Population history.

The earliest inhabitants of most of the land area that makes up today's Finland and Scandinavia were in all likehood hunter-gatherers whose closest successors in modern terms would probably be the Sami people (formerly known as the Lapps). There are 4,500 of them living in Finland today and they are recognised as a minority and speak three distinct languages: Northern Sami, Inari Sami and Skolt Sami. They have been living north of the Arctic Circle for more than 7,000 years now, but today are a 5% minority in their native Lapland Province. During the late 19th and 20th century there was significant emigration, particularly from rural areas to Sweden and North America, while most immigrants into Finland itself come from other European countries.

Centre of population.

The geographical center of population (Weber point) of the Finnish population is currently located in Hauho, in the village of Sappee, now part of the town of Hämeenlinna. The coordinates of this point are 61' 17" N, 25' 07" E.

Families.

The profound demographic and economic changes that occurred in Finland after World War II affected the Finnish family. Families became smaller, dropping from an average of 3.6 persons in 1950 to an average of 2.7 by 1975. Family composition did not change much in that quarter of a century, however, and in 1975 the percentage of families that consisted of a man and a woman was 24.4; of a couple and children, 61.9; of a woman with offspring, 11.8; of a man and offspring, 1.9. These percentages are not markedly different from those of 1950. Change was seen in the number of children per family, which fell from an average of 2.24 in 1950 to an average of 1.7 in the mid-1980s, and large families were rare. Only 2 percent of families had four or more children, while 51 percent had one child; 38 percent, two children; and 9 percent, three children. The number of Finns under the age of 18 dropped from 1.5 million in 1960 to 1.2 million in 1980.

Total Fertility Rate from 1776 to 1899.

The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.

Vital statistics from 1900.

Data according to Statistics Finland, which collects the official statistics for Finland.

Current vital statistics.

- Number of births from January–April 2019 = 14,683  - Number of births from January–April 2020 = 15,148  - Number of deaths from January–April 2019 = 18,767  - Number of deaths from January–April 2020 = 18,529  - Natural increase from January–April 2019 = -4,084  - Natural increase from January–April 2020 = -3,381

Total fertility rate.

The rate of fertility was greater than in neighbour countries all over 20th century. After 2010, it has been dropping dramatically, despite other Nordic countries don't have such trend until now. It's a modern phenomenon that Sweden and Finland are both social oriented countries, having almost the same income, but only Finland is facing with natural population decline (excluding immigration).

Life expectancy from 1755 to 2015.

Sources: Our World In Data and the United Nations.  1755-1950  1950-2015 Source: "UN World Population Prospects"

Marriage.

Attitudes toward marriage have changed substantially since World War II. Most obvious was the declining marriage rate, which dropped from 8.5 marriages per 1,000 Finns in 1950 to 5.8, in 1984, a decline great enough to mean a drop also in absolute numbers. In 1950 there were 34,000 marriages, while in 1984 only 28,500 were registered, despite a growth in population of 800,000. An explanation for the decline was that there was an unprecedented number of unmarried couples. Since the late 1960s, the practice of cohabitation had become increasingly common, so much so that by the late 1970s most marriages in urban areas grew out of what Finns called "open unions." In the 1980s, it was estimated that about 8 percent of couples who lived together, approximately 200,000 people, did so without benefit of marriage. Partners of such unions usually married because of the arrival of offspring or the acquisition of property. A result of the frequency of cohabitation was that marriages were postponed, and the average age for marriage, which had been falling, began to rise in the 1970s. By 1982 the average marriage age was 24.8 years for women and 26.8 years for men, several years higher for both sexes than had been true a decade earlier.  The overwhelming majority of Finns did marry, however. About 90 percent of the women had been married by the age of forty, and spinsterhood was rare. A shortage of women in rural regions, however, meant that some farmers were forced into bachelorhood.  While the number of marriages was declining, divorce became more common, increasing 250 percent between 1950 and 1980. In 1952 there were 3,500 divorces. The 1960s saw a steady increase in this rate, which averaged about 5,000 divorces a year. A high of 10,191 was reached in 1979; afterwards the divorce rate stabilized at about 9,500 per year during the first half of the 1980s.  A number of factors caused the increased frequency of divorce. One was that an increasingly secularized society viewed marriage, more often than before, as an arrangement that could be ended if it did not satisfy its partners. Another reason was that a gradually expanding welfare system could manage an ever-greater portion of the family's traditional tasks, and it made couples less dependent on the institution of marriage. Government provisions for parental leave, child allowances, child care programs, and much improved health and pension plans meant that the family was no longer essential for the care of children and aged relatives. A further cause for weakened family and marital ties was seen in the unsettling effects of the Great Migration and in the economic transformation Finland experienced during the 1960s and the 1970s. The rupture of established social patterns brought uncertainty and an increased potential for conflict into personal relationships.

Demographic statistics.

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.  Demographic statistics according to the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.  Finn 93.4%, Swede 5.6%, Russian 0.5%, Estonian 0.3%, Romani 0.1%, Sami 0.1% (2006)  Finnish (official) 87.9%, Swedish (official) 5.2%, Russian 1.4%, other 5.5% (2017 est.)  Lutheran 70.9%, Finnish Orthodox 1.1%, other 1.7%, unspecified 26.3% (2017 est.)

Ethnic minorities and languages.

No official statistics are kept on ethnicities. However, statistics of the Finnish population according to language, citizenship and country of birth are available. According to international census recommendations an ethnic group is defined by the perception of its members of historical and regional or national origin, and data or ethnic status should always be based on a person's own statement. Because the census in Finland is based on registries, Finland can not produce official statistics about ethnic groups.  Finnish and Swedish are defined as languages of the state. Swedish is an official municipal language in municipalities with significant Swedish-speaking populations. The three Sami languages (North Sami, Inari Sami, Skolt Sami) are official in certain municipalities of Lapland.  Finnish people — Finns — speak Finnish, which is the dominant language and is spoken almost everywhere in the country or Swedish which is the second official language and the only official language in Åland.  Population of mainland Finland (excluding Åland) according to language, 1990-2018:

Finland-Swedes.

The largest minority group in Finland is the Swedish-speaking Finns, who in 2018 numbered about 282,300, with all Swedish speakers in the country making a total of 288,400 which is 5.2% of the total population. Municipalities are classified as either unilingual or bilingual with a majority language. Majority of Swedish-speakers live in unilingual Swedish-speaking municipalities. These municipalities are found in coastal areas, from Ostrobothnia to the southern coast, and in the archipelago of Åland.

Pakistanis.

Pakistanis form the fourth largest South Asian immigrant group in Finland after Afghans, Indians and Nepalis.  In 1971 around 100 Pakistanis came to Finland for jobs. Finland didn't want cheap labour so they turned them all down. As of the 31st December 2018 there are 3,736 people of Pakistani background living in Finland, 3,065 of these people are born in Pakistan.

Sami.

The Sami are related to the Finns, both speak non-Indo-European languages belonging to the Uralic family of languages. Once present throughout the country, the Sami gradually moved northward under the pressure of the advancing Finns. As they were a nomadic people in a sparsely settled land, the Sami were always able to find new and open territory in which to follow their traditional activities of hunting, fishing, and slash-and-burn agriculture. By the 16th century, most Sami lived in the northern half of the country, and it was during this period that they converted to Christianity. By the 19th century, most of them lived in the parts of Lapland that were still their home in the 1980s. The last major shift in Sami settlement was the migration westward of 600 Skolt Sami from the Petsamo region after it was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1944. A reminder of their eastern origin was their Orthodox faith; the remaining 85 percent of Finland's Sami were Lutheran.  As of 1988, about 90 percent of Finland's 4,400 Sami lived in the municipalities of Enontekiö, Inari, and Utsjoki, and in the reindeer herding-area of Sodankylä. According to Finnish regulations, anyone who spoke one of the Sami languages, or who had a relative who was a Sami, was registered as a Sami in census records. Finnish Sami spoke three distinct Sami languages, but by the late 1980s perhaps only a minority actually had Sami as their first language. Sami children had the right to instruction in Sami, but there were few qualified instructors or textbooks available. One reason for the scarcity of written material in Sami is that the three languages spoken in Finland made agreement about a common orthography difficult. Perhaps these shortcomings explained why a 1979 study found the educational level of Sami to be considerably lower than that of other Finns.  Few Finnish Sami actually led the traditional nomadic life pictured in school geography texts and in travel brochures. Although many Sami living in rural regions of Lapland earned some of their livelihood from reindeer herding, it was estimated that Sami owned no more than one-third of Finland's 200,000 reindeer. Only 5 percent of Finnish Sami had the herds of 250 to 300 reindeer needed to live entirely from this kind of work. Most Sami worked at more routine activities, including farming, construction, and service industries such as tourism. Often a variety of jobs and sources of income supported Sami families, which were, on the average, twice the size of a typical Finnish family. Sami also were aided by old-age pensions and by government welfare, which provided a greater share of their income than it did for Finns as a whole.  There have been many efforts over the years by Finnish authorities to safeguard the Sami' culture and way of life and to ease their entry into modern society. Officials created bodies that dealt with the Sami minority, or formed committees that studied their situation. An early body was the Society for the Promotion of Lapp Culture, formed in 1932. In 1960 the government created the Advisory Commission on Lapp Affairs. The Sami themselves formed the Saami-liitto in 1945 and the Johti Sabmelazzat, a more aggressive organization, in 1968. In 1973 the government arranged for elections every four years to a twenty-member Sami Parliaments that was to advise authorities. On the international level, there was the Nordic Sami Council of 1956, and there has been a regularly occurring regional conference since then that represented—in addition to Finland's Sami—Norway's 20,000 Sami, Sweden's 10,000 Sami, and the 1,000 to 2,000 Sami who remained in the Kola Peninsula in Russia.  Sami languages have an official status in the municipalities of Enontekiö, Inari, and Utsjoki, and in the northern part of Sodankylä since 1992. In 2009, 55% of the 9 350 Sami in Finland lived outside of this area.

