Politics

System of government

CZ

The Czech Republic is a parliamentary democracy. The head of state is the President, now Miloš Zeman. He is elected for a five-year term and he may be elected only twice. He declares war, has the power of veto, grants a pardon and declares an amnesty. He appoints the Prime Minister. On the advice of the PM the president also appoints the members of the Cabinet. The PM, who is typically the leader of the party with the majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies, acts as head of government.

The power in state is separated in three branches – Legislative power (government), executive power (the parliament) and judicial power. The Czech parliament consists of two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

(The highest court of appeal in the Czech Republic is the Supreme Court. Supreme Court judges are appointed by the President for unlimited terms.)

The CZE is a member of the United Nations Organization (UNO – OSN), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.

GB

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is formally the Monarch. It means the Queen or the King. They have the right to be consulted, the right to encourage and the right to warn and they reign, but they don´t rule. The Monarch is commander-in-chief, head of the Church of England, head of the Commonwealth and pays state visits.

Since 1952 Queen Elisabeth II has reigned. The royal family lives in Buckingham Palace in London which has been the official royal residence since 1837 and the first who lived there was Queen Victoria. The Crown Prince is Charles, the son of Elisabeth II. But many people say he will never be the King. The British nation likes more his son prince William, who is the second Crown Prince. It could be because of his mother Diana who was called the Queen of Hearts and died 1997.  He and his wife Kate have a baby prince George Alexander Louis. Before the baby was born people predicted sex and the name of this baby. Most people thought it would be a girl called Victoria, Diana or Elisabeth.

In Great Britain parliamentary democracy is practised. Parliament consist of two houses – the House of Lords (which is hereditary (born right) and for life (as long as they live)) and the House of Commons. There are 650 seats. Elections take place after five years. The Prime Minister selects the remaining ministers. Twenty of them form the Cabinet. The second most powerful party forms the Opposition.

Prime Minister and the Cabinet have executive power and the Parliament has legislative power.

USA

The USA is a presidential democracy. The President (now it is Barack Obama) is elected for four years and may be elected only twice.

Each state has to keep to the Constitution adopted in 1787 and the Bill of Rights which has 26 amendments.

There are three separate branches – executive branch is in the White House so it is the President. Legislative branch is in Capitol. It means Congress which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. And there is judicial power too (the Supreme Court).

In the American democratic system, rights and power are divided between the individual states and federal government. National governments have wide powers. They can decide about death penalty (which is e.g. in Texas, Nevada, Washington or California). They can form their own school system…

Two parties dominate American politics. They are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. US citizens must be eighteen years old to vote.

EU

The European Union is an organization of European countries dedicated to increasing economic integration and strengthening cooperation among its members. The EU headquarters are in Brussels, in Belgium. It was formally established on November 1, 1993. It is the most recent in a series of European cooperative organizations that originated. The reason, why this organization has originated, was quite simply. After two world wars the European states didn´t want to wage a war. And it is true it is peace. Maybe all my life I think.

Now the EU includes 28 states. And we have been a member since 2004 too.

The symbols by the EU are flag, Brussels, anthem and a motto (In varietate concordia – United in diversity).

Many people say it is good to be a member of EU because we can travel and study in all these states only with an identity card and in many of them we can pay with euro so we don´t have to change our money every time. And the EU gives us money for our projects. But in fact it is often only waste of money.

I don´t know if is good to be a member of the EU. I´m not sure if it has ever given something to me. I am only hearing about the EU all the time on television when somebody is speaking about new rules which we have to obey. We had to adjust our legal system and we have to help others states although we have a national debt.

I don´t say that this organization is bad but it has many mistakes.  And if it wants to exist in a future, it would have to do something with that because of the power of China and the USA.