Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with EU

What are the most common criticisms of the Treaty of Lisbon?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:01:34 -0800

What are the most common points of criticism of the Treaty of Lisbon, and how do they relate to the failed European Constitution? My Google-fu is failing me, and moreover I'm also interested in viewpoints from nations whose languages I can't read: between Irish/British and Dutch/Belgian sources you only get so much of the story.

I understand that a common criticism is that the treaty would enhance the powers of unelected officials. What positions are we talking about, here? And would the treaty really bestow more power upon them? I thought part of the treaty's idea was to improve the role of the European Parliament through codecision with the Council, thus making it more democratic. What gives?

Also: after France and the Netherlands held failed referendums on the Constitution, both decided not to hold a referendum on the treaty. Were there any political reasons for this decision, besides fear of another debacle? I know people got mad, but were there any substantial protest movements, especially in France?

Lastly: have the most common criticisms been allayed somewhat by the revision of the Constitution and its repackaging as the Treaty, or do the same criticisms still stand?

I'm sorry if this is a broad question, please let me know if I can be clearer on any points. Thanks in advance for any insight you may have to offer.

Am I eligible to apply for Portugal citizenship?

the jam — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:29:50 -0800

I was surprised to learn that some EU countries will allow applications for citizenship based on decent for grandchildren and sometimes great-grandchildren of citizens. I'm having trouble tracking down whether this is the case in Portugal (and whether I would be eligible). Can anyone point me in the right direction?

NGO fundraising

Meatbomb — Sun, 18 May 2008 07:00:34 -0800

Chasing funding and attracting sponsors / donors for an NGO: European Union / Bulgarian / educational context. Please, teach me? My professional experience is as a teacher, teacher trainer, and trainer of trainers. Suddenly an opportunity has come up to lead a Bulgarian educational NGO. The partner I am going to be working with is a trusted friend and colleague, and his background is pretty much the same as mine.

We are very confident that we can successfully design and implement educational programmes, courses, projects, etc., which will be the core of this NGO's activities. The trick is quickly learning how to get the positive attention of donors, and make them fund our stuff. Neither of us has skills / experience in fundraising, submitting project proposals, winning project grants, and in general chasing / securing funding for the work we want to do.

I know there are a lot of Mefites out there with this kind of background. Any advice, links, ideas, places to search to help us hit the ground running and make our NGO a success would be much appreciated.

Beklager, jeg snakker ikke norsk - EU national moving to Norway?

Happy Dave — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:06:53 -0800

Moving around in the EU - how about them fjords there? Another week, another 'how tough would this be?' immigration question.

I'm 26, British, living in the UK, married to an American who is about three or four years away (assuming the UK govt doesn't move the goalposts) from a British passport. I work in communications, she's a journo.

I've been thinking about the future, and in particular the various places in the EU that we might consider living and working, and Norway keeps coming up again and again in my personal wish list. I've always been attracted to Scandinavian culture, and my Dad works for a Norwegian firm and comes back with stories about working over there that make me really excited.

I'm also quite drawn to what I perceive as a pretty liberal, well-run government and strong economy, good education, healthcare and cultural life.

If we were to think about moving to Norway, within, say, five years, what would be the plusses and minuses? Any expats or Norwegian MeFites who have done this or have insights? We live in London at the moment, but may move back to Scotland, where I'm from - how would Norway compare with Scotland in the above terms?

Cheers!

If Hawaii, why not...?

greytape — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:32:27 -0800

Why has the United States stopped where it has? Are there any plans for further enlargement? I'm curious as to why the United states isn't looking to grow further as the EU is. Surely there'd be some Caribbean islands that would be keen on membership? And why not Canada/Mexico?

Is the issue that no-one wants to join, or that the US is happy as it is?

How hard is it for a third country national to work in Austria after going through university there?

joewandy — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:42:34 -0800

How hard is it for a third country national to work in Austria after going through university there? I'm a 26-years-old Chinese Indonesian who have been living in Singapore for the past 10 years (since my teen-age). 2 years ago, I completed my (3 yrs) bachelor degree in Computing from the National University of Singapore. I have also obtained my Singaporean permanent residence and been working as a software engineer since then in a local company and another MNC.

With only 1 year+ remaining until the completion of my bond with the Singaporean government (due to them sponsoring my undergrad study), I now have to begin evaluating the possible path I could take for the future.

I'd very much like to move to Europe in order to work and live there. However since this is pretty hard to accomplish for a third country national like me, I thought I could first look into studying in a European country and proceed to find job after graduation. I should be able to save up to US$15k by the time I'm ready to leave, coupled with approximate 3 yrs of experience in the IT field. From my parents I could borrow another US$20k (if necessary) for any other expenses while I'm settling down.

