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Every country in this region border at least one major body of water or can easily access one, making trade with other countries easy. Therefore the countries in Southern Europe are more dependent on exporting and importing than the other regions in Europe. For some areas within this region, they turn to trade because they are separated from the rest of Europe. The exposure to the water also meant that the countries’ economic systems are also more developed now since water allows the sustainability of agriculture previously. Most countries in this region are considered to be MDCs due to their longevity. As seen from the chart above, some of the countries have advanced towards a higher medical and scientific level with their exports as they continue to rise up economically.
Advantages and Disadvantages of European Union
The countries currently in the European Union in the Southern Europe region are: Croatia, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain. One advantage of being a member of EU is that trading is tax free between the member countries; food import is a big part of the economy in every country now so tax free imports will keep the food prices down. The other advantage is that movement between the member countries is free for all people, opening up more advantage in education and work for all citizens of those countries. EU also does not bound the member countries with one official language; this helps the countries keep their own culture and traditions even after they are added to the Union. EU does bound the member countries with the tied currency. While having no official language can be an advantage, it can also be a disadvantage. Language is one of the ways people bond with each other, and having no official language can get in the way of feeling united between the EU members. It is also hard to decide to join the EU, especially because it is difficult to leave the Union once you have already joined. The EU also has the power over the countries, and whether to consider them as part of Europe when one country requests to join. The officials can make biased decisions depending on countries.
GOVERNMENT PROFILE
Albania
parliamentary republic
President of the Republic Bujar NISHANI (since 24 July 2012)
Major Political Parties
Christian Democratic Party or PDK [Nard NDOKA]
Democratic Party or PD [Lulzim BASHA]
Movement for National Development of LZHK [Dashamir SHEHI]
Republican Party or PR [Fatmir MEDIU]
Christian Democratic Party of PKD [Mark FRROKU]
Party for Justice, Integration and Unity or PDIU [Shpetim IDRIZI] (formerly part of APMI)
Socialist Movement for Integration or LSI [Ilir META]
Socialist Party or PS [Edi RAMA]
Union for Human Rights Party or PBDNJ [Vangjel DULE]
The government gives power to the parliament, a group of people, not just one person so that no one abuses the power. There are also a lot of political parties since the citizens have differing views.
Andorra
parliamentary democracy (since March 1993) that retains its chiefs of state in the form of a co-principality; the two princes are the president of France and bishop of Seu d'Urgell, Spain, who are represented in Andorra by the co-princes' representatives
French Coprince Francois HOLLANDE (since 15 May 2012); represented by Thierry LATASTE (since 5 January 2015) and Spanish Co-prince Archbishop Joan-Enric VIVES i Sicilia (since 12 May 2003); represented by Josep Maria MAUN (since 20 July 2012)
Major Political Parties
Citizens' Initiative or IC [Sergi RICART] (including PS, VA, IC, and independents)
Democrats for Andorra or DA [Antoni MARTI PETIT]
Greens of Andorra or VA [Isabel LOZANO MUNOZ, Juli FERNANDEZ BLASI]
Liberal Party or PLA [Josep PINTAT FORNE]
Social Democratic Party or PS [Vincenc ALAY FERRER]
Social Democratic Progress Party or SDP [Victor NAUDI ZAMORA]
This government lets the people decide who they want and those people don’t take advantage of the power they are given since the power is spread out. The people don’t have as many differing views so there are less political parties.
Bosnia and Herezegovina
parliamentary republic
Chairman of the Presidency Mladen IVANIC (chairman since 17 November 2016, presidency member since 17 November 2014 - Serb); Dragan COVIC (presidency member since 17 November 2014 - Croat); Bakir IZETBEGOVIC (presidency member since 10 November 2010 - Bosniak)
Major political parties
Alliance for a Better Future of BiH or SBB BiH [Fahrudin RADONCIC]
Alliance of Independent Social Democrats or SNSD [Milorad DODIK]
Alternative Party for Democratic Activity or A-SDA [Nermin OGRESEVIC]
Bosnian-Herzegovinian Patriotic Party-Sefer Halilovic or BPS-Sefer Halilovic [Sefer HALILOVIC]
Croat Peasants' Party or HSS [Mario KARAMATIC]
Croatian Christian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina or HKDU [Ivan MUSA]
Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina or HDZ-BiH [Dragan COVIC]
Croatian Democratic Union 1990 or HDZ-1990 [acting president Ilija CVITANOVIC]
Croatian Party of Rights or HSP BiH [Stanko PRIMORAC]
Croatian Party of Rights of Herceg-Bosne or HSP HB [Vesna PINJUH]
Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats or HNS [Ivan VRDOLJAK]
Democratic Front of DF [Zeljko KOMSIC]
Democratic Peoples' Alliance or DNS [Marko PAVIC]
Party for Democratic Action or SDA [Bakir IZETBEGOVIC]
Party of Democratic Progress or PDP [Branislav BORENOVIC]
People's Democratic Movement or NDP [Dragan CAVIC]
Serb Democratic Party or SDS [Mladen BOSIC]
Social Democratic Party or SDP [Nermin NIKSIC]
The government power is shared between the parliament, a group of people and is equally distributed. There are many political parties which show that the people of this country vary in their opinions and desires.
