King Juan Carlos I (since November 1975) Inherited title and mostly ceremonial position Head of Government: President of the Government Jose Maria Aznar (since May 1996) Following legislative elections,...

Sweden.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Stockholm Head of State: King Carl XVI Gustaf (since September 1973) Inherited title and mostly ceremonial position Head of Government: Prime Minister Goran Persson (since March 1996) Following legislative elections, the prime...

Switzerland.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Bern Head of State and Government: President Pascal Couchepin (since December 2002) A seven-member Federal Council is elected by the Federal Assembly from among its own number. The President is chosen by and from the Federal...

Turkey.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Ankara Head of State: President Ahmet Sezer (since May 2000) President is elected by the National Assembly for a seven-year term (must have a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly on the first two ballots and a simple...

Ukraine.
December 1, 2003... Capital: Kiev Head of State: President Leonid Kuchma (since July 1994) President elected by direct popular vote for a five-year term Head of Government: Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych (since November 2002), Prime minister is...

Euro facts.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Luxembourg has more Michelin-starred Restaurants (very tasty, very expensive) per square kilometre (or per head of inhabitant) than any other country in the world. Following the fall of Communism in Albania in 1992, people cut the...

United Kingdom.
December 1, 2003... Capital: London Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II (since February 1952) Inherited position of a mostly ceremonial nature Head of Government: Prime Minister Tony Blair (since May 1997) Following legislative elections, the leader of the...