European Countries And Their Presidents 5d581s

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* Fast Facts Population:3,170,000 Capital:Tirana; 367,000 Area:28,748 square kilometers (11,100 square miles) Language:Albanian, Greek Religion:Muslim, Albanian Orthodox, Roman Catholic Currency:LekL ife Expectancy:74 GDP per Capita:U.S. $4,400 Literacy Percent:87

* Bujar Faik Nishani (born 29

September 1966) has been President of Albania since July 2012. At the time of his election, Nishani was a member of the Democratic Party of Albania, an MP, and the Minister of Interior. Constitutionally he had to resign all three posts due to his election as President. The Albanian Parliament elected Nishani as President with a simple majority of 73 votes out of 140, without consensus from the opposition.

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* Fast Facts Population:74,000 Capital:Andorra la Vella; 21,000 Area:468 square kilometers (181 square miles) Language:Catalan, French, Castilian (Spanish) Religion:Roman Catholic Currency:Euro GDP per Capita:U.S. $19,000 Literacy Percent:100

* Antoni Martí Petit is

an Andorran architect and politician[2] who has been the country's head of government since 11 May 2011, following a parliamentary election in 2011. He is a member of the Democrats for Andorra.

* In the election, held on 3 April 2011,

the Democrats for Andorra defeated the incumbent Social Democrats with an absolute majority making Martí Head of Government. Martí fought on an anti-income tax platform.

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* Fast Facts Population:3,033,000 Capital:Yerevan; 1,079,000 Area:29,743 square kilometers (11,484 square miles) Language:Armenian, Russian Religion:Armenian Apostolic Currency:Dram Life Expectancy:72 GDP per Capita:U.S. $3,600 Literacy Percent:99

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Serzh Sargsyan (born June 30, 1954) is the third and current P resident of Armenia. He won the February 2008 presidential election with the backing of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, a party in which he serves as chairman, and took office in April 2008.On February 18, 2013, he was reelected as President. Both elections were disputed by the opposition, who claimed Sargsyan rigged the elections

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* Fast Facts Population:8,151,000 Capital:Vienna; 2,179,000 Area:83,858 square kilometers (32,378 square miles) Language:German Religion:Roman Catholic, Protestant Currency:Euro Life Expectancy:79

GDP per Capita:U.S. $27,900 Literacy Percent:98

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Heinz Fischer (born 9 October 1938) is the President of Austria. He took office on 8 July 2004 and was re-elected for a second and last term on 25 April 2010. Fischer previously served as Minister of Science from 1983 to 1987 and as President of the National Council of Austria from 1990 to 2002. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), he suspended his party hip for the duration of his presidency.

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* Fast Facts Population:8,388,000 Capital:Baku; 1,816,000 Area:86,600 square kilometers (33,436 square miles )Language:Azerbaijani, Russian Religion:Muslim, Russian Orthodox Currency:Azerbaijani manat Life Expectancy:72

GDP per Capita:U.S. $3,700 Literacy Percent:97

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Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is thePresident of Azerbaijan, since 2003. He also functions as the Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Partyand the head of the National Olympic Committee. Apart from his native Azerbaijani, he speaks English and Russian. Ilham Aliyev is the son of Heydar Aliyev, who was Azerbaijan's president from 1993-2003. Ilham Aliyev's image remains largely controversial. He has been criticized for his authoritarian rule and often described as a dictator by analysts and political commentators.[ At the same time, within internal politics, he has never had serious rivals capable of challenging his iron grip on Azerbaijani politics. It is widely expected that Aliyev will win the 2013 presidential elections.

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* Fast Facts Population:10,458,000 Capital:Brussels; 998,000 Area:30,528 square kilometers (11,787 square miles) Language:Dutch, French, German Religion:Roman Catholic, Protestant Currency:Euro Life Expectancy:78 GDP per Capita:U.S. $29,200 Literacy Percent:98

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Elio Di Rupo French: ( born 18 July 1951) is a Belgian social-democratic politician. He has been the Prime Minister of Belgium since 6 December 2011 and heads the Di Rupo I Government. Di Rupo is the first francophone to hold the office since Paul Vanden Boeynants in 1979, as well as the country's first socialist Prime Minister since Edmond Leburton left office in 1974. He is also the first Belgian Prime Minister of non-Walloon or non-Flemish descent as well as the only openly gay leader of a European Union country.

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* Fast Facts Population:9,776,000 Capital:Minsk; 1,705,000

Area:207,595 square kilometers (80,153 square miles) Language:Belarusian, Russian Religion:Eastern Othodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim Currency:Belarusian ruble Life Expectancy:69 GDP per Capita:U.S. $8,700 Literacy Percent:100

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Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (born 30 or 31 August 1954) is President of Belarus, having assumed the post on 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of a stateowned agricultural farm and spent time with the Soviet Border Troops and the Soviet Army. When he first entered politics, he was seen as a champion against corruption and was the only deputy to vote against the independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union.

