|
2011 Cash For Influence Scandal
In 2011, the European Commission’s Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) opened a formal investigation for corruption against four Members of European Parliament (MEPs)—Romanian Adrian Severin, Austrian Ernst Strasser, Spaniard Pablo Zalba Bidegain (who was cleared of wrongdoing as he had not accepted payment), and Slovenian Zoran Thaler—after an article in ''The Sunday Times'' claimed that they had tried to influence EU legislation in exchange for money. The ''Sunday Times ''journalists went undercover and approached 60 MEPs, posing as lobbyists and requesting votes to table or support certain amendments in exchange for money. Indictments Strasser and Thaler resigned in March 2011; Strasser was sentenced to four years in jail on 14 January 2013. OLAF dismissed the case against Thaler, claiming that it had been unable to find "evidence to support suspicion of wrongdoing" (though it did blame the European Parliament for "refus ngto provide the necessary support during the investigati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body of about 32,000 European civil servants. The Commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General (DGs) that can be likened to departments or ministries each headed by a Director-General who is responsible to a Commissioner. There is one member per member state, but members are bound by their oath of office to represent the general interest of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. The Commission President (currently Ursula von der Leyen) is proposed by the European Council (the 27 heads of state/governments) and elected by the European Parliament. The Council of the European Union then nominates the other members of the Commission in agreement with the nominated President, and the 27 members as a team are t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lobbyists
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which usually involves direct, face-to-face contact, is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or advocacy groups (interest groups). Lobbyists may be among a legislator's constituencies, meaning a voter or bloc of voters within their electoral district; they may engage in lobbying as a business. Professional lobbyists are people whose business is trying to influence legislation, regulation, or other government decisions, actions, or policies on behalf of a group or individual who hires them. Individuals and nonprofit organizations can also lobby as an act of volunteering or as a small part of their normal job. Go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Political Scandals In Austria
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies politics and government is referred to as political science. It may be used positively in the context of a "political solution" which is compromising and nonviolent, or descriptively as "the art or science of government", but also often carries a negative connotation.. The concept has been defined in various ways, and different approaches have fundamentally differing views on whether it should be used extensively or limitedly, empirically or normatively, and on whether conflict or co-operation is more essential to it. A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws, and exercising internal and external force, including w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cash For Honours
The Cash-for-Honours scandal (also known as Cash for Peerages, Loans for Lordships, Loans for Honours or Loans for Peerages) was a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations and the award of life peerages. A loophole in electoral law in the United Kingdom means that although anyone donating even small sums of money to a political party has to declare this as a matter of public record, those loaning money at commercial rates of interest did not have to make a public declaration. In March 2006, several men nominated for life peerages by then Prime Minister Tony Blair were rejected by the House of Lords Appointments Commission. It was later revealed they had loaned large amounts of money to the governing Labour Party, at the suggestion of Labour fundraiser Lord Levy. Suspicion was aroused by some that the peerages were a ''quid pro quo'' for the loans. This resulted in three complaints to the Metropolitan Police ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Democratic Party (Romania)
The Social Democratic Party ( ro, Partidul Social Democrat, PSD) is the largest social democratic political party in Romania and also the largest overall political party in the country, aside from European Parliament level, where it is the second largest by total number of MEPs, after the National Liberal Party (PNL). It was founded by Ion Iliescu, Romania's first democratically elected president at the 1990 Romanian general election. The PSD traces its origins to the Democratic National Salvation Front (FDSN), a breakaway group established in 1992 from the neo-communist National Salvation Front (FSN) established after 1989. In 1993, this merged with three other parties to become the Party of Social Democracy in Romania ( ro, Partidul Democrației Sociale in România, PDSR). The present name was adopted after a merger with the smaller Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR) in 2001. Since its formation, it has always been one of the two dominant parties of the country. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Anticorruption Directorate
