94-562: The Spitzenkandidat process ( German: [ˈʃpɪt͡sn̩kandiˌdaːt] , German for ' lead candidate ') is the method of linking the choice of President of the Commission to the outcome of the European Parliament elections, with each major European political party (not to be confused with the political groups of the European Parliament ) nominating their candidate for Commission President prior to
188-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
282-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
376-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
470-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
564-398: A more direct system. Some suggestions toward this have been electing the president via a transnational list, having a direct election, and holding primary elections . Parliamentary proposals to enact some of these in advance of the 2019 election have been opposed by some in the council. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )
658-926: A more inclusive, economic, and sustainable future for all. The ECR Party has had two Presidents: The ACRE is formally affiliated to groupings in the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions of the European Union, the Congress of the Council of Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly . The ECR group is the sixth-largest group in
752-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
846-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
940-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1034-960: A second term as Commission President. The PES has nominated Nicolas Schmit , the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights. The Greens have nominated Terry Reintke MEP and Bas Eickhout MEP. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe nominated the Chair of the Defence Committee of the German Bundestag Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann and the European Left has put forward the Austrian Walter Baier . European Commission presidency candidates have each time participated in televised debates, including
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#17327755594811128-752: A vote to elect him/her as President. Already in 2004 the centre-right EPP argued that, as the largest party, an EPP member should be nominated, and indeed the European Council put forward José Manuel Barroso . The approach of national governments was traditionally to appoint the various high-profile jobs in EU institutions (European Council president, High Representative and so on) dividing them accordingly along geographic, political and gender lines. This sometimes led to fairly low-profile figures, avoiding candidates who had either made enemies of some national governments or who were seen as potentially challenging
1222-717: Is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and
1316-497: Is a conservative , soft Eurosceptic European political party with a main focus on reforming the European Union (EU) on the basis of Eurorealism , as opposed to total rejection of the EU (anti-EU-ism). The political movement was founded on 1 October 2009, after the creation of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) political group of the European Parliament . It was officially recognised by
1410-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
1504-568: Is affiliated with the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament, the pan-European think tank New Direction – The Foundation for European Reform , and the youth organisation the European Young Conservatives . It is also formally associated with the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the Committee of the Regions , in the Congress of the Council of Europe , and in
1598-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
1692-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
1786-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
1880-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
1974-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
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#17327755594812068-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
2162-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
2256-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
2350-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
2444-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
2538-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
2632-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
2726-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
2820-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
2914-563: The Eurovision Debate , hosted and broadcast by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and at other public venues, including a now traditional debate organised and hosted by Maastricht University . Some commentators argued that wording of Article 17.7 obliging the European Council to take account of the results of the elections to the European Parliament does not necessarily mean that it should take heed of
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3008-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
3102-546: The Alliance for Progress and Renewal (ALFA) of Germany and M10 party of Romania in March 2016. The Liberal Party of Australia , Istiqlal Party of Morocco, National Party of New Zealand, and Republican Party of the United States joined as further regional partners in 2014, followed by Afek Tounes and Likud Movement in 2015 and 2016. The Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists officially changed its name to
3196-609: The Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE) on 6 October 2016. In December 2018, ACRE was ordered to repay more than half a million euros of EU funds, following an investigation into their spending. This included €250,000 for a three-day conference in Miami and €90,000 for a trade meeting in Kampala . ACRE had previously been asked to return €121,000 given to the Prosperous Armenia party. More recently,
3290-905: The Civic Conservative Party from Slovakia joined; Iceland's Independence Party in November 2011 (the party's first member from outside the European Union); Georgia's Christian-Democratic Movement in August 2012; Italy's Conservatives and Social Reformers in October 2012; the Conservative Party of Canada became the ACRE's first associate member (later renamed 'regional partners') in November 2012; Turkey 's ruling Justice and Development Party in November 2013; and
3384-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
3478-509: The European Green Party also selected lead candidates. The Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists did not name a candidate, objecting to the principle of Spitzenkandidaten and its "tenuous" basis in law. The German term for lead candidates caught on, and they became known informally as Spitzenkandidaten . The EPP won a relative majority (29%) in the 2014 election, and Jean-Claude Juncker, its lead candidate,
