ABSTRACT

The 12 countries of the European Community share, first and foremost, a common historical heritage. All have experienced monarchy in some form 1 and half of them —Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the UK, Luxemburg and the Netherlands—still retain it today. In contrast, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Germany have adopted the republican system (the most recent of these being Greece, which rejected monarchy in the referendum of December 1974 following the restoration of democracy).