Russians.

Russians in Finland had come from two major waves. About 5,000 originate from a population that immigrated in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Finland was a grand duchy of Imperial Russia. Another consisted of those who immigrated after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A significant catalyst was the right of return, based on President Koivisto's initiative that people of Ingrian ancestry would be allowed to immigrate to Finland.  About 30,000 people have citizenship of the Russian Federation (2015) and Russian is the mother language of about 70,000 people in Finland, which represents about 1.3% of the population.

Romani.

Romani people, also called Kale and Roma, have been present in Finland since the second half of the 16th century. With their unusual dress, unique customs, and specialized trades for earning their livelihood, Roma have stood out, and their stay in the country has not been an easy one. They have suffered periodic harassment from the hands of both private citizens and public officials, and the last of the special laws directed against them was repealed only in 1883. Even in the second half of the 1980s, Finland's 5,000 to 6,000 Romani remained a distinct group, separated from the general population both by their own choice and by the fears and the prejudices many Finns felt toward them.  Finnish Roma, like Roma elsewhere, chose to live apart from the dominant societal groups. A Roma's loyalty was to his or her family and to their people in general. Marriages with non-Roma were uncommon, and the Roma's own language, spoken as a first language only by a few in the 1980s, was used to keep outsiders away. An individual's place within Roma society was largely determined by age and by sex, old males having authority. A highly developed system of values and a code of conduct governed a Roma's behavior, and when Roma sanctions, violent or not, were imposed, for example via "blood feuds," they had far more meaning than any legal or social sanctions of Finnish society.  Unlike the Sami, who lived concentrated in a single region, the Romani lived throughout Finland. While most Sami wore ordinary clothing in their everyday life, Romani could be identified by their dress; the men generally wore high boots and the women almost always dressed in very full, long velvet skirts. Like most Sami, however, Roma also had largely abandoned a nomadic way of life and had permanent residences. Romani men had for centuries worked as horse traders, but they had adapted themselves to postwar Finland by being active as horse breeders and as dealers in cars and scrap metal. Women continued their traditional trades of fortune telling and handicrafts.  Since the 1960s, Finnish authorities have undertaken measures to improve the Romani's standard of life. Generous state financial arrangements have improved their housing. Their low educational level (an estimated 20 percent of adult Romani could not read) was raised, in part, through more vocational training. A permanent Advisory Commission on Gypsy Affairs was set up in 1968, and in 1970 racial discrimination was outlawed through an addition to the penal code. The law punished blatant acts such as barring Romani from restaurants or shops or subjecting them to unusual surveillance by shopkeepers or the police.

Jews.

There are about 1,300 Jews in Finland, 800 of whom live in Helsinki and most of the remainder live in Turku. During the period of Swedish rule, Jews had been forbidden to live in Finland. Once the country became part of the Russian Empire, however, Jewish veterans of the Tsarist army had the right to settle anywhere they wished within the empire. Although constrained by law to follow certain occupations, mainly those connected with the sale of clothes, the Jewish community in Finland was able to prosper, and by 1890 it numbered around 1,000. Finnish independence brought complete civil rights, and during the interwar period there were some 2,000 Jews in Finland, most of them living in urban areas in the south. During World War II, Finnish authorities refused to deliver Jews to the Third Reich, and the country's Jewish community survived the war virtually intact. By the 1980s, assimilation and emigration had significantly reduced the size of the community, and it was only with some difficulty that it maintained synagogues, schools, libraries, and other pertinent institutions.

Tatars.

The community of Finnish Tatars numbers only about 800. The Tatars first came to Finland from the Russian Volga region near Nizni Novgorod's Tatar villages in the mid-19th century and have remained there ever since, active in commerce. The Tatars in Finland fully integrated into the Finnish society at the same time they preserved their religion, mother tongue and ethnic culture.

Karelians.

In 2011 there were about 30.000 people who indentified as Karelian in Finland. About 5.000 of them are fluent or native in the Karelian language but about 25.000 of them can speak Karelian. The Karelians are a closely related group to Finns. Karelians in Finland mostly live in a Diasphora around the country and in North-Karelian. All dialects of Karelian are spoken in Finland. Before 2009 Karelian was taught as a dialect of Finnish but in 2009 Karelian got an official status as a language in Finland.

Migration.

Emigration.

Many Finnish natives have emigrated abroad, sometimes escaping war, e.g. to Sweden, sometimes for economical reasons, e.g. to the United States and Canada. Current numbers of emigration are not well discussed in public, but the decreasing standard of living in Finland has forced many people and families to look for a living.  A total of 245,864 Finnish citizens emigrated abroad between 1990 and 2017. The most popular destinations have been Sweden (76,269), United Kingdom (21,939), United States (18,943), Norway (16,971), Germany (16,694), Spain (14,209) and Denmark (9,626).

External migration.

Demographic movement in Finland did not end with the appearance of immigrants from Sweden in the Middle Ages. Finns who left to work in Swedish mines in the 16th century began a national tradition, which continued up through the 1970s, of settling in their neighboring country. During the period of tsarist rule, some 100,000 Finns went to Russia, mainly to the St. Petersburg area. Emigration on a large scale began in the second half of the 19th century when Finns, along with millions of other Europeans, set out for the United States and Canada. By 1980 Finland had lost an estimated 400,000 of its citizens to these two countries.  A great number of Finns emigrated to Sweden after World War II, drawn by that country's prosperity and proximity. Emigration began slowly, but, during the 1960s and the second half of the 1970s, tens of thousands left each year for their western neighbor. The peak emigration year was 1970, when 41,000 Finns settled in Sweden, which caused Finland's population actually to fall that year. Because many of the migrants later returned to Finland, definite figures cannot be calculated, but all told, an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 Finns became permanent residents of Sweden in the postwar period. The overall youthfulness of these emigrants meant that the quality of the work force available to Finnish employers was diminished and that the national birth rate slowed. At one point, every eighth Finnish child was born in Sweden. Finland's Swedish-speaking minority was hard hit by this westward migration; its numbers dropped from 350,000 to about 300,000 between 1950 and 1980. By the 1980s, a strong Finnish economy had brought an end to large-scale migration to Sweden. In fact, the overall population flow was reversed because each year several thousand more Finns returned from Sweden than left for it.

Internal migration.