I intend to apply to the University of Vienna due to the special low tuition fee of €15.86 / semester for Indonesian. I'd likely enroll into another related bachelor degree programme (e.g. math, science) as I don't think I am up to the challenge of learning cs stuffs at master's level while having to struggle with communicating in German at the same time.

Assuming that I've got all the study matters taken care of (for the sake of discussion), my questions are:

1. Given my prior experiences and qualifications, how hard would it be for me to find tech job in Austria (or surrounding EU countries) upon graduation? I'm inclined to think that having graduated from a 'local' university, it would be much easier for me to be employed within the country as well, but I might be wrong. Do employers have specific preferences in regards to the nationality of people that they are looking for?

2. How much of a period of time that I would have to look for job upon school completion? Is there any kind of temporary visa that I'd be able to apply for while jobhunting within Austria, or do I have to do it from Singapore?

3. How well are asians accepted and integrated into the European society? Let's assume that I could speak intelligible English and German :)

I might have more questions to follow up later, depending on the responses to this thread. Keep in mind that this is still a medium-to-long term plan, I'm basically just trying to determine where I could go from here onwards.

If Bloomberg can buy the Presidency, why not Europe...?

greytape — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:38:44 -0800

Is there anything to stop foreign nations donating money to the campaign of a US presidential candidate? So I'm thinking principally of John Mccain, the EU, and climate change.

The EU has got all it's fingers crossed that in 2009 there'll be someone in the White House who will get pro-active on limiting carbon emissions. As the only republican candidate with a decent policy on climate change (I think this is true), it would surely be in the best interests of Europe to donate to his campaign to secure him the Republican ticket, and thus completely avoid the possibility of getting another Republican who won't play ball (presuming that all the democrats would be acceptable). In terms of the EU budget the amount of money it would take to make a serious difference to McCain's campaign would be peanuts, but would have massive effect. Why don't they do it?

Now this is just a hypothetical that occurred to me as a case where such an injection of cash could have a major impact, but has anything like this ever been done? Would it be legal in the US? And is this fairly common practice elsewhere in the world? (I'm thinking of the US donating money to the campaigns of pro-western candidates in ex-soviet republics)

Thanks.

Travel dates in the months before passport expiration

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 09:12:30 -0800

My U.S. passport expires 13 Oct 08 and I need to book one international trip before then: leaving New York 17 July 08, returning 2 Aug 08 (one destination country, a non-EU-member in Eastern Europe, plus stops for flight transfers in one or two EU member countries). Is it even worth researching various countries' and airlines' how-close-to-expiration-date safety ranges for travel, or should I just assume I MUST renew my passport before then?

Living and Working in the E.U.

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:01:36 -0800

Moving to the E.U.: I am an American getting married to an E.U. citizen (Spanish, if that helps) and after much discussion she'd like to stay in the E.U. and live there with me. I'm happy with that. I've even got a potential job offer. Help me with the logistics of how this happens. The job I have lined up won't be able to offer me a work visa so I would have to get one through marriage. What are the timelines and documents for this? Do I have to do anything from the U.S. side of things or do I just sort of "disappear"?

I've tried to look for previous questions but most are about bringing a fiancee to the United States. Visajourney.com looks like a great site but is there an inverse to that site for moving to a foreign country? Any personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

(anonymous because many people don't even know I'm getting married and this is not how I want them to find out)

How best for an EU company to employ someone in the UK?

Jakey — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 02:44:06 -0800

UK employment/company law. How best for an EU company to employ someone in the UK? There is a multinational, with European HQ/manufacturing in Italy. Some employees work remotely, including one employee in the UK. I'm given to understand that the Italian company cannot employ someone directly in the UK. Is this true? If so, what is the most cost effective manner to employ this person in the UK, while retaining the job security of an employee?

Expat skills wanted in the Netherlands?

AdamOddo — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:06:30 -0800

As a foreigner, I was wondering what skills or degrees are the key to getting hired to work in the Netherlands. I have a somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades work background, and would like some direction of what to pursue that would make me attractive to Dutch employers. I am aware of having to learn the language, which I'm moving along well with.

I've discussed it with several people who are well versed in Dutch employment and realize how much of a challenge it will be, but I'm still determined. From what I've seen browsing employment sites for expatriates it seems IT is the way to go.

Going back to school isn't out of the question for me. Any ideas?

