European Parliament - Eprs Policy Podcasts

At the July I plenary sitting, the newly elected European Parliament (EP) is due to elect its 31st President, to hold office until mid-term at the beginning of 2022, when a new election for Parliament's President will be held. The President has an important and increasingly visible function in the EU institutional and international setting, mirroring the influential role of the Parliament as shaper of EU policies and co-legislator. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_ATA(2019)637960 Source: © European Union - EP

Artificial intelligence is already transforming the world around us and this process will only speed up in the future. Find out in our podcast what is likely to happen to our economy and jobs and how the European businesses and citizens can benefit from this new revolution. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)637967 Source: © European Union - EP

The Euro is today the common currency of more than 340 million European citizens. It is the official currency of 19 of the current 28 EU member states and the second most widely used currency in the world, after the dollar. But this success and growing international role is not reflected in the external representation of the euro in international fora, notably the International Monetary Fund, or IMF. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)637969 Source: © European Union - EP

The EU's regional policy aims to address the territorial, social and economic imbalances existing between the different regions of the EU. Also known as cohesion policy, it covers all regions and cities of the European Union, helping to support job creation, business competitiveness, economic growth, sustainable development, and to improve citizens' quality of life. Almost one third of the total EU budget has been set aside for cohesion policy for the 2014-2020 period, with this financial support distributed through two main funds, the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund, part of the European Structural and Investment Funds, which are making a real difference to the lives of people the length and breadth of Europe. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)637953 Source: © European Union - EP

The d'Hondt method is used within the Parliament as a formula for distributing the chairs of the parliamentary committees and delegations, as well as to distribute those posts among the national delegations within the political groups. Such proportional distribution of leadership positions within Parliament prevents domination of parliamentary political life by only one or two large political groups, ensuring smaller political groups also have a say on the political agenda. Some argue however that this limits the impact of the election results on the political direction of decision-making within Parliament and call for a 'winner-takes-all' approach instead. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2016)580901 Source: © European Union - EP

The European Parliament has long sought to ensure that, by voting in European elections, European citizens not only elect the Parliament itself, but also have a say over who would head the EU executive – the European Commission. What became known as the 'Spitzenkandidaten process' is a procedure whereby European political parties, ahead of European elections, appoint lead candidates for the role of Commission President, with the presidency of the Commission then going to the candidate of the political party capable of marshalling sufficient parliamentary support. The Parliament remains firmly committed to repeating the process in 2019. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2018)630264 Source: © European Union - EP

Political groups are central to the work of the European Parliament. After European citizens elected a new Parliament, political groups are expected to notify their composition by end of June. To form a political group, a minimum of 25 MEPs elected in at least one quarter of the EU's Member States (currently seven) is required. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2018)630264 Source: © European Union - EP

The European Union is engaged in helping Member States address young people's needs and aspirations through a youth strategy. The strategy is backed by a number of funding programmes, most notably the Youth Employment Initiative, Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps and it is best known for the mobility opportunities it has created. Future challenges include reaching a wider spectrum of young people, especially those from disadvantaged and hard-to-reach groups, making the results of the consultative process, known as structured dialogue, more tangible, and improving synergies between policy areas for greater effectiveness. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635544 Source: © European Union - EP

The new EU foreign policy is designed to help society in the EU and partner countries to withstand natural and manmade shocks more effectively. To this aim, coordination between all stakeholders is challenging but vital. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635534 Source: © European Union - EP

According to recent polls, 77% of EU citizens are in favour of stronger EU involvement in the fight against terrorism. Over the past years, the EU has played an ever more ambitious role in this area. EU spending on counter-terrorism has increased and is set to grow in the future. New rules and instruments adopted since 2014 range from harmonising definitions of terrorist offences and sanctions, and sharing information and data, to protecting borders, countering terrorist financing, and regulating firearms. In the future, EU counter-terrorism action will most probably focus on addressing existing and new threats, countering radicalisation (including online), enhancing information sharing and strengthening EU agencies involved. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635561 Source: © European Union - EP

Repeated Eurobarometer surveys have provided evidence on how important agriculture and rural areas are to EU citizens. They have recorded high levels of awareness of the common agricultural policy and a recognition of the role it plays in the provision of high quality healthy food. Significant legislative achievements have been made during the European Parliament's eighth term in respect of animal health (including an animal medicines package), plant health, official controls, organic production and labelling. In exercising Parliament's scrutiny role, its Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development has addressed a wide range of policy topics which have a bearing not only on how the CAP is currently delivered but also on future policy considerations for the post 2020 period. The latter has been a subject of intense debate. In support of the Committee's work, Parliament's Policy Department has commissioned and published forty studies in relation to agriculture and rural development policies. Looking to t

