Challenge number 15

Source: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jeremywarner/100008620/stranger-and-stranger-grows-the-eus-bailout-fund/

This week you will have to research on the European Union currency. These are the questions:

QUESTION 1

What was the name of the previous European Union currency? When was the name "euro" officially adopted as the official currency of the European Union?

QUESTION 2

What´s the eurozone? What EU countries are included in the eurozone?

QUESTION 3

What other countries use the euro as official currency?

QUESTION 4

What are the requirements the EU countries have to meet if they want to adopt the euro as currency?

QUESTION 5

What institution is in charge of the eurozone´s monetary policy? Where is its headquarters located?

QUESTION 6

The Eurogroup (the group formed by the finance ministers of the eurozone) has recently approved bailouts to solve the economic problems of the financial systems of three countries whose currency is the euro. Which are these countries? What is the amount of the bailout they have received (or will receive)?

7 of april 2011

Yesterday i couldn't write the journal because today we have done 2 exams. Yesterday we read the international organizations. After the two world wars, many states of the world created international organizations with dieffernt purposes to act collectively and be more powerful in the defense of their common interests. We have learnt the different international organizations;

- Political organizations: The United Nations (UN), The American States Organization, the African Union Organizations, the European Union (EU).

- Economic organizations: The World Trade Organization (WTO) , the North American Free Trade Agreements (NAFTA) , the International Monetary Fund (IMF) , the World Bank, Mercosur.

-Military organizations: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

There are two examples or international organizations:

-The Security Council, formed by 5 permanent members (USA, United Kingdom, France, China and Russia. they have the right of vetoing the resolutions of the Assembly they don't agree with) and 10 non permanet members.

-The General Assembly, formed by the representatives of all the members.

The United Nations has differents agencies that work in different fields:

WHO, UNESCO, ACNUR, UNICEF, FAO.

The UN has a peace force, the Blue Helmets.

The EU

The European Economic Community (EEC) was created in 1957, with the signature of the Treaty of Rome.Six countries signed and economic agreement that allowed the free movement of goods, services, capitals and people in their countries.

Sorry for the late.

Veto power in the United Nations

To veto means to reject a decision made by someone and to have the right of stopping the application of this decision. There are five countries in the United Nations that have the right of vetoing the decisions made by other countries. These five nations are China, the USA, Russia, the United Kingdom and France, the winners of World War 2. They are permanent members of the Security Council, the executive branch of the UN. Throughout the history of the UN, they have used their veto power to stop resolutions that were non convenient for their interests. This is an important handicap to the effectiveness of the United Nations.

This graph shows the current composition of the Security Council:

Source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/11/08/103390/obama-takes-indias-side-with-un.html

 This graph shows the use of veto by every permanent member of the Security Council from 1946 to 2005: 

Source: http://mondediplo.com/maps/unveto

On this link you can read more about the use every country has made of the veto power: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_veto_power

And the following cartoons criticize the use of the veto power: 

Source: http://heatherfreitag.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/the-dip-in-diplomacy/

Source: http://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/404

Source: http://es.toonpool.com/cartoons/UN%20security%20council%20-%20Burma_7263#img9

Source: http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2010/10/hiding-truth-behind-euphemisms.html

Monday, 4th April

Today in Social sciences Kelly has been with us, we have cheked the exercises about  political organization in Spain. Paqui has written a scheme about Spanish Constitution I'm going to explain it:
CHAPTERS
-RIGTHS AND DUTIES                      -LEGISLATIVE                                
-ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE   -JUDICIAL
-MONARCHY                                     -CONSTITUTIONAL TRIBUNAL
-EXECUTIVE                                       - AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES
-ADDITIONAL ARTICLES ABOUT THE PROCESS OF PERFORM
 

Source: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/sanwalabonso/wqyct/ct_constitucion/index.htm

 Then we have read about Spanish electoral system, while Paqui was doing us a scheme about it and such as, we did'nt understand it, Paqui has explained it in Spanish.
SPANISH ELECTORAL SYSTEM
-CLOSED LISTS: Citizens vote for lit prevously decided by the political parties
-PROVINCES: ELECTORAL DISTRICTIS
-SEATS: -ASSIENEIS IN RELATION TO POPULATION
               -DISTRIBUTION ACCCORDING TO THE D'HONT LAW

-REFORM PETITIONS: Open lists and a national district

Source: http://villalbamagenta.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/

BY: Yolanda Abad Iniesta

More about the reform of the Spanish electoral system

Source: http://cowell.ucsc.edu/votes/home/

There have been different attempts of reforming the LOREG (Ley Orgánica del Régimen Electoral General). The last one was based on a report the State Council prepared for the Government. The State Council concluded that the electoral system is disproportioned and benefits the biggest parties and the least populated provinces, because it assures every province a minimum of two deputies in the Congress. The State Council proposed to enlarge the number of deputies from the present 350 to 400 and to assign only one deputy per province. 