The National Anticorruption Directorate ( ro, Direcția Națională Anticorupție (DNA)), formerly National Anticorruption Prosecution Office ( ro, Parchetul Național Anticorupție), is the Romanian agency tasked with preventing, investigating and prosecuting corruption-related offenses (such as bribery, graft, patronage and embezzlement) that caused a material damage to the Romanian state. The institution deals with the fight against high corruption offences, which have caused damage greater than €200,000 or if the object of the crime is property or sums of money amounting to over €10,000. The DNA was established in 2002 by the Emergency Ordinance no. 43/2002 of the Romanian Government. Initially the institution has been called the ''National Anticorruption Office'' (Parchetul Național Anticorupție), and between October 2005 – March 2006 was named the ''National Anticorruption Department'', both operating as autonomous organizations attached to the High Court of Cassa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea to the southeast. It has a predominantly temperate-continental climate, and an area of , with a population of around 19 million. Romania is the twelfth-largest country in Europe and the sixth-most populous member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, followed by Iași, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Constanța, Craiova, Brașov, and Galați. The Danube, Europe's second-longest river, rises in Germany's Black Forest and flows in a southeasterly direction for , before emptying into Romania's Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest, include Moldoveanu Peak, at an altitude of . Settlement in what is now Romania began in the Lower Paleolithic, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Progressive Alliance Of Socialists And Democrats
The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist Group on 29 June 1953 which makes it the second oldest political group in the European Parliament after Renew Europe (Renew). It adopted its present-day name on 23 June 2009. Centre-left in orientation, the group mostly comprises social-democratic parties and is affiliated with the Progressive Alliance and Socialist International. Until the 1999 European Parliament elections, it was the largest group in the Parliament, but since then it has always been the second-largest group. During the eighth EU Parliament Assembly, the S&D was the only Parliament group with representation from all 27 EU member states. In the current EU Parliament the S&D is currently composed of 146 members from 25 member states. In the European Council, 8 o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judiciary Of Slovenia
The judiciary in Slovenia is one of the three constitutional branches of government and is independent of the other two. Judges enjoy a permanent mandate and are appointed by the National Assembly ( sl, Državni zbor) after they have been nominated by the Judicial Council (), which itself is not part of the judicial branch of the government. All lawyers practicing before the courts must have passed a special state examination after they have finished their legal studies and completed a training period at a court or a practicing advocate. Judges are usually not chosen from practicing lawyers but rather they follow a training at a court as one of the judicial officials. The judicial system comprises several types of courts and is hierarchically divided in three instances. On the first instance, the ordinary courts are divided into civil and criminal courts and are further divided upon the importance of cases before them into 44 Okrajna (local courts for minor offences and small ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and the Adriatic Sea to the southwest. Slovenia is mostly mountainous and forested, covers , and has a population of 2.1 million (2,108,708 people). Slovenes constitute over 80% of the country's population. Slovene, a South Slavic language, is the official language. Slovenia has a predominantly temperate continental climate, with the exception of the Slovene Littoral and the Julian Alps. A sub-mediterranean climate reaches to the northern extensions of the Dinaric Alps that traverse the country in a northwest–southeast direction. The Julian Alps in the northwest have an alpine climate. Toward the northeastern Pannonian Basin, a continental climate is more pronounced. Ljubljana, the capital and largest city of Slovenia, is geogr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, which is owned by News Corp. Times Newspapers also publishes ''The Times''. The two papers were founded independently and have been under common ownership since 1966. They were bought by News International in 1981. ''The Sunday Times'' has a circulation of just over 650,000, which exceeds that of its main rivals, including ''The'' ''Sunday Telegraph'' and ''The'' ''Observer'', combined. While some other national newspapers moved to a tabloid format in the early 2000s, ''The Sunday Times'' has retained the larger broadsheet format and has said that it would continue to do so. As of December 2019, it sells 75% more copies than its sister paper, ''The Times'', which is published from Monday to Saturday. The paper publishes ''The Sunday Ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_Diagram.png "Click for more on -> Social Democratic Party (Romania)")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Judiciary Of Slovenia")