3572-604: The European Parliament in January 2010. ECR Party is governed by a board of directors who are elected by the Council, which represents all ECR member parties. The executive board is composed of the President Giorgia Meloni (Prime Minister of Italy), Vicepresident Radosław Fogiel (Polish member of the Parliament) and Secretary General Antonio Giordano (Italian member of the Parliament). The party
3666-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
3760-520: The European Union . Europe is at a critical juncture, making the ECR Party's reform agenda more important than ever. They are urging people to join their movement and help push a vision for a better Europe—and a better world. They state "by participating, you can play an important role in advancing their vision of not just reforming the European Union but also making a beneficial influence internationally". ECR seeking assistance for their efforts to create
3854-706: The Faroe Islands ' People's Party , and Romania 's New Republic ; and in July 2014, Prosperous Armenia . The Conservative Party of Georgia and New Majority joined on 1 November 2014. At the same time, the ACRE formally affiliated to the European Conservatives Group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe . In November 2015, the Conservatives and Reformists of Italy were admitted as ECR Party members, followed by
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3948-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
4042-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
4136-506: The NATO Parliamentary Assembly . In the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , the ECR Party forms the European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance with the Identity and Democracy Party . The European Conservatives and Reformists Party was founded as the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists on 1 October 2009, after the ECR political group was founded in
4230-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
4324-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
4418-422: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
4512-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
4606-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
4700-406: The ECR has seen a shift further towards the conservative right with the acceptance of the Brothers of Italy , Forum for Democracy , Vox , and the Sweden Democrats as members in 2019. On 11 April 2023, the Finns Party joined as the most recent member of the ECR's European Parliament group . The ideas serve as the cornerstone for ECR's political ideology, which guides to approach to changing
4794-427: The ECRP. The European Young Conservatives (EYC) is ECR Party's youth wing. It brings together conservative and political parties from across Europe. As of 2020, the group has a membership of 30 political youth organisations from 30 countries and territories. Its patron was Margaret Thatcher until her death in 2013. ECRP adopted the Reykjavík Declaration at its Council Meeting on 21 March 2014. The declaration defines
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#17327755594814888-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
4982-440: The European Commission; his own party, the centre-left Party of European Socialists named Schulz as its lead candidate (German: Spitzenkandidat ). The EPP held an election Congress in Dublin, where Jean-Claude Juncker beat his rival Michel Barnier and subsequently ran as the EPP lead candidate. The European Left Party (GUE/NGL) chose Alexis Tsipras as candidate. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and
5076-445: The European Council were themselves involved in choosing the Spitzenkandidat of their respective parties. For example, Jean-Claude Juncker was chosen as the EPP's candidate by the party congress in Dublin with the participation of EPP European Council members such as Angela Merkel , Mariano Rajoy and Enda Kenny . Others have argued that the Spitzenkandidat -process is still insufficiently democratic and needs to be replaced with
5170-455: The European Parliament elected von der Leyen in July 2019 by 383 votes to 327. Given that the treaty requires a majority of component members of the Parliament (i.e. abstentions and absences effectively count against) to support the President, she was elected with only 9 votes above that threshold (of, at the time, 374 votes). Most European political parties have again put forward Spitzenkandidates . The EPP has nominated Ursula von der Leyen for
5264-449: The European Parliament", so that Article 17.7 now included the wording Taking into account the elections to the European Parliament and after having held the appropriate consultations, the European Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall propose to the European Parliament a candidate for President of the Commission. This candidate shall be elected by the European Parliament by a majority of its component members. If he does not obtain
5358-506: The European Parliament, founded in 1970 and existing for most of its history as the 'European Democrat Group' became officially affiliated to the ACRE on 29 September 2014. The EC group is led by Samad Seyidov MP, of the New Azerbaijan Party. As of 23 October 2014, the European Conservatives have the following members: The ECR group in the Congress of the Council of Europe brings together representatives in local government from across Europe. It has 31 members, 26 of whom represent parties in
5452-401: The European Parliament. Founded in 2009, the ECR brings together 64 MEPs from 15 countries. The ECR currently is led by two co-chairmen, Ryszard Legutko of the Polish Law and Justice party and Nicola Procaccini of the Brothers of Italy party. Following the creation of the ECR Group in the European Parliament in 2009, and the creation of the ACRE in 2010, the ECR Group in the Committee of
5546-421: The European Parliament. Negotiations within the European Council were on a party-to-party basis (the Croatian and Latvian Prime Ministers led the negotiations for the EPP, the Spanish and Portuguese Prime Ministers for the Socialists, and the Belgian and Dutch Prime Ministers for the Liberals). Agreement was eventually reached on a compromise candidate for Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen (EPP). The PES
5640-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
5734-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
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#17327755594815828-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
5922-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