Security and defence policy in the European Union is predominantly a competence of the Member States. At the same time, a common security and defence policy, which could progressively lead to a European defence union, is enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty and significant progress has been made in that direction. This briefing discusses the EU's deliveries in the area of security and defence policy and analyses public expectations and perceptions of the EU's actions in this policy field. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635533 Source: © European Union - EP

The unprecedented arrival of refugees and irregular migrants in the EU, which peaked in 2015, exposed a series of deficiencies and gaps in EU policies on asylum, external borders and migration. In response to these challenges, the EU has embarked on a broader process of reform aimed at rebuilding its asylum and migration policies. In order to deliver what the Commission calls an effective, fair and robust future EU migration policy, the EU, based on the Treaties and other legal and financial instruments, has been implementing both immediate and longer-term measures. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635542 Source: © European Union - EP

EU public finance, including the EU budget and other financial mechanisms, supports policies that are designed to yield European public goods, with benefits that go beyond the national borders of individual EU countries. During the 2014-2019 parliamentary term, EU lawmakers have updated the financial rules governing the use of EU funds, created a European Public Prosecutor's Office to help address the roughly 0.35 % of the EU budget at risk of fraud, carried out a mid-term revision of the multiannual financial framework (MFF), developed proposals for new sources of revenue in time for negotiations on the post-2020 MFF, and introduced new policies in the field of financial engineering. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635545 Source: © European Union - EP

What has the EU delivered in the area of international trade and globalisation during the Juncker Commission? This briefing takes stock of EU's achievements in this term: free trade agreement negotiations launched and concluded, developments in investment protection and screening, and key legislative files adopted.https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)633176 Source: © European Union - EP

The 2014-2019 parliamentary term has seen a number of initiatives in the areas of digitalisation of industry and public services, investment in digital infrastructure and services, research programmes, cybersecurity, e-commerce, copyright and data protection legislation. The European Union will increase its support for digital transformation in the coming years, as illustrated by the recent proposal for the Digital Europe programme (for 2021-2027) – which would be the first ever funding programme dedicated solely to supporting digital transformation in the EU. Further EU action will doubtless be needed, notably to increase infrastructure investment, boost innovation, foster digital champions and businesses digitalisation, reduce existing digital divides, remove remaining barriers in the digital single market and ensure an adequate legal and regulatory framework in the areas of advanced computing and data, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?refe

Fight against tax fraud is under the glare of the spotlight. It appears regularly in the headlines showing the shadowy practices of certain taxpayers. Yet this is not the whole picture because work has been done to tackle the issue. Fight against fraud is large and ongoing task, that public expects the EU to continue addressing. The European Union has done substantial work over the last five year, in spite of the limitation of the powers that it has. Fighting tax fraud was one EU action priority as from 2014 and many measures were taken to reboot the tax policy. Some of them still need time to be implemented but a lot has been done. This is the basis for building adapted and updated remedies to tax fraud. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)633153 Source: © European Union - EP

This briefing provides an overview of the key elements of the EU fisheries policy and outlines its main deliveries during the 2014-2019 parliamentary term.https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)633150 Source: © European Union - EP

While the main responsibility for health and social security lies primarily with the governments of the individual European Union (EU) Member States, the EU complements national policies, especially those having a cross-border dimension. In a recent poll conducted for the European Parliament, more than two thirds of EU citizens expressed support for increased EU action on health and social security. In its proposal for the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, the European Commission plans to boost funding to improve workers' employment opportunities, and strengthen social cohesion through an enlarged 'European Social Fund Plus'. The fund would also incorporate finance for the stand-alone health programme, with the aim of creating synergies with the other building blocks of the European Pillar of Social Rights: equal opportunities and access to the labour market; fair working conditions; and social protection and inclusion. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2018

In response to the unprecedented migration flows, as well as the surge in terrorist and serious cross-border crime activities, the EU has embarked on a broader process of reform aimed at strengthening its external borders. On the one hand, measures for protecting the EU's external borders have focused on reinforcing EU border management rules and upgrading the mandates of relevant EU agencies, while on the other hand, in connection with a number of key shortcomings in the EU's information systems, efforts were made to improve use of the opportunities offered by information systems and technologies.https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)633141 Source: © European Union - EP