A Political and Economic Dictionary of Western Europe

Claire Annesley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135355470
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economia
• Subtopic: Politica economica

A Political and Economic Dictionary of Western Europe is an invaluable guide for those seeking clarification of terms, or a quick reference source. The range of entries is broad and encompasses the recent history and economy of each country of the region as well as political parties, geographical features, prominent individuals, international organizations and key businesses. It provides over 600 key definitions and presents an overview of the changing political dimensions of Western Europe and its relations with the European Union.

S

Salaried Employees’ and Civil Servants’ Confederation

The Salaried Employees’ and Civil Servants’ Confederation, or Funktionærernes og Tjenestemændenes Fællesråd (FTF), is the trade union confederation in Denmark which represents salaried employees and civil servants. Founded in 1952, today it organizes 400,000 members from more than 100 independent affiliated unions and is itself a member of ETUC. A predominantly public-sector union, the FTF is a social partner with ministries, councils and employers.

Pres.: Bente Sorgenfrey

Address: Niels Hemmingsensgade 12, POB 1169, 1010 Copenhagen K, Denmark

Tel: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-mail: [email protected]

Internet: http://www.ftf.dk/

Samfylkinginflokkurinn—see Alliance Party, Iceland

Sampaio, Jorge

Jorge Sampaio is the President of Portugal. A socialist, he was elected for his first five-year term of office on 14 January 1996, having won a majority of 52.57% of the vote in the first ballot. He was re-elected on 14 January 2001 after winning 55.76% of the vote in the first round.

Born on 18 September 1939 in Lisbon, Sampaio spent much of his childhood in the USA and the United Kingdom. He studied law at Lisbon University and began a legal career, working to defend political prisoners. Before the revolution of 25 April 1974 Sampaio actively opposed the dictatorship in the student movement, in the resistance movement and by standing for parliamentary elections to the National Assembly in 1969. Following the revolution in 1974 he was involved in establishing the socialist movement, MES, though his involvement ceased at the founding conference owing to ideological differences.

In 1978 Sampaio joined the Socialist Party. He was elected to the Assembléia da República in 1979 and was re-elected for four subsequent terms, most recently in 1991. He was elected as mayor of Lisbon in 1991, and re-elected in 1993. Sampaio served as president of the Union of Portuguese-speaking Cities in 1990–95, as vice-president of the Union of Iberian-American Cities in 1990, as president of the Eurocities Movement in 1990 and president of the World Federation of United Cities in 1992. Jorge Sampaio is married to Maria José Ritta and has two children.

Address: Palácio de Belém, Calçada da Ajuda, 1349–022 Lisbon, Portugal

Tel: [phone] and (0)21 3610570

Fax: [phone] and (0)21 3614612

E-mail: [email protected]

Internet: http://www.presidenciarepublica.pt/

Samtök Atvinnulifsins—see Confederation of Icelandic Employers

Samtök Idnadarins—see Federation of Icelandic Industries

San Marino

San Marino is a small, land-locked republic situated in eastern Italy that is said to have been founded by the devout Christian stonemason Marinus in AD 301. Legislative power lies with a 60-member Great and General Council which is elected every five years. The legislature elects two Captains Regent every six months to act as the heads of state. Executive power is held by a 10-member Congress of State elected by the Great and General Councils. The current head of government is the Secretary of State for Foreign and Political Affairs, Fiorenzo Stolfi, who took office on 17 December 2002.

The population of San Marino—27,000 (2003)—is Italian-speaking. The area of the republic is 61sq km and its capital is San Marino. The Sammarinese economy is dominated by tourism, which contributes more than 50% of the gross domestic product. More than 3m. tourists visit San Marino annually. Other areas of economic activity include banking, electronics, ceramics and wine. The rate of unemployment is 2.6% (2001) and the standard of living is comparable to that of the wealthy northern regions of Italy. The currency is the euro.

Sarkozy, Nicolas

Nicolas Sarkozy is a French politician for the Popular Movement (UMP). He served as Minister of the Interior in 2002–04, and in 2004 was appointed Minister of Finance in the government headed by Jean-Pierre Raffarin. As Minister of Finance, he had the task of balancing the national budget and reducing the public deficit to meet the conditions of the stability and growth pact. An ambitious politician whose goal is to succeed his political rival, Jacques Chirac, as President of France, he resigned as Minister of Finance and became president of the UMP in November 2004. President Chirac had insisted that the two posts were not compatible and that Sarkozy could only take up the party leadership if he resigned his ministerial post.

