3. Read the article and discuss it. Before you read,

a) check if you are ready to answer the following questions:

b) translate the words given in bold letters

Analysis: European elections can bring a cash bonanza for the far Right

The door to a well-funded new world of freebies, foreign trips and fantastic pay and perks is about to open for Andrew Brons and Nick Griffin that will launch the British National Party on to a much bigger stage.

Of course there will be the fully equipped offices in Brussels and Strasbourg, the salary of €91,980 a year (£80,443), the annual staff budget of up to €210,480, which can be spent on employees in the European Parliament or in the UK, and the office allowance for telephone and postal costs of €50,424 a year (no receipts required).

Then, depending on how often he turns up for work in the European Parliament, there is the daily allowance of €298, making the total annual possible amount €88,804 — again, no receipts needed, just signing in during the day.

As Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader, boasted during the election campaign, he received more than £2 million over the course of the last five-year European Parliament session, much of which was channelled back to UKIP in Britain.

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Mr Brons and Mr Griffin will also be able to represent Britain and the EU by joining at least two of the European Parliament’s 34 delegations to other national parliaments, which have regular all-expenses-paid visits to foreign climes to cement fraternal relations.

A target could be the delegation to the United States, whose 42 full members travel every year to Washington to rub shoulders with senior Congress members and are formally received on the floor of the Senate.

The gateway to even further funding and, crucially, influence, will be opened if Europe’s far-right parties can club together to form an official parliamentary group.

This will require at least 25 MEPs (up from 20 in the last session) from a minimum of seven countries and there were signs last night that the threshold could be met. An official group would not only receive guaranteed speaking rights in the parliament chamber at every debate and formal occasion but also a share of the annual €26.3 million allowance for parliamentary groups.

This year, the IndDem group, which includes UKIP, with 22 MEPs under the old rules, was given a total of €775,969 towards the costs of extra offices, secretarial support and press officers, translation for meetings and party use in the UK.

The BNP’s share, depending on the number of MEPs, could be more than €100,000 a year.

Mr Brons and Mr Griffin will be able to apply to sit on European Parliament committees, where legislation is scrutinised, and which would give them the right to propose legislation by writing official reports.

If the European far Right bands together, it will have the power to claim deputy chairmanships of some committees. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/elections/article6452806.ece

Disscussion Point 4

What distinguishes fair election from rigged one? How vote-rigging can be prevented? Do you think that officers elected to Parliaments should have any prerogatives?

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Lesson 15.

POWER-POINT PRESENTATIONS:

ELECTIONS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

1 Высший (Сессионный суд) по гражданским делам Шотландии

2 Высший уголовный суд в Шотландии(Суд Юстициария)

3 Судебный комитет тайного совета

4 Суд(комиссия ) по делам беженцев и иммигрантов - МК

5 Суд по трудовым спорам- МК

6 Суд королевской скамьи

7 лорд - ординарий апелляционного суда

8 Legal Services Comission