Source: http://www.publico.es/detalle-imagen/214149/?c=http://www.publico.es/espana/214149/la-ley-electoral-que-propone-el-consejo-de-estado-prima-al-pp

Here you have a more detailed explanation of this proposition: 

http://www.publico.es/espana/214149/la-ley-electoral-que-propone-el-consejo-de-estado-prima-al-pp

This proposition was debated in the Congress last year and it was refused. The biggest parties and the nationalist and autonomous parties voted against this reform: 

http://www.publico.es/espana/302023/el-congreso-cierra-el-debate-de-la-reforma-electoral

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/PSOE/PP/bloquean/reforma/sistema/electoral/elpepuesp/20100317elpepunac_26/Tes

And this is complete text of the LOREG:

http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Admin/lo5-1985.html

Corrections to the charts of the Spanish electoral system

I´ve revised the charts included on the book and there were some mistakes. Here you have the corrections: 

On the first chart I coloured 8 boxes in yellow, instead of 7 and one of them was wrong. The most voted party gets 3 seats, the second party gets 3 seats and the third one gets only 1 seat. If there were 8 seats to be assigned, party number 1 would get the eighth seat with 85,000 votes. This is the right chart:

	PARTY 1	PARTY 2	PARTY 3	PARTY 4	PARTY 5
SEAT 1	340,000  (1st seat)	280,000  (2nd seat)	160,000  (4th seat)	60,000	15,000
SEAT 2	170,000  (3rd seat )	140,000  (5th seat)	80,000	30,000	7,500
SEAT 3	113,333  (6th seat)	93,333  (7th seat)	53,333	20,000	5,000
SEAT 4	85,000	70,000	40,000	15,000	3,750
SEAT 5	68,000	56,000	32,000	12,000	3,000
SEAT 6	56,667	46,667	26,667	10,000	2,500
SEAT 7	48,571	40,000	22,857	8,571	2,143

And here you have the corrections to the second chart, about the percentage of votes and the percentage of seats obtained. When I wrote this, I rounded the numbers up. This is why it didn´t make 100.

	PARTY 1	PARTY 2	PARTY 3	PARTY 4	PARTY 5
PERCENTAGE OF VOTES RECEIVED	39.76%	32.74%	18.71%	7.01%	1.75%
PERCENTAGE OF SEATS WON	43%	43%	14%	0%	0%

Source: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_D'Hondt

And finally, here you have three flash animations of past elections that will help you to understand better the assignment of seats: 

http://www.elecciones.mir.es/generales2008/i_visita8.html

http://www.elmundo.es/elecciones2000/cifras/graficodhont.html

http://terranoticias.terra.es/elecciones-2004/ley-dhont/

How much do public servants earn in Spain?

Here you have some data about the salaries the people who hold the most important posts in Spain receive for their services: 

- The Royal family receives 8.43 million € in 2011. According to the Constitution, they don´t have to explain their expenses. 

http://www.casareal.es/laCasa/laCasa-ides-idweb.html

- The President of the Government earns 6,515.42 € per month (78,185 € per year). The Vicepresidents earn 6,123.86 € per month and the Ministers 5,748.49 € (68,981 € annually).


http://www.cincodias.com/articulo/economia/Zapatero-mantendra-2011-sueldo-mensual-651542-euros/20100930cdscdseco_17/

- The President of the Congress earns 11,934.9 € monhtly and a normal deputy, without any specific responsibility, earns 2,813.87 € per month. But they also receive subsistence and travelling allowances if they are representatives of provinces outside Madrid and they receive complements if they belong to panels as well.


http://www.congreso.es/portal/page/portal/Congreso/Congreso/Diputados/RegEcoyProtSoc/regimen_economico_diputados.pdf