However significant the long-term effects of external migration on Finnish society may have been, migration within the country had a greater impact—especially the migration which took place between the end of World War II and the mid-1970s, when half the population moved from one part of the country to another. Before World War II, internal migration had first been a centuries-long process of forming settlements ever farther to the north. Later, however, beginning in the second half of the 19th century with the coming of Finland's tardy industrialization, there was a slow movement from rural regions toward areas in the south where employment could be found.  Postwar internal migration began with the resettlement within Finland of virtually all the inhabitants of the parts of Karelia ceded to the Soviet Union. Somewhat more than 400,000 persons, more than 10 percent of the nation's population, found new homes elsewhere in Finland, often in the less settled regions of the east and the north. In these regions, new land, which they cleared for farming, was provided for the refugees; in more populated areas, property was requisitioned. The sudden influx of these settlers was successfully dealt with in just a few years. One of the effects of rural resettlement was an increase in the number of farms during the postwar years, a unique occurrence for industrialized nations of this period.  It was, however, the postwar economic transformation that caused an even larger movement of people within Finland, a movement known to Finns as the Great Migration. It was a massive population shift from rural areas, especially those of eastern and northeastern Finland, to the urban, industrialized south. People left rural regions because the mechanization of agriculture and the forestry industry had eliminated jobs. The displaced work force went to areas where employment in the expanding industrial and service sectors was available. This movement began in the 1950s, but it was most intense during the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s, assuming proportions that in relative terms were unprecedented for a country outside the Third World. The Great Migration left behind rural areas of abandoned farms with reduced and aging populations, and it allowed the creation of a densely populated postindustrial society in the country's south.  The extent of the demographic shift to the south can be shown by the following figures. Between 1951 and 1975, the population registered an increase of 655,000. During this period, the small province of Uusimaa increased its population by 412,000, growing from 670,000 to 1,092,000; three-quarters of this growth was caused by settlers from other provinces. The population increase experienced by four other southern provinces, the Aland Islands, Turku ja Pori, Hame, and Kymi, taken together with that of Uusimaa amounted to 97 percent of the country's total population increase for these years. The population increase of the central and the northern provinces accounted for the remaining 3 percent. Provinces that experienced an actual population loss during these years were in the east and the northeast-Pohjois-Karjala, Mikkeli, and Kuopio.  One way of visualizing the shift to the south would be to draw a line, bowing slightly to the north, between the port cities of Kotka on the Gulf of Finland and Kaskinen on the Gulf of Bothnia. In 1975 the territory to the south of this line would have contained half of Finland's population. Ten years earlier, such a line, drawn farther to the north to mark off perhaps 20 percent more area, would have encompassed half the population. One hundred years earlier, half the population would have been distributed throughout more than twice as much territory. Another indication of the extent to which Finns were located in the south was that by 1980, approximately 90 percent of them lived in the southernmost 41 percent of Finland.

Immigration.

Foreign-born residents.

At the end of 2019, there were 404,179 foreign-born residents in Finland, corresponding to 7.3% of the total population. Of these, 275,201 (5,0%) were born outside the EU and 128,978 (2.3%) were born in another EU Member State.  The largest groups were:

Religion.

Evangelical Lutheran church is the largest church in Finland, 68.7% of population were its members in the end of year 2019. Christian Orthodox are the second largest registered group, 1.1% were members of the Finnish Orthodox Church. The number of Lutherans has decreased gradually from 98% in year 1900, 95% in year 1950 and 85% in year 2000. In end of 2019, 1.7% of population was in other religious groups, and 28.5% in census register or of unknown religious status.  Pentecostalism has approximately 50,000 members in Finland. Traditionally, it has acted as societies and is thus not visible in statistics of churches.  There were an estimated 40,000 Muslims in Finland in 2010.

Literacy.

Defined as proportion of people in age 15 and over can read and write, the literacy of total population is 100% (2000 est.).  In a study published in March 2016, Finland ranked the world’s most literate nation among 61 countries, where enough data was available. The research considered among other things literacy achievement tests, numbers of libraries and newspapers, years of schooling and computer availability.  In 2010 Yle reported that 85-90% of Somali immigrants are illiterate when they arrive.

Finland has a population of 5.53 million people and an average population density of 19 inhabitants per square kilometre. This makes it the third most sparsely populated country in Europe, after Iceland and Norway. Population distribution is very uneven: the population is concentrated on the small southwestern coastal plain. About 85% live in towns and cities, with 1.5 million living in the Greater Helsinki area. In Arctic Lapland, on the other hand, there are only 2 people to every square kilometre.

La population de la Finlande est en 2015 d'environ 5,5 millions d'habitants. Le pays est majoritairement peuplé de Finnois, les deux langues officielles de la Finlande sont le finnois et le suédois, ce dernier étant langue maternelle d'environ 5 % de la population finlandaise. Le pays possède également une minorité Sami, ayant environ dans le nord de la région de Laponie. 70 % de la population finlandaise est luthérienne.


Early life.

Born in London to Georgian mother Nino Kvinitadze (born 1920), daughter of General Giorgi Kvinitadze, and Anglo-Dutch father Peter Claude Holland d'Abo (1917–1995), d'Abo was raised in Paris and Geneva.  a’Abo was drawing from the age of eight, but by 13 wanted to become an actress; she joined an amateur theatre company while at school in Geneva. She decided to do a foundation course at the London College of Printing at 18, but abandoned those studies in order to go to drama school at Drama Centre London. She left after one term in order to make her film debut.

Career.

d'Abo made her screen debut in the low-budget science fiction horror film "Xtro" (1982), playing Analise Mercier, a French au pair, who becomes a human incubator for an alien. She appeared in the film "Until September" (1984), and had small roles in "Master of the Game" (1984), "White Nights" (1985) and "Arthur the King" (1985).  She worked on the French stage in Lyon playing Varinia in "Spartacus" directed by Jacques Weber in 1981, played Roxane in "Cyrano de Bergerac" at the Grenier de Toulouse in 1982, then worked in a 1987 French TV movie, "Les Idiots" (The Idiots), written by Gérard Brach, with Jean Carmet and Jean-Pierre Marielle.  d'Abo had a starring role in "The Living Daylights" (1987) as Kara Milovy, the sweet and vulnerable Czechoslovakian cellist and would-be sniper who falls for James Bond. As a tie-in with the film, she also appeared in a Bond-themed "Playboy" cover and multi-page pictorial in the September 1987 issue, but later said in an interview with "People" magazine that "I wouldn't do those pictures now... I've learned a lot since then".  On television, d'Abo played Ta'Ra, an alien medical officer in the science fiction miniseries "Something Is Out There" (1988), which was followed by a six-episode NBC mini-series of the same name, and she played Anne Summerton in the TV adaptation of Jeffrey Archer's novel "Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less" (1990) directed by Clive Donner.  d'Abo had a supporting role as a pretentious stained-glass artist in the low-budget British comedy "Leon the Pig Farmer" (1992). She appeared in the 1994 film "The Browning Version" and starred in "Timelock" (1996).  d'Abo has had roles in various low-budget, straight-to-video action, horror and fantasy films such as "" (1992), as well as guest roles on television shows "Tales from the Crypt" (1993), "Red Shoe Diaries" (1992) and "Murder, She Wrote" (1992).  She reunited with her James Bond director John Glen for a guest-starring role on the television series "Space Precinct" and for the feature film "The Point Men" (2001). Glen later claimed that the reason he cast her in three different projects was because she was one of his favourite actresses. She played the mother of Lara (played by Keira Knightley) in the television miniseries version of "Doctor Zhivago" (2002), and she was Queen Hecuba in the Emmy-nominated miniseries "Helen of Troy" (2003). She had a small role in the French film "L'Enfer" ("Hell", 2005), directed by Danis Tanovic whose stars included fellow Bond Girl Carole Bouquet.  d'Abo and John Cork wrote the book "Bond Girls Are Forever", published in 2002, which is a tribute to the women who have played the role of a Bond girl. It was inspired by the documentary "Bond Girls Are Forever", which she produced with Planetgrande, featuring d'Abo and other Bond girls, including Ursula Andress. The documentary appeared on the American AMC network in 2002, timed to coincide with the theatrical release of "Die Another Day". It was later included as a gift with the purchase of "Die Another Day" on DVD by some retailers. In 2006, a new version of the documentary, updated to include interviews with cast from "Casino Royale" (2006) was again aired on the AMC network and later released as a bonus feature on the March 2007 Blu-ray disc and DVD release of "Casino Royale".  In 2004 d’Abo wrote and, with Cabin Creek Films, co-produced the documentary film "Bearing Witness", about five female war reporters featuring Marie Colvin and Janine di Giovanni, which Barbara Kopple and Marijana Wotton directed for A&E. The feature documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.  In 2007, d'Abo had surgery for a brain hemorrhage; after recovering, she was inspired to meet other people who had similar experiences. She worked on and produced a 2009 documentary on the topic.  In 2009, d'Abo had a supporting role in British period fantasy-thriller "Dorian Gray". She appeared in the 2014 Indian film "Tigers" directed by Danis Tanovic.  Maryam d'Abo is signed to Models 1. In 2015, she modeled for fashion retailer JD Williams' AW 15 collection that includes clothing for women in their 50s.

Personal life.

d'Abo is the cousin of Mike d'Abo, a singer and member of 1960s group Manfred Mann. This makes her first cousin once removed of actress Olivia d'Abo. Maryam and Olivia once lived together in Los Angeles, buying a house together in 1988, after Olivia turned 19.  d'Abo is the granddaughter (on her mother's side) of the anti-communist Georgian General Giorgi Kvinitadze.  In November 2003, d'Abo married Hugh Hudson, the Oscar-nominated British director of "Chariots of Fire" (1981).  In 2007, d'Abo had surgery for a brain hemorrhage from which she recovered.

