Compare two Member States participation and representation in the Research Paper

Compare two Member States participation and representation in the European Parliament. Questions to answer are on Details section - Research Paper Example My countries of choice are Czech Republic and Belgium. The choice for comparison of the two European member states is because of their variance in entry period. Belgium is one of the founding nations having been present during the formation in 1952, while Czech came much later in 2004. Czech Republic is a young nation formed in 1993 after the split of Czechoslovakia. Belgium became independent in 1830. The time of independence is quite different for the two nations and could have also influenced the social-political and economical development for each nation. The political structure for the two nations also varies. Belgium is a federal state and its political system is based on parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy as the head of state. The government is further divided into the regional government and community government. The kings hold the executive powers, while the prime minister is the head of government and cabinet. The prime minister is appointed by the monarch. The federal parliament has two chambers: the House of Representatives and the senate (The Belgian House of Representatives and Senate, 2004). Czech Republic on the other hand is a parliamentary democracy with separate legislative, executive and judicial powers. The parliament consists of the chamber of deputies and the senate. Unlike Belgium, the government is a presidential system whereby the president is elected on a five year term. It also has a prime minister appointed by the president (Prokop, 2010). The European parliament comprises of 24 representatives who are elected from Belgium. Proportional representation is applied in the electoral system. In this election (European parliament), Belgium comprises of three electoral districts. The system used is referred to as d’Hondt formula and there is no limitation for the representation. After the election, people are still given the chance to overrule the party ruling candidates (European Election Database, n.d.).