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poemless:
Spain, I can't tell
Spain, like Britain, is a monarchy, therefore it has a King and not a President. However, in Spanish usage, the "prime minister" is the "president of the government" in opposition to the "president of the republic" when Spain was one.

In Italy, Napolitano is il Presidente della Repubblica and Berlisconi is il Presidente del Consiglio (Chairman of the Council [of ministers]).

See wikipedia: Head of state

Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes personifying the continuity and legitimacy of the state and exercising the political powers, functions and duties granted to the head of state in the country's constitution and laws. In nation states the head of state is often thought of as the official "leader" of the nation.
Wikipedia Head of government
Head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled Prime Minister, President of the Government, Premier, etc. In presidential republics or monarchies, the head of government may be the same person as the head of state, who is often called respectively a president or a monarch.
And DoDo's European countries' confusing political systems... (May 11th, 2006)
In afew's Villepin a cinder, Chirac toast? diary, a discussion developed on the arcane complexities of the French and other representative democracies. I thought, why not illustrate it all with silly little graphs. Jérôme likes graphs, so now I'll turn this a story - with new, slightly less silly graphs...

Let the 'whose political system is best' debate begin...



A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 12:12:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
the head of State is Obama
the head of Government is the chairman of Goldman Sachs

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 12:17:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
So, the US is a financial oligarchy with a popularly-elected figurehead president?

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 12:22:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
thanks, i alwasy wondered who the actual head was. D'ya reckon he's the magi of the Illuminati ? {hides}

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 12:47:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I don't think the Illuminati are accepting automated trading farms as members just yet.
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 05:19:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
And here I was thinking it was Evan Bayh.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 05:52:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You've misunderstood.  I meant the title, not the job description  I didn't know there was anyone in Italy called the President.  

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 12:50:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
In fact there are two people, one of them being Berlusconi.

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 01:12:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I thought he was PM.  

Migeru, sometimes the more you talk, the more you confuse me.  You can interpret that as a sign of my intellectual short-comings, but I thought you should know.  In case you're under the impression that you're enlightening me.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

by poemless on Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 01:16:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
In English he's PM. In Italian he's Presidente del Consiglio which means "chairman of the council [of ministers]".

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 01:18:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It's the same in German, as well as Hungarian, BTW, with the further complication that in Hungarian, President doesn't have a Latin root:

  • figurehead President: köztársasági elnök (lit. 'Republican President')
  • PM: miniszterelnök (lit. Minister President).


*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 01:49:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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