Maryam d'Abo (born 27 December 1960) is an English film and television actress, perhaps best known as Bond girl Kara Milovy in the 1987 James Bond film "The Living Daylights".

Maryam d'Abo est une actrice britannique, née le à Hammersmith (Londres). Elle a été James Bond girl dans "Tuer n'est pas jouer" en 1987. Elle y incarnait Kara Milovy. Elle est la cousine d'Olivia d'Abo.


Henry Moore Institute in Leeds.

The Henry Moore Institute in Leeds is a centre for the study of sculpture. It is part of The Henry Moore Foundation, which is based at Moore's former home in Hertfordshire and was set up by the artist in 1977. The Institute has a sculpture gallery for international sculpture shows, both contemporary and historical, as well as two other display spaces for sculpture study exhibitions. The Institute also features a sculpture archive and library, and looks after the sculpture collections of its neighbour Leeds Art Gallery. It hosts a year long programme of events, including lectures, seminars and conferences. Admission is free.

Henry Moore Foundation at Perry Green.

The Foundation is the name of Moore’s art charity, and also of his former estate, which welcomes thousands of visitors every year. it includes the artist's restored home Hoglands, and its flower garden, his studios, and over 70 acres of less formal gardens and fields containing many of his monumental sculptures. The grounds also feature the Sheep Field Barn gallery with changing exhibititions, and the medieval Aisled Barn with a display of nine large colourful tapestries based on his drawings. The estate is open seasonally to everyone, with an admission fee.  The Foundation's headquarters are at Perry Green, and its large collections of his work. The collections include sculptures in stone, wood, plaster and bronze, drawings and sketchbooks, graphic work, and preparatory materials such as found objects and maquettes. The art works are exhibited around the world, including institutions such as: the Kremlin Museums in Moscow, Russia and the Pomodoro Foundation in Milan, Italy.  As well as running the Henry Moore Institute, the Foundation gives grants to museums and galleries. Its current Director is Godfrey Worsdale.

Theft.

"Reclining Figure 1969–70", a bronze sculpture, was stolen from the foundation at the Foundation's Perry Green base on 15 December 2005. Thieves are believed to have lifted the 3.6 m long, 2 m high by 2 m wide, 2.1-tonne statue onto the back of a Mercedes lorry using a crane. Police investigating the theft believe it could have been stolen for scrap value.

The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore. The charity was set up with a gift from the artist in 1977. The Foundation supports a wide range of projects, including student bursaries, fellowships for artists and financial grants to various arts institutions. It operates from Perry Green in Hertfordshire and at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, England.

La Fondation Henry Moore est une association caritative créée en 1977 se donnant pour but « d'enrichir la culture du public en développant son goût pour les beaux-arts et plus particulièrement pour l'œuvre de Henry Moore ».


Parti progressiste démocratique guadeloupéen

Election Results.

1990s.

1992.

The party presented for the first time in the 1992 Regional Elections. The list was led by Ernest Moutoussamy, obtaining 13 106 votes (10,78 %) and 5 seats. The PCG led by Mona Cadoce reduced to 7100 votes (5,84 %) and just 3 seats.

1993.

In the second round of the 1993 French Legislative Elections, Ernest Moutoussamy defeated his former comrade, Mona Cadoce of the PCG, in the Second District.

1994.

In the European Elections, Ernest Moutoussamy led a list called "Assembly of the Overseas and Minorities" with the PPM, the PSG, and the PCR. The list won 37 041 votes (0,19%) of the total votes in France.

1995.

It's a bad year for the PPDG, Henry Bangou lost his senate seat to the Dominique Larifla. The division of the PPDG led to his loss of the seat. Henri Bangou gathered 202 votes, and Marcelin Lubeth gathered 127 votes, but they were forced to withdraw from the second round in favour of Dominique Larifla, who arrived before them, with 260 votes.  In the municipal elections, Jérôme Cléry was defeated by Lucette Michaux-Chevry in Basse-Terre. Re-election of Ernest Moutoussamy in Saint-François, Henri Bangou in Pointe-à-Pitre and Marcellin Lubeth in Sainte-Anne.

1997.

Ernest Moutoussamy was elected mayor of Mould.

1998.

In the regional elections the party was in alliance with the FGPS and GUSR with Jacques Gillot (GUSR) as the head of the list. This is no match for the RPR led by Lucette Michaux-Chevry. Chevry's list(63 065 votes, 48,03 %) won twice as many votes as Gillot's list(32 148 votes, 24,49 %).  The party lost its influence at that time, and is moving towards an alliance with the FGPS or the GUSR depending on their respective circumstances.

2000s.

It is a traditional ally of the FGPS-Victorin Lurel.

The Progressive Democratic Party of Guadeloupe (, PPDG) is a democratic socialist political party in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe. It was founded by former members of the Guadeloupe Communist Party in 1991, following the fall of communism.

Le Parti progressiste démocratique Guadeloupéen (PPDG) est un parti politique guadeloupéen constitué en 1991 par des anciens militants du Parti communiste guadeloupéen (PCG) à la suite de la disparition de l'URSS.


Career.

Deacon often portrayed pompous, prissy, and/or imperious figures in film and television. He made appearances on "The Jack Benny Program" as a salesman and a barber, and on NBC's "Happy" as a hotel manager. He made a brief appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's film "The Birds" (1963). He played a larger role in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) as a physician in the "book-end" sequences added to the beginning and end of the film after its original previews.  In Billy Wilder's 1957 film adaptation of Charles Lindbergh’s "The Spirit of St. Louis", Deacon portrayed the chairman of the Columbia Aircraft Corporation, Charles A. Levine.  His best-known roles are milksop Mel Cooley (producer of "The Alan Brady Show") on CBS's "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961–1966) and Fred Rutherford on "Leave It to Beaver" (1957–1963), although Deacon played Mr. Baxter in the 1957 "Beaver" pilot episode "It's a Small World". He co-starred as Tallulah Bankhead's butler in an episode of "The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour" called "The Celebrity Next Door". Deacon played Roger Buell on the second season of TV's "The Mothers-in-Law" (1967–1969), replacing Roger C. Carmel in the role. He played Principal "Jazzbo" Conroy in "The Danny Thomas Show" (1958). He also appeared in the 1960 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Red Riding Boots" as Wilmer Beaslee.  In "Carousel" (1956), the film adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein stage musical, Deacon had a bit role as the policeman who admonishes Julie and Mr. Bascombe about Billy Bigelow in the "bench scene". It was one of the few films in which he did not wear glasses, as were his roles in "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy" (1955), and the 1954 costumer "Désirée", where he played Jean Simmons' elder brother, an 18th-century Marseilles silk merchant. Philadelphia native Deacon played the role of Morton Stearnes' butler, George Archibald, whose courtroom testimony is a turning point in "The Young Philadelphians" (1959), starring Paul Newman. He played an imbibing justice of the peace, Reverend Zaron, in the classic 1957 Budd Boetticher western "Decision at Sundown".  Deacon appeared in many sitcoms, including "It's a Great Life", "The People's Choice", "How to Marry a Millionaire", "Guestward, Ho!", "Pete and Gladys", "The Donna Reed Show", "The Real McCoys" (in the episode "The Tax Man Cometh", he clashes with series star Walter Brennan over property tax assessments in the San Fernando Valley), "Get Smart", "Bonanza" (a deceitful character who cheats the Cartwrights during their visit to San Francisco in the episode "San Francisco"), and "The Rifleman" (episode "The Hangman", in an uncredited role). In episode 5 of the first season of "The Munsters", "Pike's Pique", he plays water district commissioner Mr. Pike, buying the underground rights to lay pipe. In "The Addams Family", he administers Cousin Itt a battery of psychological tests in the episode "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor". In 1966, he appeared on Phyllis Diller's short-lived television sitcom, "The Pruitts of Southampton". He also guest starred in the NBC family drama "National Velvet", and in the ABC/Warner Bros. crime drama "Bourbon Street Beat", and played Mr. Whipple on "The Twilight Zone" in the 1964 episode "The Brain Center at Whipple's". In 1967, Deacon played Ralph Yarby, director of security for lumber baron D.J. Mulrooney, in Disney's "The Gnome-Mobile". In 1968, he played Dean Wheaton in the Walt Disney film "Blackbeard's Ghost". He was also an occasional panelist in the 1970s/early 1980s versions of "Match Game". In 1970, he appeared in four episodes of "The Beverly Hillbillies" as a psychiatrist treating Granny.  In 1969, he co-starred on Broadway as "Horace Vandergelder" in the long-running musical "Hello, Dolly!", reuniting him onstage with Diller, who played the title character.  Deacon appeared on the "Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour" in 1983 as a game show participant / celebrity guest star.  In 1983, Deacon reprised his role of Fred Rutherford in the television movie "Still the Beaver", a sequel to the original TV series. When the television movie spawned a series of the same name on The Disney Channel, he was to reprise the role but died weeks before the series began production.  In 1984, Deacon had a cameo role in the teen comedy film "Bad Manners".

