Word: strasbourg
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Answer: Not much, except that they have all just won an election. Soon they will all be commuting to Strasbourg as mint-new members in the Parliament of the European Community, the world's first democratically elected international body...
Public posturing and backroom politicking began within hours after the results were in. The first matter on the agenda when the new Parliament convenes in Strasbourg on July 17 will be the choice of a president. Willy Brandt, who campaigned across the continent for his Socialist colleagues, had been considered the leading contender. In view of the center-right's strong showing, Veil was being touted by supporters as a more fitting choice. Former Belgian Premier Leo Tindemans, who heads the Parliament's powerful Christian Democratic group, meanwhile, was bidding for the informal post of majority leader...
Thatcher also started to prepare herself for an upcoming itinerary of international summits that would daunt an experienced statesman, not to mention a seldom-traveled novice. They include a round table of European leaders in Strasbourg following the European Parliament election on June 10; the Big Five economic summit with the U.S., West Germany, France and Japan in Tokyo a week later; and a potentially tension-laden Commonwealth Conference in Zambia in August, at which the Queen will preside...
Britain, in fact, is the commission's best client. In the past three years Strasbourg has received 398 complaints against the British government, more than against any other country. Unlike many other European countries, England does not recognize the European human rights convention as national law. Its own constitution is largely unwritten; there is no bill of rights set above the power of Parliament. That makes it more difficult to persuade a British court that the government has trespassed on individual rights. And it helps explain why so many Britons turn to Strasbourg for redress...
...characteristically British obstacles in the way of real reform. One is that Parliament is loath to give up its traditional supremacy over the courts, which would happen if judges were allowed to declare laws unconstitutional. Another is the sheer slowness of change in Britain. But after his success at Strasbourg, Sunday Times Editor Harold Evans promised to do his best to speed it along. If the Sunday Times, closed since Nov. 30 in a dispute with its printers, ever resumes publishing, Evans says he intends to challenge the contempt laws by reporting on important cases under trial...