Europe is experiencing a financial and economic crisis. This began with the 'credit crunch' in the financial services sector and evolved as a sovereign debt crisis. Fiscal consolidation and austerity measures have been deployed in response to the crisis to reduce public deficits and debt. This...

Austrian legislation operates on the basis of constitutional principles laid down in the Federal Constitutional Act (Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz), additional constitutional legislation, the Federal Financial Constitution Act (Finanzverfassungsesetz) and the provincial constitutional acts for the...

Latvia is a parliamentary State, where Parliament is the only legislator. This legislator, however, has the right to delegate legislative functions to the Cabinet of Ministers and to municipalities. Delegated legislative powers always have to be made explicit in the laws adopted by Parliament....

The legal system in Romania is a civil law system. At the top of the legislative hierarchy is the Constitution, followed by organic laws, ordinary laws and government decisions. The court structure is organised at three levels - at first instance, on a first appeal and appeals on grounds of law;...

The Slovak Republic is one of the two (the other is Czech Republic) successor states established after the political change on 1 January 1993, based on Constitutional Act No. 542/1992 Coll. on the Dissolution of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. Slovakia is a unitary state, divided into...

Greece is a parliamentary republic. The Greek legal order has a strict hierarchical structure provided by the Constitution, which is written and rigid and prevails over statutes. According to Article 28(1) of the Constitution, international treaties introduced in the Greek legal order by statute...

Developments in Bulgarian legislation and practice in the field of anti-discrimination, equal treatment and equal opportunities were made possible thanks to the process of the full integration of Bulgaria into the EU. The National Assembly is the legislative body which adopts legislation, also...

Montenegro is a constitutional parliamentary democracy, with a multi-party system. The constitution declares Montenegro to be an independent and sovereign state, with a republican form of government, as well as being a civil, democratic, ecological and social justice-based state, which adheres...

The jurisdictional system of Luxembourg consists of both a judicial and an administrative order. The Constitutional Court can be added to these. Thus the judicial order consists of the Constitutional Court and the instances of the judicial order which are the Superior Court of Justice, the...

Norway is based on a civil law system, where the Constitution is top of the hierarchy and national laws and regulations define the system in more detail. The interpretation of laws is based on both preparatory works as well as interpretations by the courts. The court system is based on three...