Personal life.

Although he was born in Philadelphia, he and his family later moved to Binghamton, New York, living on the west side of that city. He attended West Junior High and Binghamton Central High School, where he met fellow Binghamton resident Rod Serling.  During World War II, Deacon served in the United States Army medical corps. In 1946, upon completion of his service, he returned to Binghamton where he resumed living with his parents. He worked in occupations such as laboratory technician and intern at Binghamton General Hospital. He later attended Ithaca College, first as a medical student, but later developed an interest in acting, engaging in some nighttime radio announcing.  Deacon was a gourmet chef in addition to working as an actor. In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of cookbooks and hosted a Canadian television series on microwave oven cooking.  While not widely known during Deacon's lifetime, he was a charitable man. At his memorial service, a number of people previously unknown to Deacon's friends and colleagues spoke of how Deacon had provided for needy people and charitable organizations during his life.  Deacon never married. According to academic writers David L. Smith and Sean Griffin, Deacon was gay, and was among "a number of actors and actresses who were closeted homosexuals" working in Hollywood and often employed in Disney films. His obituary, published in "The New York Times", listed only his father, a nephew and niece as survivors."

Death.

Deacon died of cardiovascular disease on August 8, 1984, at age 63. His remains were cremated and the ashes scattered at sea.

Richard Deacon (May 14, 1921 – August 8, 1984) was an American television and motion picture actor, best known for playing supporting roles in television shows such as "The Dick Van Dyke Show", "Leave It To Beaver", and "The Jack Benny Program" along with minor roles in films such as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) and Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds".

Richard Deacon, né le à Philadelphie, en Pennsylvanie, et mort le à Los Angeles, en Californie (États-Unis) est un acteur américain.


Biography.

Early life (1906–1934).

Waxman was born Franz Wachsmann () in Königshütte to Jewish parents in the German Empire's Prussian Province of Silesia (now Chorzów, Poland). At the age of three Waxman suffered a serious eye injury involving boiling water tipped from a stove, which left his vision permanently impaired.  In 1923, at age 16, Waxman enrolled in the Dresden Music Academy and studied composition and conducting. Waxman lived from the money he made playing popular music and managed to put himself through school. While working as a pianist with the Weintraub Syncopators, a dance band, Waxman met Frederick Hollander, who eventually introduced Waxman to the eminent conductor Bruno Walter.  Waxman worked as an orchestrator for the German film industry, including on Hollander's score for "The Blue Angel" (1930). Waxman's first dramatic score was for the film "Liliom" (1934). That year Waxman suffered a severe beating by Nazi sympathizers in Berlin that led him to leave Germany and move with his wife first to Paris, and soon after to Hollywood.

Film music and the Los Angeles Music Festival (1935–1949).

In Hollywood, Waxman met James Whale, who had been highly impressed by Waxman's score for "Liliom". The success of his score for Whale's "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935) led to the young composer's appointment as Head of Music at Universal Studios. Waxman, however, was more interested in composition than musical direction for film, and in 1936 he left Universal to become a composer at MGM. Waxman scored a number of pictures during the next few years, but the score for Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" (1940) made his name. Waxman was frequently called to work on scores of horror or suspense films, and "Rebecca" was the culmination of the genre for Waxman.  "Rebecca" was Hitchcock's first Hollywood film as part of his contract with David O. Selznick, and thus it was the first time he was allowed a full symphonic score. Selznick financed the film at the same time as he was making "Gone With the Wind". Waxman's score for "Rebecca" is eerie and ethereal, often setting the mood and as Jack Sullivan put it, becoming a "soundboard for the subconscious."  In 1943 Waxman left MGM and moved to Warner Bros., where he worked alongside such great film composers as Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. A period of extended composition followed, including such films as "Mr. Skeffington" (1944) and "Objective, Burma!" (1945). A climactic scene in "Objective, Burma!" was scored fugally, and this would become one of Waxman's trademarks, returning in "The Spirit of St. Louis" (1957) and "Taras Bulba" (1962).  In 1947 Waxman formed the Los Angeles Music Festival, for which he served as music director and conductor for the rest of his life. Waxman's goal with the LA Music Festival was to bring the thriving town to "European cultural standards", according to Tony Thomas. In addition to performing the work of great masters such as Stravinsky, he also collaborated with his colleagues, such as Miklós Rózsa, conducting his Violin Concerto.

Post-war film scores (1947–1959).

His time at Warner Brothers did not last long and by 1947 Waxman had left Warner Brothers to become a freelance film composer, taking only the jobs he wanted rather than being appointed by the studio. Waxman scored the film "Sorry, Wrong Number" (1948), which climaxes with the use of a passacaglia, highlighting Waxman's highly inventive use of unusual musical forms in film. Waxman had used classical forms before: the climactic "Creation" cue from "The Bride of Frankenstein" (1935) (as Christopher Palmer puts it) "is in effect a fantasia on one note."  His work on "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) led to an Academy Award. The score is fast-paced and powerful, utilizing various techniques to highlight the insanity of Norma Desmond, including low pulsing notes (first heard in "The Bride of Frankenstein") and frequent trills. According to Mervyn Cooke, Richard Strauss's opera "Salome" was the inspiration for the wild trills heard during Desmond's insane final performance.  Waxman received a second consecutive Oscar for "A Place in the Sun" (1951). However, while awards for film music highlighted the beginning of the 1950s, Waxman now began to write serious works for the concert hall. The Sinfonietta for Strings and Timpani came in 1955 and 1959 saw the completion of Waxman's oratorio "Joshua". Composed to commemorate the death of Waxman's wife, "Joshua" with its strong Hebrew influences and extensive use of form is a powerful example of Waxman's compositional powers by the end of the 1950s.

Later life (1960–1967).

Waxman's later life continued to see extreme growth as a composer. Christopher Palmer writes that at the time of his death in 1967, "Waxman was at the zenith of his powers." Waxman's output in the 1960s was perhaps more subdued than that which came before it, however he did write "Taras Bulba" in 1962. Waxman worked on several television shows, including "Gunsmoke", in 1966.  "The Song of Terezin" (1965) was based upon poetry by children trapped in the Nazi's Theresienstadt concentration camp. Perhaps Waxman's deep spiritual connection to the subject came from his own encounters with Nazism on a Berlin street in 1934, but whatever the reason for Waxman's deep commitment to the subject, "The Song of Terezin" stands as the exemplary work of the composer's life. The work is composed for mixed chorus, children's chorus, soprano soloist, and orchestra. He had a kid called John Waxman, and John had two children, Josh and Alice Waxman, and then Josh had three kids called Andrew, Christopher, and Grace Waxman.  Waxman's career ended with his death from cancer in February 1967, two months after his sixtieth birthday. He leaves a legacy of over 150 film scores and an abundant collection of concert works.

Legacy.

Some of Waxman's music has been featured on commercial recordings, both on LP and CD. Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic Orchestra played highlights from various Waxman scores for an RCA Victor recording in the early 1970s that utilized Dolby surround sound..20 years later, australian composer/conductor Richard Mills (1949...)recorded an anthology of film suites with the Queensland Symphony for Varèse-Sarabande (VSD5242/5257/5480/5713) produced by George Korngold (as the Gerhardt above),son of Erich-Wolfgang Korngold, colleague of Waxman and another pioneer of the " Hollywood sound". The music for "Taras Bulba" has been recorded by the [City of Prague Philharmonic/Nic Raine, on 2 cd Tadlow013-2]  The American Film Institute ranked Waxman's score for "Sunset Boulevard" No. 16 on their list of the greatest film scores. His scores for the following films were also nominated for the list:

Franz Waxman (né Wachsmann; 24 December 190624 February 1967) was a German-born composer of Jewish descent, known primarily for his work in the film music genre. His film scores include "Bride of Frankenstein", "Rebecca", "Sunset Boulevard", "A Place in the Sun", "Stalag 17", "Rear Window", "Peyton Place", "The Nun's Story", and "Taras Bulba". He received twelve Academy Award nominations, and won two Oscars in consecutive years (for "Sunset Boulevard" and "A Place in the Sun"). He also received a Golden Globe Award for the former film. Bernard Herrmann said that the score for "Taras Bulba" was "the score of a lifetime."