 - As for the President of the Senate, his salary is 10,352.12 € per month. Senators receive a basic salary of 2,813.91 €, but they also get similar subsistence and travelling allowances as the deputies and they receive different complements, depending on the panels they belong to. 


http://www.senado.es/legis9/senadores/regimen_economico.pdf


- The Spanish deputies in the European Parliament earn 6,200.72 monthly and they receive travelling and subsistence allowances in addition.


http://www.zfinanzas.es/cuanto-cobran-eurodiputados/

- Here you have the salaries of the Presidents of the Autonomous Communities and the mayors of the largest cities: 

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/859123/0/sueldo/politicos/espanoles/

- And the last links refer to the salaries the judges receive in Spain: 

http://www.diba.cat/cemical/es/actualidad/ficheros/salario_altos_magistrados5D01_12_10.pdf

http://www.publico.es/espana/316976/los-jueces-se-rebelan-contra-su-recorte-por-desproporcionado

http://www.larazon.es/noticia/5715-los-jueces-del-constitucional-se-bajan-el-sueldo-un-15

Political organization of Spain

 

Here you have the Powerpoint presentation we have used for to learn about the political organization of Spain. Remember that you have some exercises for homework. You can use the presentation to complete some of the exercises. 

Challenge number 14

Source: http://valdeperrillos.com/lacebolla/palabras-constituciones

This week you will have to research on the constitutional history of Spain. The questions you will have to answer will refer to Constitutions and Statutes of Autonomy. 

QUESTION 1

What was the first Constitution of Spain´s history? What popular name did it receive? Why?

QUESTION 2

How many Constitutions has Spain until present? Name them. 

QUESTION 3

There were two projects of Constitution in the 19th century that didn´t come into force. Which ones?

QUESTION 4

What has been the Constitution in longest force in Spain´s history?

QUESTION 5

Who were the "fathers" of the present Constitution?

QUESTION 6

What was the first Statute of Autonomy approved in Spain? 

Some explanations that can help you to find the correct answers: 

- "To be in force" means "to be in effect, operative, working". In this context it means "to be in use".

- On question 6, don´t think only in the recent history of Spain. 

You can find the answers to all these questions in any good book of history about Spain. If you have elder sibligs, ask them. They may help you : )

Source: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/centros-tic/21700368/helvia/bitacora/index.cgi?wIdPub=7

Friday 1-April-2011

Today in social science we have arrived a little bit late because we have been talking with Ana Margarita about the trip to Ireland and we have also spent much time until we have started the class, because many people were talking, others were standing up...Today we have been watching the power point Paqui use to explain this unit and we have also changed the word competences for powers, because there were some mistakes in the book about that.

In this powerpoint we have also learned about all the presidents of the Spanish autonomous communities, we didn't know many of them, but I think is normal that we only know the presidents of the principal autonomous communities as Arthur Mass of Catalonia, Patxi López of the Basque Country, Alberto Núñez Feijoo of Galicia... I think is also important to know about the different presidents of other

autonomous communities, they also take part in the government of Spain.

Today we have had a new debate, this time about Gibraltar, Ceuta and Melilla.

In my opinion Ceuta and Melilla can be use as centres to control immigration but at the moment this is almost impossible, however Morocco demands its authority.
On the other hand is very difficult that Gibraltar becomes a part of Spain, because as Paqui has said this is a tax haven and surely it is also used by Spanish corrupted employers, which are hurting the Spanish economy.

We have also known about the decentralization of Spain, in which there are different level of organization:

Government or central administration; autonomous communities or regional administration; provinces or provincial administration and municipalities or local administration.

We have also talk about a law in which, if the government of a town can't give a service, because it's very expensive... but it is necessary, the autonomous government has to give this service to that town. But if the town can get it by itself the government is not obliged to take part in that service.

At the end of the class Paqui has given us the exercises from 15 to 22 and she has used some minutes more to write the correction of the schemes about POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF SPAIN.

Bye!!

See you on Monday

Images:

http://www.clipartguide.com/_pages/0511-0702-1411-4808.html

http://alexanderhamiltoninstitute.org/lp/Columbus/Ancient%20World/Spain%20-%20Wikipedia,%20the%20free%20encyclopedia.htm

http://d-bnews.blogspot.com/2011/03/gibraltar-britanico.html