Polish Citizenship

bigspoon — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:53:03 -0800

Can I obtain Polish Citizenship? Today in one of my classes, my economy professor mentioned the fact that he had recently discovered that people whose great-grandparents/grandparents who emigrated from Poland can apply for Polish citizenship (according to the professor, many people have taken them up on this so they can hold jobs in other parts of the EU). He then said he looked further into it and discovered that it involved a period of residency, the length of which he didn't specify. My mom's side is entirely Polish, my great-grandmother and father came over some time before America joined the allies, I think sometime in the early 30's although it might have been a little later or earlier than that. I was wondering if my eco professor was right about this, if I would be eligible, and how long residency is.

Studying abroad in France - use my old EU citizenship or my new American one?

Muffpub — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:22:20 -0800

Duel US and UK citizen studying in Paris... should I be getting a student visa or a residence permit? A little bit of background information:

I'm was born in the UK but moved to the US when I was 3. I became an American citizen last year and have been educated virtually my whole life in the American education system. I'm now a college student planning to study abroad (not with my school, but through another American school's program) this upcoming fall semester in Paris.

Here's the problem: I have a British passport and an American passport, both current, and I don't know which 'identification' I should be using in terms of the legal documents I need to get to be able to study in France. From what I understand, as an EU citizen I would only need a residence permit. (I'm staying for just over 90 days.) But I'm also an American citizen with an American passport studying at an American institution, which would mean I need a student visa, right?.

So I guess my questions would be:
- Any dual citizens out there dealt with this kind of dilemma within the EU, specifically France? What kind of legal pitfalls am I looking at if I'm not careful?
- Am I better off using my more current American passport and citizenship to take the student visa route, or should I stick to identifying myself as a UK citizen and get a residence permit, which would perhaps be easier and quicker? (That's the other problem - I leave in a month, and I know I'm cutting this all very close. I'd appreciate an honest approximation of how long this will actually take to a lecture about how I should have started sooner.)
- *Is* getting a residence permit as an EU citizen easier and quicker?
- Can I be working on getting this documentation once I'm in France, or do I have to have it all figured out on my way in?

Any help would be really appreciated. Google and the study abroad program people are NOT giving me straight answers (if any at all.) Even the French consulate hasn't returned my emails.

Oh, and if it helps to know, I've already registered with the new CampusFrance system and I'm waiting for them to clear my application.

Thanks in advance for any help.

When and how to charge VAT

subpixel — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 05:48:23 -0800

Is there a simple rule that governs VAT charges for e-commerce between EU countries? Every EU country has it's own VAT rate (Germany: 19%, Spain: 16% etc.).

So what rate is to be charged if you're a German business selling & shipping a tangible (non-electronic) product to a customer in Spain or the UK?

I'm assuming that if you're an EU business selling & shipping a tangible product to the US you don't charge VAT at all...right?

Holocaust survivors --> EU Citizenship to descendants?

anonymoose — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:22:12 -0800

My grandparents are Holocaust survivors. Might I be entitled to EU citizenship? How do I figure this out and pursue it if it's an option? Having heard of this possibility of dual citizenship (I'm American), some preliminary googling turned up this: "German law grants citizenship to "former German citizens, who lost their citizenship for political, racial or religious reasons between Jan. 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945" -- the duration of the Nazi dictatorship -- as well as their descendants" (from here)

Assuming this is true, I have two questions:
-Do other countries have similar laws for people who lost their citizenship during that event (and their descendants)?
-Is there any way one of my grandparents might have been German citizens?

Background on my grandparents:
Grandmother: Born and raised in Munkacs (Which is currently part of Ukraine, but was once Czech, Polish, and German at different times. See some history here. She and her family were taken from that town to Auschwitz during the war.

Grandfather: Born in Polat (spelling possibly wrong, will get update later tonight if they're still awake?) in Czechoslovakia. Served in Czech army, and if I understand his story correctly, was captured and put into a Russian prisoner of war/labor camp.

So! How do I begin to figure this stuff out?

Michael Schumacher you ain't, honey...

romakimmy — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:21:44 -0800

Driving a Stick: Help settle the debate before I shove the gearshift up my boyfriend's wazoo... I've read previous threads here on learning to drive a standard, and Googling has not been satisfactory as some sites say X and others say Y. So...

Background: I drove a stick for more years than not in the US and find myself searching for the clutch/reaching for the gearshift in automatics.

I can count on both hands the times I've driven in the last 8 years here in Rome, due to the vast cultural differences in driving (Lanes? What lanes?). Last Sunday proved a perfect time to reacquaint myself with the wheel as there was no traffic around.

The Argument: I was taught that using the engine to slow you down was good for A) long steep downgrades and B) in cases of emergency. Overuse of this technique was bad news for your transmission. I want to say that my mechanic uncle backed this theory up, but to be honest I learned to drive stick many, many moons ago and don't totally remember who told me this.

