Matters of State...

1- In 1957, six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, which extended the earlier co-operation within the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and created the European Economic Community (EEC), establishing a customs union.>

What were these six countries who created what evolved into today's EU?

2- Name as many European kings or queens - with actual first names - that you can?

3- Of all moarchs who is the 2nd longest reigning after Q E II?

4- Who is the most recently ascended European king or queen? (Popes not included)

5- Name at least five political heads of state - not heads of state on paper but those who actually are top politifcal dog in their country (like Obama is here)?

6- Who is the longest serving in consecutive years of any EU government head - again not kings or queens but people like David Cameron - heads of the government.

7- Who is (or was) Georges Marchais?

8- The Schengen Accords were named after this town - why was it symbolically chosen and where is it?

9- The Netherlands is often said to have two capitals - but really only one - why the confusion and where is the effective governmental capital and why is the other city also at times eroneously considered to be the capaital?

10 - France's Marie Le Pen has a famous father - who is he and why is he famous? And why is he often called half blind?

1- Italy, W Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands


2- George, Louis, Edward, Wilhelm, too many

3- Victoria

8- Where 3 countries come together: Germany, France, Luxembourg

9- Amsterdam is the capital because the monarch lives there? The govt is in the Hague.

10 - Don't know why Jean-Marie is famous, other than founding a nationalistic party.

Amsterdam is the capital, but the government is in Den Haag.
The current king lives in Wassenaar, but will move to Den Haag at some point. Queen Juliana, the one before last, lived in Paleis Soestdijk, in Baarn, just around the corner from me. Well a couple of kms round the corner.

3 If you mean Europe then Franz Joseph I after Louis IV. If you mean UK then Queen Elizabeth II after Victoria, until September 2015

3. Margrethe II of Denmark - 43 years.
4, Felipe VI of Spain, latest of a recent spate of new kings after abdications.

For 2 do you want reigning monarchs? Not clear.

5, again not clear. In some countries there is a president who is head of state but otherwise pretty much the Royals, so the Prime Minister is the political head, just as in the UK. In a few the president is top dog politically too.

That should have been Louis XIV

- Don't know why Jean-Marie is famous, other than founding a nationalistic party.>

He is infamous in France for polarizing for the first time really anti-immigrant feelings in France - he lost an eye in a fight - was and is a thug - he was the 2nd place finisher in Presidential elections not long ago - got into the runoff - very famous and hated by many French though that feeling is changing.

Marie Le Pen has carried the mantle and moderated her papa's more militant jingoistic stances and is rather popular with more mainstream French than her thug papa.

For 2 do you want reigning monarchs? Not clear.>

Yes poorly phrased - current monarchs.

and # 3 I should have said current monarchs too

anyway tom mn has it locked up with all six correct answers

questions 2 and 3 - will take answers as to how you interpretted the question. Sory about not parsing the question more.

I didn't lock up, really? I had just read the list for #1 recently.

You technically correct on the Dutch capital, but it isn't because the monarch lives there. It is stated as the capital in the Dutch constitution, nothing to do with the monarchy. Until fairly recently they didn't even live in Den Haag, but in Soestdijk and Het Loo before that.

I can't say there are any current monarchs called George, Wilhelm etc.

Oh and Marine Le Pen, is the name of the daughter, not Marie in 10.

"5- Name at least five political heads of state - not heads of state on paper but those who actually are top politifcal dog in their country (like Obama is here)"

Among civilised countries, only France shares with America the constitutional absurdity of expecting the same person to be both head of state and head of government. Otherwise (or possibly "predictably therefore") it's a feature of autocratic dictatorships - like Saddam's Iraq or North Korea.

What characterise ALL such states, of course, is their insularity and the self-evidently insane delusion theirs is a system of government anyone else would want to copy.

7. Former head of the French CP. His relations with Mitterand make fascinating reading

6. I had to google this.

It used to be Juncker (18 yrs) till 2013. It's now Merkel, whose tenth anniversary as Chancellor is in November. She'll overtake Maggie as Europe's longest-serving female head of government in a democracy ever about three years from now.

Sorry:

About two years from now. 11.5 years from appointment.

I didn't lock up, really? I had just read the list for #1 recently.

Not sure what you mean - I meant you had six correct answers so locked up the ton of (melting) snow price and for #1 those six are indeed called the Inner Six!

Congratulations!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Juncker

for others who are not so familiar with Juncker - flanner mentions.

Sorry I was away all day but now 6 pm I am home and learning from all of you.!