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;...

Latvia is a multi-ethnic country, although the proportion of the different ethnic groups among its population has varied. Ethnic origin is recorded in the population register. It is based on the ethnicity of either of a person's parents and can be changed upon reaching the age of majority by...

The key to the French legal approach to racism and discrimination is based on the abstract universalistic formal concept of equality, enshrined in a range of instruments, including the Constitutions of 1946 and 1958. The resulting legal framework has developed along two complementary lines: the...

Hungary is a country of 10 million. 15 years after the political transition from a Socialist one-party system into democratic pluralism, Hungary became a member of the European Union. The creation of democratic laws and institutions has been paralleled by an increasing awareness of the principle...

Montenegro is one of the successor states of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It remained as a joint state with Serbia after Yugoslavia's violent break-up, but in 2006 the country became independent and is now a candidate country for membership of the European Union....

At the end of 2013, the population of Malta was estimated to be 425,384. According to the Labour Force Survey for the period October - December 2014, the number of employed persons was estimated at 180,124. Various organisations in Malta, both governmental and non-governmental, actively seek to...

Lithuania regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. The current constitution was approved by referendum in 1992. On 1 May 2004 Lithuania joined the EU, meaning that significant changes to the legal system had taken place in little over a decade to meet EU and international...

Italy is a country made up of 20 regions, each with its own traditions and history. The main differences, in terms of working conditions, job opportunities and the quality of public services (education, healthcare and transport) are between the northern and southern regions. The family is at the...

Until the end of the 1980s Finland was one of the most culturally homogeneous countries in Europe. The number of immigrants was minimal. In the 1990s a major shift from emigration into immigration took place, and the number of foreign citizens grew from 26 300 in 1990 to 168 000 in 2010....