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Lukashenko's resistance to Western-backed "shock therapy" during the post-Soviet transition has met great resistance from the U.S. and Europe. Belarus is labelled as 'Europe's last dictatorship' by much of the West. Western governments accuse Lukashenko of an authoritarian style of government. Lukashenko responds that his policies are the only alternative to instability, and have spared Belarus from the poverty seen elsewhere in the former Soviet Union and from powerful networks of organized crime known as the "Russian mafia

* Fast Facts Population:3,840,000 Capital:Sarajevo; 579,000 Area:51,129 square kilometers (19,741 square miles) Language:Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian Religion:Muslim, Orthodox, Roman Catholic Currency:Marka Life Expectancy:72 GDP per Capita:U.S. $1,900 Literacy Percent:97

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Nebojša Ranović born October 1, 1949, Gračanica, BosniaHerzegovina, Yugoslavia) is a Bosnian Serb politician. He was elected on October 1, 2006 to a four year term as the Serb member of the tripartite presidencyof Bosnia and Herzegovina and assumed office on November 6, 2006, as did the other two elected at the same time, Haris Silajdžić and Željko Komšić. He was reelected in 2010. The main reason Kosovo has not been recognized by Bosnia and Herzegovina is as a result of Nebojša Ranović disputing Kosovo's independence. The Croat and Bosniak president's both the recognition of Kosovo as a sovereign state. Most Western countries such as the United States and United Kingdom have recognized Kosovo's sovereignty. As a result of Nebojša Ranović's and his parties tactics, Bosnia and Herzegovina is having more issues in becoming a member of the European Union. [1] He is a member of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats.

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* Fast Facts Population:7,741,000 Capital:Sofia; 1,076,000 Area:110,994 square kilometers (42,855 square miles) Language:Bulgarian Religion:Bulgarian Orthodox, Muslim Currency:Lev Life Expectancy:72 GDP per Capita:U.S. $6,500 Literacy Percent:92

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Rosen Asenov Plevneliev (born 14 May 1964) has beenPresident of Bulgaria since January 2012. He was the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works from July 2009 to September 2011 as part of the cabinet of Boyko Borisov. In October 2011, Plevneliev was elected as President in a second round of voting; he was inaugurated on 18 January 2012.

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Plevneliev became Minister of Regional Development and Public Works under Prime Minister Borisov on 27 July 2009.

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As a result of the 2013 Bulgarian protests against monopoly and high electricity prices, the conservative government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov tendered its resignation on 20 February 2013. President Plevneliev, acting in accordance with the constitution, offered a mandate to form a new government within the term of the current Parliament to GERB, BSP and DPS but after each of them declined, Plevneliev appointed a caretaker government on 13 March 2013, with Marin Raykov, the Bulgarian ambassador in Paris as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

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Plevneliev advocates for closer relations between Bulgaria and the People's Republic of China.

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* Fast Facts Population:4,438,000 Capital:Zagreb; 688,000 Area:56,542 square kilometers (21,831 square miles) Language:Croatian Religion:Roman Catholic, Orthodox Currency:Kuna Life Expectancy:74 GDP per Capita:U.S. $9,800 Literacy Percent:99

* Ivo Josipović ( born 28 August

1957) is the thirdPresident of Croatia since 2010. Josipović entered politics as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia (SKH), and played a key role in the democratic transformation of this party as the author of the first statute of the SDP that replaced the SKH-SKJ. He left politics in 1994, but returned in 2003 as an independent Member of Parliament. In addition to politics, Josipović has also worked as a university professor, legal expert, musician and composer.

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* Fast Facts Population:1,072,000 Capital:Nicosia; 233,000

Area:9,251 square kilometers (3,572 square miles) Language:Greek, Turkish, English Religion:Greek Orthodox, Muslim Currency:euro Life Expectancy:78 GDP per Capita:U.S. $9,700 Literacy Percent:100

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Nicos Anastasiades (born 27 September 1946) is a Cypriot politician who has been President of Cyprus since 2013. Previously, he was leader of the center-right political party Democratic Rally (DISY).

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Anastasiadis ed the Annan Plan for Cyprus, even though a majority (61%) of his party voted it down. Some of his intra-party opposition were even calling for Anastasiadis to step down. Many party cadres were up in arms over Anastasiadis' letter to the European Parliament alleging that the government trampled on free speech and human rights during the campaign. The government cited the National Television Council's data that showed that the six parties ing the "No" vote got as much air time as the two that ed the UN plan. The start of peace negotiations between Nicos Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart will begin in October 2013, attracting the interest of international media and world leaders including Barack Obama.