6016-496: The Group is Cllr. Gordon Keymer CBE (Leader of Tandridge District Council) and the Vice-Presidents are Dan Jiránek (Mayor of Kladno) and Daiva Matonienė (Deputy Mayor of Šiauliai City Council). Adam Banaszak (Member of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie regional assembly), Cllr. Kay Twitchen OBE (Member of Essex County Council) and Cllr. Judith Pearce (Deputy Leader of Wychavon District Council and Executive board member for Planning, Infrastructure and Housing). The European Conservatives Group in
6110-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
6204-644: The Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
6298-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
6392-446: The Parliamentary elections. The Spitzenkandidat of the largest party (or the one able to secure the support of a majority coalition) would then be proposed by the European Council to the European Parliament for election to the Commission Presidency. This process was first followed in 2014, though its legitimacy was contested by some of the members of the European Council (with the UK and Hungarian Prime Ministers voting against
6486-429: The Regions was formed on 10 April 2013 under the leadership of Gordon Keymer CBE and with the support of the ACRE. The Group was officially announced during the 11–12 April 100th Committee of the Regions plenary session. The ECR Group was the first Group to be formed in the Committee of the Regions during the course of a mandate and was the first ECR Group to be formed outside of the European Parliament. The President of
6580-406: The council or certain member states. Unease had built up around the secretive power play that was involved in these appointments, leading to a desire for a more democratic process. At the end of 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force. It amended the appointment of the Commission President in the Treaty on European Union Article 17.7 to add the wording "taking into account the elections to
6674-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
6768-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
6862-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
6956-532: The elections and debates were held among them. The EPP nominated the leader of their Group in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber . The PES put forward the Vice President of the outgoing European Commission, Frans Timmermans . Other parties also put forward candidates, including the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists who had declined to do so in the previous elections. The EPP again won
7050-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
7144-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
7238-485: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists The European Conservatives and Reformists Party ( ECR Party or simply ECR ), formerly known as Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists ( AECR , 2009–2016) and Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe ( ACRE , 2016–2019),
7332-548: The most seats in the elections, but Weber was unable to secure support from other parties. Timmermans seemed more likely to build a coalition of cross-party support. The most senior EPP head of government, Merkel, at first accepted that it should be Timmermans on the margins of the G20 summit in Osaka on 28-29 June, but a number of other EPP leaders did not follow her. It took two meetings of the European Council to agree on who to propose to
7426-507: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
7520-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
7614-655: The nomination of the EPP's Spitzenkandidat Jean-Claude Juncker). According to the treaties, the President of the European Commission is nominated by the European Council. Since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, this nomination has to be made in light of the results of the European Parliament election, and the nominee has to be backed by a majority of Members of the European Parliament in
7708-455: The party candidates for President, as such an interpretation would amount to a "power grab" at the expense of the European Council. They argued that the European Council found itself taken off guard by how the process took off, and had backed themselves into a corner in having to approve the candidate of the largest party. Following the appointment, leaders vowed to review the process. On the other hand, it has also been pointed out that members of
7802-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
7896-529: The required majority, the European Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall within one month propose a new candidate who shall be elected by the European Parliament following the same procedure. In 2013, in preparation for the European election of 2014 , Martin Schulz , then President of the European Parliament campaigned for European political parties to name lead candidates for the post of President of
7990-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
8084-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
8178-828: The wake of the 2009 European Parliament election , and was officially recognised by the European Parliament in January 2010. Amongst ACRE's eight founding members, the largest were the UK Conservative Party , the Polish PiS and the Czech ODS . ECR Party was formally constituted under the chairmanship of Belgian MEP Derk Jan Eppink , who was succeeded by Czech MEP Jan Zahradil . ACRE's first congress took place in Warsaw on 8 June 2010, attended by its founding members, including UK Conservative Party Chairman and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek . On 25 March 2011,
8272-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
8366-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
8460-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
8554-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
8648-575: Was compensated by Timmermans becoming First Vice President able to choose his own portfolio and Josep Borrell becoming High Representative for Foreign Affairs, and the Liberals (whose support was now necessary as the EPP and the socialists no longer had a majority together in the EP) by Charles Michel becoming President of the European Council. Despite misgivings among some of the Socialist MEPs,
8742-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
8836-624: Was nominated by the European Council. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán were the only members of the council to object to his selection. After negotiations with other parties (and their corresponding political Groups in the European Parliament), Juncker was duly elected as Commission President by the Parliament in July 2014 by 422 votes to 250. European political parties again put forward their candidates for Commission President ahead of
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