Croatia
Parliamentary republic
President Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC (since 19 February 2015)
Major political Parties
Bloc of Pensioners Together or BUZ [Milivoj SPIKA]
Bridge of Independent Lists or Most-NL [Bozo PETROV]
Croatian Christian Democratic Party or HDS [Goran DODIG]
Croatian Democratic Congress of Slavonia and Baranja or HDSSB [Dragan VULIN]
Croatian Democratic Union or HDZ [Andrej PLENKOVIC]
Croatian Laborists - Labor Party or HL [Tomislav KONCEVSKI]
Croatian Party of Rights - dr. Ante Starcevic or HSP AS [Ivan TEPES]
Croatian Peasant Party or HSS [Kreso BELJAK]
Croatian Pensioner Party or HSU [Silvano HRELJA]
Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats or HNS [Ivan VRDOLJAK]
Croatian Social Liberal Party or HSLS [Darinko KOSOR]
Social Democratic Party of Croatia or SDP [Zoran MILANOVIC]
The Only Option Coalition (includes Human Blockade, PH, Always Frankers, Youth Action, Alphabet of Democracy)
Croatia’s government uses checks and balances so that no one will abuse the power given to them. Also, the views of the people vary so there are numerous political parties.
Greece
Parliamentary republic
President Prokopis PAVLOPOULOS (since 13 March 2015)
Major Political Parties
Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow or ANTARSYA [collective leadership]
Coalition of the Radical Left or SYRIZA [Alexios (Alexis) TSIPRAS]
Communist Party of Greece or KKE [Dimitrios KOUTSOUMBAS]
Democratic Left or DIMAR [Athanasios (Thanassis) THEOCHAROPOULOS]
Golden Dawn [Nikolaos MICHALOLIAKOS]
Independent Greeks or ANEL [Panagiotis (Panos) KAMMENOS]
Movement of Democratic Socialists or KIDISO [Georgiose PAPANDREOU]
New Democracy or ND [Kyriakos MITSOTAKIS]
Panhellenic Socialist Movement or PASOK [Fofi GENIMMATA]
Popular Unity [Panagiotis LAFAZANIS]
To Potami (The River) [Stavros THEODORAKIS]
Union of Centrists or EK [Vassilis LEVENTIS]
Greece distributes its government power equally between the parliament. There are not too many but not a few political parties indicating contrasting perspectives.
Italy
Parliamentary republic
President Sergio MATTARELLA (since 3 February 2015); Giorgio NAPOLITANO resigned 14 January 2015
Major Political parties
Civic Choice or SC [Enrico ZANETTI]
Democratic Centre or CD [Bruno TABACCI]
Democratic Party or PD [Matteo RENZI]
The New Center-Right or NCD [Angelino ALFANO]
Union of the Center or UdC [Pier Fernando CASINI]
Brothers of Italy-National Alliance or FdI-AN [Giorgia MELONI, Ignazio LA RUSSA, and Guido CROSETTO]
Forza Italia [Silvio BERLUSCONI] (formerly PdL)
Northern League or LN [Matteo SALVINI]
other minor parties
Civil Revolution or RC [Antonio INGROIA]
Five Star Movement or M5S [Beppe GRILLO]
South Tyrolean People's Party or SVP [Philipp ACHAMMER]
The government has checks and balances so that no one can take advantage of the power. There are many political parties, though not as much as other countries, which show conflicting views on the current issues presented to the citizens.
