Portrait: Simone Veil, first President of the European Parliament and Holocaust survivor

25 December 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, Portrait Reading Time:  7 minutes

in 1982 © European Union

in 1982 © European Union

Simone Veil was a French magistrate, Holocaust survivor, and politician who served as Health Minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman to hold that office. As health minister, she is best remembered for advancing women’s rights in France, in particular for the 1975 law that legalized abortion, today known as the Veil Act (French: Loi Veil). From 1998 to 2007, she was a member of the Constitutional Council, France’s highest legal authority.   read more…

EUROMIL

16 December 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, EU blog post series Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Croacroa/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Croacroa/cc-by-sa-4.0

The European Organisation of Military Associations and Trade Unions (EUROMIL) is a politically independent, non-profit umbrella organisation of free, democratic associations of military personnel in Europe.   read more…

European Youth Capital

10 December 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, EU blog post series Reading Time:  4 minutes

European Youth Capital logo © European Youth Forum - cor.europa.eu

European Youth Capital logo © European Youth Forum – cor.europa.eu

The European Youth Capital (abbreviated EYC) is a title awarded by the European Youth Forum to a European city annually, designed to empower young people, boost youth participation and strengthen European identity through projects focused on youth-related cultural, social, political and economic life and development.   read more…

European Broadcasting Union

13 May 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

European Broadcasting Union Logo The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; French: Union européenne de radio-télévision, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Council of Europe. As of 2023, it is made up of 113 member organisations from 56 countries, and 31 associate members from a further 20 countries. It was established in 1950, and has its administrative headquarters in Geneva.   read more…

The European Union: The Anthem of Europe, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 ‘Ode to Joy’

4 May 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, EU blog post series, European Union, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Flag Of Europe The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is a choral symphony, the final complete symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is regarded by many critics and musicologists as a masterpiece of Western classical music and one of the supreme achievements in the history of music. One of the best-known works in common practice music, it stands as one of the most frequently performed symphonies in the world.   read more…

Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944) by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), predecessor organization to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

31 December 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  4 minutes

OSS pin © flickr.com - The Central Intelligence Agency

OSS pin © flickr.com – The Central Intelligence Agency

The Second World War era Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the forerunner of today’s CIA. During the war the organisation planned and executed thousands of covert operations behind enemy lines from North Africa to Europe to Asia.   read more…

Germany’s integration into the West

30 December 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  7 minutes

Federal Republic of Germany map -  January 1957 - October 1990 © TUBS/cc-by-sa-3.0

Federal Republic of Germany map – January 1957 – October 1990 © TUBS/cc-by-sa-3.0

Western integration, also known as western ties, is understood to mean the inclusion of the Federal Republic, founded in 1949 as a western German state, in treaties with western states. These were used to make foreign, security and economic policy decisions. The Western powers combined two goals with Germany’s integration into the West. On the one hand, the integration of Germany was intended to serve the security of the Western European states from Germany, which had posed a threat to its neighboring states in the past. On the other hand, West Germany should make a contribution to the security of the Western European states from the Soviet Union, whose troops were stationed on the Elbe due to the Warsaw Pact. With the Paris Agreements in 1955, the Federal Republic was finally integrated into the Western community of states and the Atlantic security community. This marked the first conclusion, which on the German side was influenced by the policies of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. Because of Adenauer’s policy of ties to the West, the Federal Republic integrated itself into the political, economic and military alliances of the West after 1949.   read more…

German liberal democratic basic order

21 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  6 minutes

Reichstag in Berlin © Cezary Piwowarski/cc-by-sa-3.0

Reichstag in Berlin © Cezary Piwowarski/cc-by-sa-3.0

The liberal democratic basic order (German: freiheitliche demokratische Grundordnung (FDGO)) is a fundamental term in German constitutional law. It determines the unalienable, invariable core structure of the German commonwealth. As such, it is the core substance of the German constitution. Building upon more general definitions of liberal democracy, the term has a specific legal meaning in Germany and is part of the German (originally West German) system of a Streitbare Demokratie (“fortified democracy”) that bans attempts to dismantle the liberal democratic basic order by what German authorities refer to as “enemies of the Constitution” or “extremists”.   read more…

The European Union: Common Fisheries Policy

24 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  14 minutes

© oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu

© oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu

The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the fisheries policy of the European Union (EU). It sets quotas for which member states are allowed to catch each type of fish, as well as encouraging the fishing industry by various market interventions. In 2004 it had a budget of €931 million, approximately 0.75% of the EU budget.   read more…

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