Europe News on Dec. 13, 2019

Friday, December 13, 2019

VietPress USA Source: www.reddit.com

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The Netherlands

1 day ago

European Council 12th and 13th of December

What is the European Council?

The European Council is an institution of the European Union that regularly meets once every 3 months.

The European Council consists of:

one head of state / government from each of the 28 member states
the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen
the President of the European Council, Charles Michel

The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (Josep Borrell) and the President of the European Parliament (David Sassoli) are usually also in attendance.

The European Council sets out the EU's general direction and political priorities. Sometimes, it negotiates and agrees on issues too contentious for approval by other EU institutions. The European Council generally does not make final legislative decisions, but it does sometimes discuss important legislative issues.

Note:

This will be the first European Council for Urula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission and Charles Michel as President of the European Council.
The United Kingdom will have a Parliamentary election on the 12th. Brexit is a major subject.
the British government has indicated it will not attend
there is a Reddit Live thread :)

Subjects on the Agenda

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Posted by

u/MarlinMr

Norway

1 day ago

UK Election Megathread

2019 United Kingdom general election

Thursday, December 12th.

EXIT POLLS: https://imgur.com/a/efjckkw

Election system

Cycle: Every 5 years. (This election is early after only 2 years, and approved by at least 2/3 of Parliament).

Method: first-past-the-post. At a general or local election, voters put a cross (X) next to their preferred candidate on a ballot paper. Ballot papers are counted. The candidate with the most votes represents the constituency or ward. 650 constituencies are represented in the House of Commons. The number is to be reduced to 600, but the change has not yet been approved by Parliament.

Voting population: Age 18+ on election day, and in the Electoral Register. Some 45.8 million are registered to vote. Across the United Kingdom, there are 3,415 candidates representing 68 political parties, including 206 independent candidates.

Table of significant parties

Party	Associated ideology	Position	European Affiliation	Current MPs	Share of votes (2017)
Conservative Party	Conservatism, British unionism, Economic liberalism	Centre-right	European Conservatives and Reformists Party	298 (317)	42.4%
Labour Party	Social democracy, Democratic socialism	Centre-left	Party of European Socialists	244 (262)	40.0%