Franz Waxman, né Franz Wachsmann, est un compositeur américain d'origine allemande, né le à Königshütte (actuellement en Pologne), mort le à Los Angeles (Californie). Compositeur de très nombreuses musiques de film, il est particulièrement connu, dans le domaine musical, pour sa "Carmen Fantaisie" pour violon, d'abord composée pour le film "Humoresque" puis reprise pour le violoniste Jascha Heifetz. Elle reste une des pièces les plus difficiles et les plus jouées au violon.


Early life.

Fico was born on 15 September 1964, in the town of Topoľčany in the southwestern Nitra Region. His father, Ľudovit Fico, was a forklift operator, and his mother, Emilie Ficová, worked in a shoe store. He has two siblings; his brother Ladislav is a construction entrepreneur, and his sister Lucia Chabadová, who is fourteen years younger, is a prosecutor. Fico grew up and lived with his family in the village of Hrušovany, until the age of six, when they moved to the nearby town of Topoľčany.

Education.

Fico has described his childhood ambitions as wanting to become either a politician, a sports reporter, or an archeologist. After completing elementary school, he enrolled in the local Gymnasium of Topoľčany, graduating in the summer of 1982. Later the same year he enrolled in the Law Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava, in what was then Czechoslovakia. His teachers were impressed with him, and one of his teachers from university, the future prime minister Jozef Moravčík, described him as "ambitious, very confident and very involved in discussions." He graduated as "juris doctor" in 1986 specializing in criminal law.  After graduating from university, Fico completed his mandatory military service as an assistant military investigator, stationed in the (now-Czech) town of Janovice between 1986 and 1987. He later worked for the Institute of State and Law of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, as well as with the Justice Ministry until 1992. During this period he wrote and completed his PhD degree, with a thesis on "The death penalty in Czechoslovakia." In 2002 he completed his postgraduate study, earning him the title of associate professor.

Early political career.

Fico joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1987, having applied in 1984. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, and the collapse of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, Fico joined the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ), a successor of the Communist Party of Slovakia. He was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 1992. From 1994 to 2000 Fico represented Slovakia as its legal counsel at the European Court of Human Rights but lost all 14 cases which he handled. In 1998 he was elected deputy chairman of the party. Later the same year, Fico ran for the post of general prosecutor, but his party endorsed another candidate instead, arguing Fico was too young.  In the 1998 elections that saw the fall of the government of Vladimír Mečiar, Fico received the biggest number of preferential votes among his party colleagues. A year later, when support for the SDĽ dropped below the threshold required to get into parliament, he left the party, saying he was disappointed with the way the government worked. Fico acted as an independent MP until the 2002 elections.  As early as in the autumn of 1998, a four-person group consisting of Fico, his associate Frantisek Határ, political strategist Fedor Flašík, and media executive Monika Flašíková-Beňová had begun to discuss and lay plans for launching a new political party on the left. These plans were driven by the falling popularity of the existing parties, and the rising popularity of Fico.  Almost immediately after leaving SDĽ, the group founded Direction – Social Democracy (SMER), which Fico first labelled a party of the third way, with himself as leader. Fico established himself as an opposition politician criticizing the unpopular reforms of the right-wing government of Mikuláš Dzurinda. In order to keep SMER from repeating the fate of his previous party, Fico introduced a strict set of regulations for his new party, called the "clean hands" policy. The rules stipulated that no one with ties from the previous communist regime or people who had background with other political parties was allowed to hold party office. This created a new generation of politicians uninvolved in previous corruption scandals; among them was Monika Flašíková-Beňová, Robert Kaliňák and Pavol Paška. Another rule was that all party chapters on the regional and local levels were to be 100% financially self-sufficient, and all financial donations were to be made public to the media.  Between 2002 and 2006 Smer was the main opposition party in the Slovak parliament. In 2004, it merged with nearly all the leftist parties active on the Slovak political scene, including its parent party SDĽ, becoming the dominant single political party in Slovakia.

First term of Prime Minister: 2006–2010.

In the elections in 2006 SMER won with 29.1% of the votes and formed a coalition government with Vladimír Mečiar's People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and Ján Slota's Slovak National Party (SNS).  SNS is a right-wing populist party which has been known for making anti-Roma and anti-Hungarian comments, including a drunken public speech of Ján Slota, in which he threatened to "get in tanks and level Budapest to the ground."  One reaction to the coalition came from the EU-wide Party of European Socialists (PES), who suspended SMER's application to join the PES. In late February 2008, however, the Assembly of PES conditionally reinstated the application after both SMER and SNS signed a letter committing themselves to respect minority rights.  Fico has never publicly condemned SNS's remarks and speeches, and government-level relations between Slovakia and Hungary deteriorated in his first term in office. Several meetings between the two countries' prime ministers were abruptly cancelled, and those few that did take place resulted in little improvement of relations.

In opposition: 2010–12.

Before the 2010 elections, Fico's party was in a relatively strong position according to several polls. However, just before the election a political scandal broke out, described as one of the gravest in the country's 17-year history. A voice recording surfaced in which a voice strongly resembling that of Fico claims that he raised several million euros in undeclared funds for the 2002 election as well as calling for a "parallel financial structure" to be created for the financing of Smer's election campaign. Slovak media sources such as "SME" carried the news about the recording in great detail; however, Fico dismissed it as a forgery.  Fico also attacked the media sources that published information about the recording, saying "Should I go over there and give you a smack because you are scoundrels? What you are doing is unheard of. You are masturbating on the prime minister every day." Fico has since been questioned on the matter, "SME" announced. Former Minister of Justice Daniel Lipšic told the press he has "handed the recording to the general attorney office." In the election, Fico's SMER remained the biggest party in Parliament, with 62 seats. However, his coalition partners were decimated, with the HZDS being completely shut out. Unable to find a partner willing to give him the 14 seats he needed to stay in office, Fico resigned. He said he "respects the election result" and expressed his desire to lead a resolute opposition after his narrow loss.

Second term of Prime Minister: 2012–2016.

2012 parliamentary election.

Following the fall of the centre-right coalition government that replaced his, Fico's Smer-SD returned to power being the first party since the breakup of Czechoslovakia to win an absolute majority of seats. Fico initially sought to form a national unity government with SDKU or KDH, but when this failed he formed the first one-party government in Slovakia since 1993.

2014 presidential election.

On 18 December 2013, Fico officially announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election in 2014. "I understand my candidacy as a service to Slovakia," Fico said on December 18. He argued that he did not see his candidacy as an adventure, an escape or an attempt to culminate his political career. His campaign ran under the motto "Ready for Slovakia." On 9 January 2014, the Slovak Parliament, under Speaker Pavol Paška, officially approved the candidatures of Fico and 14 other candidates.  However, Fico was defeated by the independent candidate Andrej Kiska, whose support from the right wing of Slovak politics led him to victory by a wide margin (approximately 59%–41%) in the second round of voting on 29 March 2014.

2016 parliamentary election.

Fico's party won the 2016 parliamentary elections, amassing a plurality of seats, but failed to win a majority. On 7 March 2016, President of Slovakia Andrej Kiska invited each elected party, with the exception of Kotleba – People's Party Our Slovakia, for post-election talks. Fico was given the first opportunity by the President to form a stable coalition. On 17 March, incumbent Fico informed president Andrej Kiska that he would form a four-party government coalition, including Smer–SD, the Slovak National Party, Most–Híd and Network, which together held 85 of the 150 seats.

Resignation.

On 14 March 2018, Fico publicly stated that he was ready to tender his resignation as prime minister in order to avoid an early election as well as to "solve the political crisis" involving the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak, who was writing stories on tax frauds and alleged cronies of the ruling party. Kuciak also examined the work of the Italian mafia 'Ndrangheta in Slovakia. According to the police, Mária Trošková, who is an assistant to Robert Fico, could have ties to 'Ndrangheta. Fico's announcement came after a meeting with President Kiska. In that meeting, Fico laid out a number of specific conditions that needed to be met by the president in order for him to resign. Those conditions were amongst others; that the result of the 2016 Slovak parliamentary election be respected, that the current ruling government coalition must continue, and lastly, that Smer-SD as the largest party currently in parliament name the next prime minister. Fico stated that he already had a candidate in mind; Slovak media widely reported that the next prime minister would be Deputy Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini. On 15 March, President Kiska formally accepted the resignations of prime minister Fico and his cabinet, and thereby tasked Pellegrini with forming a new government.

