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During a temporary period that extended to 1 November 2004, the old pre-Nice voting system was kept, but adapted to the new number of member states. [22] From 1 November 2004, a new voting system based on the Nice system entered into force. The voting weights of the member states according to that voting system are shown in the table on the right.
The political structure of the European Union (EU) is similar to a confederation, where many policy areas are federalised into common institutions capable of making law; the competences to control foreign policy, defence policy, or the majority of direct taxation policies are mostly reserved for the twenty-seven state governments (the Union ...
Some meetings of the European Council—and, before the European Council was formalised, meetings of the heads of government—are seen by some as turning points in the history of the European Union. For example: [1] 1969, The Hague: Foreign policy and enlargement. 1974, Paris: Creation of the council.
The European Council deals with the major issues such as the appointment of the President of the European Commission who takes part in the body's meetings. [58] Ecofin's Eurozone component, the Euro group, is also a formal group with its own President. [51] Its European Council counterpart is the Euro summit formalized in 2011 [59] and the TSCG.
The turnout in European elections proceeded to decline in every subsequent election up to 2014, when it reached a low of 42.54%. [32] In 2019, over 50 percent of EU citizens voted in the European Parliamentary Elections. [33] This is the first time voter turnout in EU Parliament elections has passed 50% since 1994 [34]
The EPP won the most seats and Jean-Claude Juncker was nominated by the European Council and elected by the Parliament. In 2019, the parties again announced their candidates for President of the Commission ahead of the European elections, notably Manfred Weber for the EPP and Frans Timmermans for the Party of European Socialists. However, after ...
There are three types of government systems in European politics: in a presidential system, the president is the head of state and the head of government; in a semi-presidential system, the president and the prime minister share a number of competences; finally, in a parliamentary republic, the president is a ceremonial figurehead who has few political competences.
The President of the European Council convenes an inter-governmental conference consisting of representatives of each member-state's government. The conference drafts and finalises a treaty based on the convention's recommendation or on the European Council's terms of reference. EU leaders sign the treaty.