Malta
Parliamentary republic
President Marie-Louise Coleiro PRECA (since 4 April 2014)
Major Political Parties
Alternativa Demokratika or AD (Green Party) [Arnold CASSOLA]
Labor Party or PL [Joseph MUSCAT]
Nationalist Party or PN [Simon BUSUTTIL]
In Malta, the government cannot abuse the power given to them, as there is a parliament. There are very few political parties which mean the citizens of Malta’s opinions aren’t spread out all over the place.
New Democratic Power or FORCA [Nazif President Marcelo REBELO DE SOUSA (since 9 March 2016)CUNGU]
New Serb Democracy or NOVA [Andrija MANDIC]
Social Democratic Party or SDP [Ranko KRIVOKAPIC]
Social Democrats or SD [Ivan BRAJOVIC]
Socialist People's Party or SNP [Srdjan MILIC]
United Reform Action or URA [Zarko RAKCEVIC]
Workers' Party or RP [Janko VUCINIC]
Montenegro doesn’t let anyone exert corruption in their government as it is a parliamentary republic. There are many political parties which represent the wide variety of perspective of the people.
Portugal
semi-presidential republic
President Marcelo REBELO DE SOUSA (since 9 March 2016)
Major Political Parties
Democratic and Social Center/Popular Party or CDS/PP [Paulo PORTAS]
Ecologist Party (The Greens) or PEV [Heloisa APOLONIA]
Portuguese Communist Party or PCP [Jeronimo DE SOUSA]
Portugal Ahead Coalition or PAF (includes PSD and CDS/PP)
Social Democratic Party or PPD/PSD [Pedro PASSOS COELHO]
Socialist Party or PS [Antonio COSTA]
The Left Bloc or BE [Catarina Soares MARTINS]
Unitarian Democratic Coalition or CDU [Jeronimo DE SOUSA] (includes Portuguese Communist Party or PCP and Ecologist Party ("The Greens") or PEV)
The power of the government lies not only in the hands of the president but also the prime minister and cabinet which presents equally distributed power. There are a couple political parties which show how different the citizens of Portugal think.
San Marino
Parliamentary republic
co-chiefs of state Captain Regent Marino RICCARDI and Captain Regent Fabio BERARDI (for the period 1 October 2016 - 1 April 2017)
Major political parties
San Marino Common Good (includes Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party or PDCS [Marco GATTI], We Sammarinese or NS [Marco ARZILLI], Party of Socialists and Democrats or PSD [Paride ANDREOLI], Popular Alliance or AP [Gabriele GATTI])
Entente for the Country (Intesa per il Paese; includes Sammarinese Union of Moderates or USDM; dissolved after 2012 election, Socialist Party or PS [Alessandro BEVITORI], Union for the Republic or UPR [Marco PODESCHI)
Active Citizenship (includes Civic 10 [Mateo CIACCI], United Left or SU [Gastone PASOLINI])
San Marino gives the government power to the parliament which prevents anyone from hogging it. The few political parties show that most of the people in San Marino are unified with one common purpose.
Serbia
Parliamentary republic
President Tomislav NIKOLIC (since 11 June 2012)
Major political parties
Alliance for a Better Serbia - coalition includes LDP, LSV, SDS
Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians or SVM [Istvan PASZTOR]
Communist Party or KP [Josip Joska BROZ]
Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina [Petar KUNTIC]
Democratic Party or DS [Dragan SUTANOVAC]
Democratic Party of Serbia or DSS [Sanda RASKOVIC-IVIC]
Dveri [Bosko OBRADOVIC]
Enough of Enough [Sasa RADULOVIC]
For a Just Serbia - coalition includes DS, NS, RS, DSVH, VVS, Together for Sumadija
Greens of Serbia or ZS [Ivan KARIC]
League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina or LSV [Nenad CANAK]
Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Cedomir JOVANOVIC]
Movement of Socialists or PS [Aleksandar VULIN]
New Serbia or NS [Velimir ILIC]
Party for Democratic Action or PDD [Riza HALIMI]
Party of Democratic Action of the Sandzak or SDA [Sulejman UGLJANIN]
Party of United Pensioners of Serbia or PUPS [Milan KRKOBABIC]
Reformist Party or RS [Aleksandar VISNJIC]
Serbia is Winning - coalition includes SNS, SDPS, PUPS, NS, SPO, PS, PSS, NDSS, SNP
Serbian People's Party or SNP [Nenad POPOVIC]
Serbian Progressive Party or SNS [Aleksandar VUCIC]
Serbian Radical Party or SRS [Vojislav SESELJ]
Serbian Renewal Movement or SPO [Vuk DRASKOVIC]
Social Democratic Party or SDS [Boris TADIC]
Social Democratic Party of Serbia or SDPS [Rasim LJAJIC]
Socialist Party of Serbia or SPS [Ivica DACIC]
Strength of Serbia or PSS [Bogoljub KARIC]
Together for Serbia or ZZS [Dusan PETROVIC]
Together for Sumadija [Veroljub STEVANOVIC]
Serbia has equally spread its power in the parliament, a group of people. The many many political parties show the country’s differing opinions of the issues of today.
