The term usually has a negative connotation, suggesting that a nation has its eyes on more than its fair share of things, as in Soviet expansionism. Eurocommunism - communism in Western Europe, particularly in France and Italy, and with the exception of Britain, has gained more of a foothold than it has in the U.S. Western European communist parties tend to be more democratic than their Eastern European or Russian counterparts, and have some measure of genuine public support. They have also tended to pursue policies that are independent of Moscow, particularly in the wake of the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The term Eurocommunism became current in the 1970s. Member countries have been developing common policies on a wide range of issues such as agriculture, environment, research and development.
Membership is open to any European democracy.
Headquarters for the EC is in Brussels, Belgium. It meets each month for one week in Strasbourg, France. Euthanasia is illegal in the U.S., but it is a controversial issue in America today. More and more people are believing that they should have the right to decide, if they are suffering from an incurable and eventually fatal illness, when and how they should die. It means that if, for example, someone is on a committee as an ex officio member, he is on the committee because of the office he holds, rather than because he was elected or otherwise appointed to the committee.