Domestic policy.

A large part of Fico's election victory in 2006 was attributed to his loud criticism of the previous right-wing government's economic, tax, social, pension and legislative reforms. The reforms were generally perceived as very positive and successful by such international bodies as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank or the OECD. However, the reforms negatively affected large segments of the population, particularly low wage earners, the unemployed, and welfare and other social assistance recipients. While in opposition, and more vocally during the election campaign, Fico vowed to reverse and cancel the majority of these reforms. However, upon taking office Fico adopted a more cautious approach, as he wanted to ensure Slovakia could fulfill the Maastricht criteria required for Euro currency adoption. This was successful, and Slovakia adopted the Euro on 1 January 2009.

Labour policies.

Among the reforms Fico introduced, several established standards as to how many times employees could be kept on as temporary workers instead of being given permanent contracts. Under legislation of the Mikuláš Dzurinda government, an employer could keep new staff as temps and create a two-tier workforce, which many did. Slovakia's labor policies are now generally in tune with most other EU states.  At the start of his second term as Prime Minister in 2012, Fico introduced a new "Labour Code," which granted entitlement to a lay-off notice period as well as severance pay, reduced overtime, making layoffs more expensive for employers, shorter temporary work contracts and more power for trade unions. In addition, it curbed the ‘chaining’ of fixed-term employment contracts, whereby currently it is possible to extend a fixed-term employment contract three times over three years. The Code was revised in 2014 when it introduced severe restrictions of the work on agreement performed outside regular employment. Under the latest revision, employers will be able to conclude agreements with employees for 12 months only.  In 2010, Fico faced large-scale protests and a blockade of major cities by truckers upset about what they considered to be badly implemented tolls on the highways. Truckers demanded that fuel prices be lowered to compensate for the tolls. Fico initially refused to speak with representatives of the truckers, saying he would not "be blackmailed", but a few days later capitulated. The cuts given to truckers will amount to about €100,000,000.

Finance.

One of few modifications Fico's government did implement was a slight modification to the unusual flat tax system introduced by the previous government, in a way that slightly decreased or eradicated a tax-free part of income for higher income earners. A lower value added tax was imposed on medications and books, though in spite of his election promises Fico failed to extend this onto a wider group of products such as groceries. Among the measures were controversial legislative changes which effectively banned private health insurance companies from generating profit. As a result, Slovakia is being sued by several foreign shareholders of local health insurers through international arbitrations. In 2007, Fico unsuccessfully tried to regulate retail food prices, an unprecedented effort in a generally free market European Union.  In August 2008, Fico threatened the foreign shareholders of a local gas distributor SPP, the French Gaz de France and the German E.ON, with nationalization and seizure of their ownership shares in a dispute over retail gas prices.

Foreign policy.

European Union.

In foreign relations with Europe, Fico's government faced controversies due to its affiliation with the internationally isolated parties of Vladimír Mečiar and Ján Slota. Under his leadership however, Slovakia entered the Eurozone in 2009, and Fico himself in a speech to the Oxford Union praised Slovakia's entry into the European Union as a "success story." Fico opposed the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo, which he called a "major mistake," as a result of which Slovakia has not recognised Kosovo as a sovereign state.  Responding to the 2013 Euromaidan protests in Ukraine, Fico declared that the "EU is no religious obligation" as well as that the EU was "so in love with itself" that it is convinced there is no better alternative to it in the world. He subsequently condemned the use of violence, but acknowledged that the protests were an internal affair in Ukraine.  Fico rejected European Commission's plan to distribute refugees and economic migrants from the Middle East and Africa among EU member states, saying: "As long as I am prime minister, mandatory quotas will not be implemented on Slovak territory." He has subsequently sought to associate refugees and Muslims with terrorism, claiming that "thousands of terrorists and Islamic State fighters are entering Europe with migrants" and stating that "We monitor every single Muslim in Slovakia." In May 2016, he stated that Slovakia will not accept "one single Muslim" migrant into the country, weeks before the country was scheduled to take over the presidency of EU. He further stated "When I say something now, maybe it will seem strange, but I’m sorry, Islam has no place in Slovakia. I think it is the duty of politicians to talk about these things very clearly and openly. I do not wish there were tens of thousands of Muslims."  Commenting on Brexit in November 2016, he stated that it wasn't clear what the United Kingdom wanted, adding that it "must suffer" more than the 27 countries who will remain in the bloc. He also stated that the UK will not be allowed to make EU workers "second-class citizens" while still receiving the benefits of the single market. In light of election of Donald Trump, he commented that it might spur Europe to bolster its military.  In August 2017, Fico said: "The fundamentals of my policy are being close to the (EU) core, close to France, to Germany. I am very much interested in regional cooperation within the Visegrad Four but Slovakia's vital interest is the EU."

Russia.

Compensating for his lack of close political allies within the EU (the former head of the Czech Social Democratic Party, Jiří Paroubek, being a notable exception), Fico sought to strengthen relations with several non-EU countries such as Serbia and Russia. This broke with a pro-NATO, Western-focused trend established after the 1998 Slovak election.  After coming to power in 2006, Fico declared that Slovakia's relations with Russia would improve after eight years of "neglect." Fico referred to "Slavonic solidarity," which was a central theme of the Slovak National Awakening in the 1850s. On April 4, 2008, during a visit by Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, Fico said: "In Slovakia, there have been efforts to deliberately ignore Slavonic solidarity." Slovakia modernised Russian MiG fighters in Russia and did not buy new jets from the West. Additionally, Fico accused Georgia of provoking Russia when attacking South Ossetia in the 2008 Russia–Georgia war. Under his premiership, the Slovak foreign ministry rejected the Crimean referendum which incorporated Crimea into Russia. Fico himself, however, remained silent on the issue. Regarding the EU sanctions against Russia in 2014, Fico denounced them as "senseless," and a "threat to the Slovak economy."

Hungary.

Tension between Slovakia and Hungary, unstable from the past, was inflamed in 2006 following the parliamentary election and Fico's decision to include nationalist Ján Slota and his Slovak National Party into his governing coalition. Slota was known for his fierce anti-Hungarian rhetoric, including that "Hungarians are a tumor on the Slovak nation that needs to be immediately removed." In the wake of the election several incidents occurred which further inflamed nationalist sentiment on both sides, including the alleged beating of a Hungarian woman in South Slovakia. Fico reacted by condemning the extremism, but rebuked the Hungarian government by declaring "The Slovak government doesn’t need to be called on to strike against extremism." The row heated up again in September 2007, when Fico's government introduced a law making the Beneš decrees inviolable. This was in response to demands from ethnic Hungarian politicians that compensations should be made to persons affected by the decrees.  In May 2008, Fico labelled Hungary a potential threat during a speech commemorating the 161st anniversary of the day that Slovaks demanded national equality with other nations within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Fico used the anniversary to openly criticise the political situation in Hungary and warn about the influence it might have on Slovakia. Especially he warned against the Hungarian right-wing politician Viktor Orbán, and his party Fidesz, which he called an "extreme nationalist party." Since then, however, relations between the two countries have slightly improved.

United States.

Fico was a vocal opponent of the one-time planned construction of new U.S. anti-ballistic missile and radar systems in military bases in neighbouring Czech Republic and Poland and one of his first steps upon taking office was a military pullout from Iraq. In November 2013, Fico visited the U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington D.C., where they spoke about the US-Slovak partnership, which is "based on shared democratic values and principles," after which he affirmed the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Relationship with the media.

During his press conferences he often verbally attacks, lectures and taunts the present journalists, often accusing them of bias and attacks on his government. On several occasions he has openly and on record used profanities against specific journalists ("idiots," "pricks"). After characterising journalists as "hyenas," the broadsheet "Pravda" adopted a hyena from Bratislava Zoo. In 2009, Fico repeatedly described the Slovak press as a "new opposition force" that was biased and was harming national and state interests. Fico also accused the press of failing to "stand behind the common people."  Fico has upheld a long-running boycott of one of the major Slovak daily newspapers, "SME". According to Fico, the boycott will last until it apologises for what he calls lies they published about him in the past, going as far as boycotting the main presidential debate prior to the 2014 presidential election, as it was co-hosted by "SME". As of March 2018 the boycott is still in place.  Fico, on at least one occasion, issued an apology to a foreign politician whose visit to Slovakia was largely ignored by the media. When Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov visited in April 2008, most media did not consider the visit of the virtually unknown Zubkov substantially newsworthy. To make matters worse, during the press conference the journalists were not allowed to ask any questions. Subsequently, Fico sent Zubkov a letter of apology in which he apologized for the Slovak media's lack of interest in his visit.  In July 2012 Fico declared "Eternal Peace" between him and the Slovak press. He also stated his desire to change his attitude towards the media, saying "I think it is enough" and that he does not plan any further lawsuits against media outlets except in extraordinary situations. Fico further said: "You have to spend an incredible amount of energy on it [lawsuits], it means several years of conflict, one conflict takes usually five or six years [to resolve]," adding that lawsuits involve "legal fees, paying a lawyer, everything around that." In November 2016, he termed journalists questioning him about allegations of public procurement rules during Slovakia's EU presidency, as "dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes." He also accused the accusations of being a targeted attack to smear the country's presidency of EU. After Fico stepped down from his post as prime minister early 2018, following the protests across the country, he renewed his hatred of the media, stating that he was planning on pursuing legal action against a number of notable journalists who slighted him during his time in power.