Slovenia
Parliamentary republic
President Borut PAHOR (since 22 December 2012)
Major Political Parties
Alliance of Alenka Bratusek or ZaAB [Alenka BRATUSEK]
Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia or DeSUS [Karl ERJAVEC]
Modern Center Party or SMC [Miro CERAR]
New Slovenia or NSi [Ljudmila NOVAK]
Slovenian Democratic Party or SDS [Janez JANSA]
Social Democrats or SD [Dejan ZIDAN]
United Left or ZL (collective leadership)
The parliament doesn’t abuse the power given to them as they are a group of people. The number of political parties this country has show that it isn’t as diverse in the opinions of the people.
Spain
parliamentary constitutional monarchy
King FELIPE VI (since 19 June 2014); Heir Apparent Princess LEONOR, Princess of Asturias, daughter of the monarch, born 31 October 2005
Major Political Parties
Amaiur [Xabier ERREKONDO] (a separatist political coalition that advocates Basque independence from Spain)
Asturias Forum or FAC [Cristina COTO]
Basque Country Unite (Euskal Herria Bildu) or EH Bildu [Pello URIZAR] (coalition of 4 Basque pro-independence parties)
Basque Nationalist Party or PNV or EAJ [Andoni ORTUZAR]
Canarian Coalition or CC [Claudina MORALES Rodriguez] (coalition of five parties)
Canarian Nationalist Party or PNC [Juan Manuel GARCIA Ramos]
Catalan Agreement of Progress (Entesa Catalonia de Progress) or ECP [Carles BONET i Reves] (Senate coalition of Catalan parties - PSC, ERC, ICV, EUA)
Change or Cambio-Aldaketa
Ciudadamos Party or C's [Albert RIVERA]
Democracy and Freedom or DiL [Francesc HOMS Molist] (2015 merger of Cemocratic Convergence of Catalonia or CDC, Democrats of Catalonia, Reagrupament)
Democratic Union of Catalonia or UDC [Josep Antoni DURAN i LLEIDA]
Galician Nationalist Bloc or BNG [Xavier VENCE]
Gomera Socialist Group or ASG
Initiative for Catalonia Greens or ICV [Joan HERRERA i Torres and Dolors CAMATS]
Podemos [Pablo IGLESIAS Turrion]
Popular Party or PP [Mariano RAJOY Brey]
Republican Left of Catalonia or ERC [Oriol JUNQUERAS i Vies]
Spanish Socialist Workers Party or PSOE [interim leader Javier FERNANDEZ]
Union of People of Navarra or UPN [Yolanda BARCINA Angulo]
Union, Progress and Democracy or UPyD [Rosa DIEZ Gonzalez]
United Left or IU [Alberto GARZON] (a coalition of parties including the Communist Party of Spain or PCE and other small parties; ran as Popular Unity or UP in 2015 election)
Yes to the Future or Geroa Bai [Uxue BARKOS] (a coalition of four Navarran parties)
Though the power of Spain lies in the prime minister’s hands, he rules with the constitution, a fair and reasonable document/guideline of how he/she should rule. The numerous political parties represent the varying perspectives on the issues presented to the citizens today.
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Parliamentary republic
President Gjorge IVANOV (since 12 May 2009)
Major political parties
Citizens Option for Macedonia or GROM [Stevco JAKIMOVSKI]
Democratic Party of Albanians or PDSh [Menduh THACI]
Democratic Union for Integration or BDI [Ali AHMETI]
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity or VMRO-DPMNE [Nikola GRUEVSKI]
National Democratic Revival or RDK [Vesel MEMEDI]
Social Democratic Union of Macedonia or SDSM [Zoran ZAEV]
Macedonia’s government’s power is equally distributed in the parliament. The few political parties show its harmony in the people’s perspectives