European
Law
In
the same way UK citizens are entitled to vote for MPs,
so too are they entitled to vote for MEPs (Members of the
European Parliament). The European Parliament is part of
the EU (European Union) and it meets in Brussels. It consists
of MEPs from the 15 ‘Member
States’ of the EU: Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain,
Holland, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Denmark,
Norway, Greece and the UK. The UK joined the EU in 1973 and
since then European law has played an increasing source of
laws in our country. An important example of a European
law which has affected the UK is the right to equal treatment
for men and women at work. This ensures that they are paid
the same for the same type of work, they retire at the same
age and more recently, that men are entitled to paid time off
work when their babies are born, in the same way that women
have been for some time.
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