Council of The European Union - Comparisons

Comparisons

Further information: Institutions of the European Union#Comparisons

Although common in executive intergovernmental systems, as a legislature the Council has few institutions of comparison. The composition of the council can only be compared with the quite unique and unusual composition of the German upper house, the Bundesrat. Membership of the Bundesrat is limited to members of the governments of the states of Germany and can be recalled by those governments in the same manner as the EU's Council. They retain their state role while sitting in the Bundesrat and if their term ends when they are recalled by their state governments (who are solely responsible for their appointment) or they cease to sit in their state government. Elections are not coordinated among states, so government can come and go at any time, and the assembly can not be dissolved. Those members vote in their state blocks and can not cast fractioned votes, hence they do not act as individual members but as representatives of their state governments to that government's agreed line. The states have unequal voting powers, and decisions are taken by an absolute majority. Likewise, the presidency rotates equally between members, though each year rather than every six months like in the EU Council. However, unlike the EU's Council, the Bundesrat does not formally vary its composition depending on the topic being discussed, though in practice, the leading spokesman for each Land does vary according to the subject matter.

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Famous quotes containing the word comparisons:

    “Decade after decade, artists came to paint the light of Provincetown, and comparisons were made to the lagoons of Venice and the marshes of Holland, but then the summer ended and most of the painters left, and the long dingy undergarment of the gray New England winter, gray as the spirit of my mood, came down to visit.”
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    “I don’t like comparisons with football. Baseball is an entirely different game. You can watch a tight, well-played football game, but it isn’t exciting if half the stadium is empty. The violence on the field must bounce off a lot of people. But you can go to a ball park on a quiet Tuesday afternoon with only a few thousand people in the place and thoroughly enjoy a one-sided game. Baseball has an aesthetic, intellectual appeal found in no other team sport.”
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