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* Fast Facts Population:10,212,000 Capital:Prague; 1,170,000 Area:78,866 square kilometers (30,450 square miles) Language:Czech Religion:Roman Catholic, Protestant, atheist Currency:Czech koruna Life Expectancy:75 GDP per Capita:U.S. $15,300 Literacy Percent:100

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Miloš Zeman ( born 28 September 1944) is the third and current President of the Czech Republic, in office since 8 March 2013. Previously he served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. As leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party during the 1990s, he transformed it into one of the country's major parties. He was Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech parliament, from 1996 to 1998.

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In January 2013, Zeman was elected as President of the Czech Republic. He is the first directly elected President in Czech history; both of his predecessors, Václav Havel and Václav Klaus, were elected by the Parliament.

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In 1990, Zeman became a member of the Chamber of the Nations of the Czechoslovak Federal Assembly. In 1992, he successfully ran for the Chamber of the People of the Federal Assembly, already as a member of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), which he ed the same year. In 1993, he was elected the chairman of the party, and in the following years he transformed it into one of the country's major parties

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* Fast Facts Population:5,418,000 Capital:Copenhagen; 1,066,000 Area:43,098 square kilometers (16,640 square miles) Language:Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic Religion:Evangelical LutheranCurrency:Danish krone Life Expectancy:77

GDP per Capita:U.S. $28,900 Literacy Percent:100

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Helle Thorning-Schmidt (born 14 December 1966) is a Danish politician who has been the Prime Minister of Denmark since 3 October 2011 and the Leader of the Social Democrats since 12 April 2005. She is the first woman to hold either post. Thorning-Schmidt served as a Member of the European Parliament for Denmark from 1999 to 2004 before being elected to the Danish Parliament in 2005. She was elected to replace Mogens Lykketoftas Leader of the Social Democrats after the 2005 parliamentary election, leading her party through the2007 parliamentary election, which was won by the centre-right alliance, and the 2011 parliamentary election, after which she was appointed Prime Minister by Queen Margrethe II. Thorning-Schmidt holds degrees in political science from the University of Copenhagen and the College of Europe.

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* Fast Facts Population:1,345,000 Capital:Tallinn; 391,000

Area:45,227 square kilometers (17,462 square miles )Language:Estonian, Russian Religion:Evangelical Lutheran, Russian Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox Currency:Estonian kroon

Life Expectancy:71 GDP per Capita:U.S. $11,000 Literacy Percent:100

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Toomas Hendrik Ilves (born 26 December 1953) is thefourth President of Estonia, in office since 2006. Ilves worked as a diplomat and journalist, and he was the leader of the Social Democratic Party in the 1990s. He served in the government as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 1998 and again from 1999 to 2002. Later, he was a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2006. He was elected as President of Estonia by an electoral college on 23 September 2006 and his term as President began on 9 October 2006.

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* Fast Facts Population:5,246,000 Capital:Helsinki; 1,075,000 Area:338,145 square kilometers (130,558 square miles) Language:Finnish, Swedish Religion:Evangelical Lutheran Currency:Euro Life Expectancy:78 GDP per Capita:U.S. $25,800 Literacy Percent:100

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Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (born 24 August 1948) is the 12th and current President of Finland, in office since 2012. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2003 and the National Coalition Party candidate in the 2006 presidential election. He served as the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland from 2007 to 2011 and has been the Honorary President of the European People's Party(EPP) since 2002. Niinistö was the National Coalition Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election, beating Pekka Haavisto of the Green League with 62.6% of the vote in the decisive second round. Niinistö assumed office on 1 March 2012, and is the first president from the National Coalition Party since Juho Kusti Paasikivi, who left office in 1956.

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* Fast Facts Population:60,742,000Capital:Paris; 9,854,000Area:543,965 square kilometers (210,026 square miles) Language:French Religion:Roman Catholic Currency:Euro Life Expectancy:79

GDP per Capita:U.S. $26,000 Literacy Percent:99

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François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who is the current President of and CoPrince of Andorra. He was previously the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party from 1997 to 2008, and a Deputy of theNational Assembly of for Corrèze's 1st Constituency from 1988 to 1993 and again from 1997 to 2012. He also served as the Mayor of Tulle from 2001 to 2008 and the President of the General Council of Corrèze from 2008 to 2012. He was elected President of on 6 May 2012, defeating incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, and was sworn in on 15 May.[1] He is the second Socialist Party president of the French Fifth Republic, after François Mitterrand.