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The European Parliament (Europarl or EP) is the directly elected parliamentary body of the European Union. Together with the Council of the European Union (the Council), it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the Union's institutions and has been described by some one of the most powerful legislatures in the world. The Parliament, together with the Council, form the highest legislative body within the Union. This is only within the competencies of the European Community being limited to specific policy areas, however Union law does override national law. The Parliament is composed of 785 MEPs (Member of the European Parliament) who serve the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (492 million).

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News

• The High Representative for Foreign Affairs secures a deal with the European Parliament on the institutional setup of the new European External Action Service, the EU's diplomatic body intended to strengthen Europe's voice in international negotiations with streamlined, common European foreign policy goals

• The European Union creates a European Financial Stability Facility in response to the looming sovereign debt crisis of seeveral member states, enabling member states to guarantee their bonds with the full weight of the bloc, thus lowering the interest rates at which these can be placed on the market, alongside other mechannisms aiming to stabilize the single currency

• The Lisbon Treaty enters into force after an almost 10 year-long struggle to provide the enlarged bloc with a new, more dynamic and more democratic set-up, which includes obligatory parliamentary approval for almost any policy field, and far more majority voting within the European Council as opposed to vetoing

• The European Space Agency sends the resupply spacecraft Jules Verne to the International Space Station.

• The European Commission fines Microsoft US$1.44 billion for non-compliance with a 2004 antitrust ruling, the largest penalty the EU has ever imposed on a single company.

• Hungary agrees to join the South Stream gas pipeline project. (Reuters)

• Kosovo's parliament endorses a unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia and adopts a flag (pictured); response from the international community is mixed.

• The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, announces plans to nationalise the Northern Rock bank following credit problems caused by the subprime mortgage crisis.

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It produces more than a quarter of France's wealth, with a GDP of €478.7 billion in 2005. With La Défense, one of the largest business districts in Europe, Paris also hosts the head offices of almost half of the major French companies. Paris is a leading global cultural, business and political centre and has a major international influence in fashion, gastronomy and the arts. It is widely regarded as one of the world's major global cities, with notably the headquarters of many international organisations such as UNESCO, the OECD, the ICC.

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