Personal life.

Fico is married to Svetlana Ficová (née Svobodová), a lawyer and associate professor from Žilina. They were classmates while both were studying law at the Comenius University in Bratislava, and they married in 1988. They have one son together, Michal, who studied at the University of Economics in Bratislava. In addition to his native Slovak, Fico speaks fluent Czech, English and Russian.

Religion.

Fico has rarely discussed in public his religious life. In his application to join the Communist Party in 1984, Fico stated that he was "strictly atheistic," as was required in order to be accepted. According to the testimonial from college added to the application, he held a "scientific Marxist-Leninist worldview" and "no problems with regards to religion."  In a promotional video during presidential election campaign in 2014, Fico said he grew up in a Roman Catholic family and that he considers himself a Catholic. He discussed his baptism, holy communion, confirmation and how the Catholic faith had impacted his childhood. He stated: "Perhaps if I am to do my profile in relation to the Catholic Church, I would end up better off than any MP of the KDH." He also described growing up with his grandfather, a man who "very strictly respected the rules of standard Christian life," stating that it profoundly impacted him. However, historian and former researcher of the National Memory Institute Patrik Dubovský consider it being an attempt to manipulate public opinion, because "confirmation was in direct conflict with Communist Party membership, which political programme was based on atheism." As Dubovský stated, religiously active people were severely persecuted, especially after the Charta 77 incident.  During televised debate Fico refused to answer a television presenter's question about whether he is a Christian (Catholic) or an Atheist, and said that he considered it a private matter. Regarding his baptism, holy communion and confirmation, Fico said that he was baptised as an infant and the holy communion with confirmation followed afterwards, as it was with every child who grew up in his home village, according to him.

Alleged extramarital affairs.

In August 2010, Fico was photographed around midnight in a gay bar in downtown Bratislava together with a woman, who was later revealed to be 25-year-old Jana Halászová, a secretary at the Smer-SD party headquarters. It was later revealed that Halászová had been given extensive privileges, including her own parking space in the Parliament car park, without being a member. Halászová had also bought a luxurious car worth around €30,000 and bought a new flat without a mortgage in August 2012 in a neighbourhood where a one-room flat costs approximately €100,000, despite being a secretary without education. In addition, both her sister and step-mother had recently been given jobs within various ministries.  In August 2013, Fico was photographed while embracing and kissing his now-secretary Halászová, after taking her for a private dinner at a chateau in Čereňany, 160 kilometres from Bratislava. The photos created another round of speculation about the true nature of their relationship as well as whether or not he had used public funds to pay for the dinner. A month later, the tabloid "7 Plus" reported that Fico and Halászová had been photographed together in a luxury restaurant while vacationing together in the Croatian town of Opatija. In response to this latest story, Fico filed a defamation lawsuit against "7 Plus" magazine.  In March 2018, after murder of Jan Kuciak, Slovak investigative journalist Eugen Korda in interview for public Česká televize TV alleged that Mária Trošková, Fico's assistant, is also his lover. Trošková escorted Fico on multiple high-level diplomatic meetings, including a summit with Angela Merkel, despite unofficial protests from German and Slovak diplomatic corps.  Subsequently, direct connection between and convicted 'Ndrangheta member was revealed by the press. While her romantic connection to Fico was not confirmed, her former relationship with Vadala was. Despite the evidence Fico was publicly supporting Trošková and the secretary of the Security Council Viliam Jasaň. After the public outrage, Trošková abandoned her position as State Counsellor and Fico's assistant and disappeared from the public eye.

Robert Fico (; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who served as Prime Minister of Slovakia from 2012 until his resignation in 2018. Fico also previously served as a Prime Minister from 4 July 2006 to 8 July 2010. He has been the leader of the Direction – Social Democracy (SMER-SD) party since 1999. First elected to Parliament in 1992 (whilst within Czechoslovakia), he was later appointed to the Council of Europe. Following his party's victory in the 2006 parliamentary election, he formed the first Fico Cabinet.

Robert Fico ( ), né le à Topoľčany, est un homme d'État slovaque membre de SMER – social-démocratie (SMER-SD) et président du gouvernement de 2012 à 2018.


Organization.

The Institute was created by decree on 26 of August, 1991. It is an organization without walls, whose members remain in their own universities. At least two thirds of the members of the IUF belong to universities outside Paris. The purpose of the IUF is to give full freedom to its members to pursue and disseminate their research. About 2% of total French faculties are members (active or honorary) of the IUF. Each year a symposium brings together members of the IUF in order to allow exchanges at the highest level of French research.  The IUF is composed of two types of members, all faculty members, professors or lecturers, posted in a French university:  In addition, about ten foreign teachers may be invited each year. Members are elected for five years (not renewable for junior members, renewable once for senior members).  Members remain in their home university. They benefit from a reduction of two thirds of their statutory teaching duties. Research funds are credited to their team or laboratory (15,000 € per year). They automatically receive the national award of scientific excellence (PEDR): 6,000 € for junior members, 10,000 euros € for senior members. A progress report is requested their mid-term and at the end of their term. IUF members must contribute to the scientific reputation locally, nationally and internationally in a deliberate effort to interdisciplinarity.

Jury Selection.

Selection boards are partially renewed each year. They have many international members and international character is one of the specificities of the IUF. The use of top international experts avoids any risk of cooptation and guarantees the high quality of appointments to the IUF.  Since 2009, the jury is officially made up for more than half of foreign scientists known for their international reputation. These are the Collège de France, the Academy of Sciences, Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the Conference of University Presidents, the CP-CNU offering the names of persons approached to compose the jury. Its composition is then released and the CV of its members. The jury called for the assessment of candidates' portfolios, to the rapporteurs of high scientific level, at least twice a candidate to have a disciplinary notice informed. If the CVs submitted by the rapporteurs ensure scientific excellence, statements of interest guarantee their independence vis-à-vis the files they load. New members of the Institute, besides the discharge of service and staffing dedicated to the scientific environment of 15,000 euros since 2012 (20,000 euros until 2011), receive a bonus of 10,000 euros, which represents twice the former RDD.  These changes are partly related to appointments at the Institut Universitaire de France in September, 2008 which caused considerable controversy. The controversy concerns the appointment of additional members, including Michel Maffesoli, including economist and president of the jury Elie Cohen said he "would never have been selected by the jury even if there were more places". Some jurors senior and junior of the Institute had protested against these appointments by circulating the September 24, 2008, a declaration that they were indignant "lack of transparency and nominations for 2008". This challenge was supported by the Society Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SMAI) and the French Association for Scientific Information (AFIS).

The Institut Universitaire de France (IUF, Academic Institute of France), is a service of the French Ministry of Higher Education that distinguishes each year a small number of university professors for their research excellence, as evidenced by their international recognition. It was created to become a new "Collège de France", located in French universities. Only 2% of French university professors have been currently distinguished by the Institut Universitaire de France.

L'Institut universitaire de France (en abrégé IUF) désigne un ensemble d'enseignants-chercheurs sélectionnés par un jury international pour la qualité exceptionnelle de leurs recherches, appelés "membres", bénéficiant d'une décharge à hauteur de deux tiers de leurs charges d'enseignement, d'une prime et d'une dotation budgétaire. Il existe deux catégories de membres, les "juniors" et les "seniors", auxquels s'ajoutent des membres invités qui sont des postes spécifiques destinés à l'invitation d'universitaires étrangers. Les membres seniors sont nommés pour cinq ans, renouvelable une fois, les membres juniors pour cinq ans non renouvelable. L'Institut universitaire de France est constitué administrativement comme un service du ministère chargé de l'Enseignement supérieur auprès duquel les enseignants-chercheurs qui en sont membres sont placés en délégation.