Sarkozy began his political career with the Rally for the Republic party at local level. He was elected as a councillor in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1997 and as mayor of the town in 1983. In 1983–85 he served as a regional councillor for the Ile-de-France. He was first elected to the Assemblée Nationale in 1988, and again in 1993, 1995 and 1997. Born on 28 January 1955 in Paris, Nicolas Sarkozy studied public law and political science, and is a trained lawyer.

Schengen Agreement

The Schengen Agreement, signed on 14 June 1985 by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, created a territory with no internal borders, within which the free movement of people was guaranteed. The Schengen Agreement abolished the internal borders of the signatory states and created a single external border where immigration checks are carried out. Members of the Schengen area agreed a single set of rules regarding visas and some aspects of asylum policy for the external border. The Schengen Agreement also established co-ordination networks between police and customs officials to combat terrorism and organized crime. The Schengen Information System (SIS) was also established to allow the police stations and consular agents of participating states to exchange information on individuals and missing property.

A Convention on implementing the Schengen Agreement was signed on 19 June 1990 and came into practical effect on 26 March 1995. By then the Schengen area included the five original member states plus Portugal and Spain. Since 1995 Italy, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Finland and Sweden have acceded to the Convention. In 1996 a Schengen cooperation agreement was concluded with Norway and Iceland which are not members of the European Union (EU), but are members of the Nordic Passport Union. The five Nordic states had fully implemented the Schengen regime as of 25 March 2001.

The Schengen Agreement was brought into the legal and institutional framework of the EU by a protocol attached to the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997). The United Kingdom and Ireland have both opted to remain out of the Schengen area, but can join it provided that the area’s member states agree to their doing so. The United Kingdom requested participation in some aspects of Schengen in March 1999, namely police and legal cooperation in criminal matters, the fight against drugs and the SIS. Ireland applied in June 2000 and November 2001 to take part in some aspects of Schengen. The 10 new member states which joined the EU on 1 May 2004 were required to comply with the Schengen Agreement as it is considered to be a part of the acquis communautaire.

Schröder, Gerhard

Gerhard Schröder is the Chancellor of Germany. He was elected by the Bundestag in 1998 following elections in September of that year in which his Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) achieved the status of largest party, thus bringing to an end 16 years’ of government by a coalition between the Christian Democratic Union, the Christian Social Union and the Free Democratic Party under Helmut Kohl. His victory in 1998 was significant in that it was the first time in the history of post-war Germany that a change of government had resulted from an electoral defeat rather than from changes in coalition choices. The new government was also the first national coalition between the SPD and Alliance 90/ The Greens, and the first purely left-ofcentre government. Schröder was reappointed as Chancellor of a second red-green coalition following a narrow victory in elections to the Bundestag held on 22 September 2002. His re-election was secured by his principled opposition to the involvement of German troops in the anticipated war in Iraq in 2003, his management of the East German flood crisis in the summer of 2002, and his concrete plans to tackle Germany’s high rate of unemployment.

Labelled as a modernizer and a reformer in the SPD, Schröder campaigned for office in 1998 by appealing to the ‘Neue Mitte’ (new centre) political ground. This position was much criticized among the traditional left of the SPD and led to conflict with his party. Schröder’s position within his party was strengthened in 1999 when he was elected as its leader following the resignation of left-wing party leader and finance minister Oskar Lafontaine. Schröder appointed Franz Müntefering as chairman of the SPD in February 2004 in order to concentrate on managing the government. As Chancellor, Schröder has struggled to secure the support of traditionalists in his party and of the green coalition partners on a number of controversial issues. His decision to dispatch German troops to Kosovo in 1999 and to Afghanistan in 2001 met with opposition from the greens, and the second deployment was only endorsed after a vote of confidence in his government had been held in the Bundestag in November 2001. Schröder encountered opposition from the traditional wing of his own party for his policies to reduce unemployment and reform the welfare state—the so-called Hartz reforms.

A member of the SPD since 1966, Schröder’s political career began in 1978 when he was elected as national leader of Jusos, the youth movement of the SPD. In 1980 he was elected to the Bundestag. Following the defeat of the SPD g...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• The Author
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• International Telephone Codes
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• Y
• Z