The boyfriend has apparently been taught the complete opposite, as he was constantly telling me to use the engine as my technique "would wear out your brakes in 3 months." This might also explain why I alway push the imaginary passenger's side brake when in the car with him.

I was willing to conceed difference in style/techinique were it not for the fact that his harping pissed me off to the point where I was concentrating more on ignoring him than the traffic around me (at which point I pulled over and made him drive)

So MeFites: which is worse for your car and tangentally, is this an EU vs. US technique?

Researching EU privacy/RFID law?

electric_counterpoint — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 09:00:51 -0800

Research-filter: I'm looking for sources of EU laws, policies, positions, and white papers on privacy and/or RFID technology. I'm an American, but I think I understand generally how the EU works. I know about europa.eu.int, but I'm interested in other resources to contextualize the pieces of legislation I've found. Any journals in particular I should try? This is exploratory in nature, but I'll be working the good stuff into a literature review.

Working in Europe

borkingchikapa — Wed, 18 May 2005 08:26:50 -0800

How difficult would it be for a nineteen year old with one year of college, moderate work experience, a TEFL certificate and little to no European language ability to get a temporary work visa in the EU? I'm thinking Germany, specifically. I've checked out this thread, but that seems to pertain mostly to becomig a citizen. I'm not looking to become naturalized or anything (though that would be nice), just find a menial job to support myself for six months or less. Note: I'm willing to accept "impossible" as an answer.

Let me back in, I say!

Iosephus — Thu, 24 Feb 2005 09:42:51 -0800

EUTravelFilter: say I have a EU residence permit and as expected leave for my home country (Argentina) before it expires. How long I'm required to wait before I can re-enter the EU as a simple lowly tourist? Browsing through immigration agencies sites fails to give any clues. For holders of Argentine passports, tourist stays of up to 3 months are legal without a visa or permit of any kind, of that I'm sure. I vaguely recall something about a mandatory waiting period of X months before being allowed a possible re-entry as a tourist. I'm unable to put this any closer than the rumor realms, Help?

Question number 14196

Stylistique — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 13:23:11 -0800

How do I find a European to marry? I am a well educated 35 year old woman. I want to move to Europe and become an EU citizen. The country doesn't matter.

Question number 13751

ParisParamus — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 10:39:32 -0800

VOIP Filter:

I would like feedback regarding people's experience with VOIP. Vonage and Lingo, and any others. Bonus points for feedback regarding faxing over VOIP. Even more bonus points for VOIP over a Verizon DSL line in the New York City area. Also, is VOIP legal in the EU?

Question number 12452

icetaco — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 08:40:21 -0800

There's a wonderful liqueur that I'd like to buy as a gift, but it's only available from a distillery in Germany. I contacted the distillery, and with my somewhat limited German, was able to ask about shipment to the US. They can ship it, but don't accept payment via credit card, but rather "mit Rechnung." This I believe to be "by check," but I'm not sure. Has anyone had experience with this kind of transaction? Some German sites I saw which also require that kind of payment have forms that ask for a password. Is this an EU thing only?

Question number 12442

davy — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 00:03:26 -0800

From the BBC:
"EU force starts Bosnian mission"

"A ceremony in Bosnia-Hercegovina has marked the start of the European Union's largest-ever peacekeeping mission as it takes over from Nato.

A ceremony in Bosnia-Hercegovina has marked the start of the European Union's largest-ever peacekeeping mission as it takes over from Nato.

About 7,000 Eufor troops will be deployed across the country to maintain peace and stability, nine years after the Bosnian war ended.

Nato will keep a small base to deal with issues including military reform and tracking down war criminals." [end quote]

So what are the differences between Eufor peacekeepers and NATO's? Like, how are their respective forces raised, maintained, and commanded? How does either differ from UN peacekeepers? How is it decided which of these bodies of armed persons will become peacekeepers in any particular place? And where would I look for more info and/or what search terms would I throw at a search engine?

Question number 11303

ruddhist — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 10:19:43 -0800

[EU-Filter] I'm an American currently studying in Germany. I'm planning to travel to the Netherlands soon; unfortunately, I had to give out my passport to start the student-visa process. I've managed to lose the copies I made. I'm travelling by train. Will not having a passport be a huge problem? I've heard yes, I've heard no - so I'm turning to the Green for the answer.

Question number 9232

maniactown — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 19:59:43 -0800

I'd like to live in Europe. My wife is a 2nd generation Latvian and I recall reading about an "ancestral permanent residence" policy that affects the EU, of which Latvia is now a member. I know there have been several questions about living abroad, but I can't find this information. Can anybody help? [MI]