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Scientists meet MEPs: a relation based on trust
To promote the role of science in ensuring a sound basis for public policies and political decisions, the European Parliament’s Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) organised ‘Science Week at the European Parliament’, between 5-7 February 2019, in cooperation with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), and the European Research Council (ERC). Continue reading
Drone users [What Europe does for you]
Have you ever bought or been offered a drone, and wondered what you are allowed to do with it? Maybe you have already taken photos with your drone or tried to lift things up into the air. Or maybe your neighbours thinks you are spying on them… Continue reading
People living near airports [What Europe does for you]
Air traffic in the EU is rising, with 973 million passengers carried in 2016. Despite aircraft being 75% less noisy now than 30 years ago, they are still a major noise source. Continue reading
EU citizens working in another EU country [What Europe does for you]
The free movement of workers is one of the four fundamental freedoms enshrined in the EU treaties and a core element of EU citizenship, but is also key to completing the monetary union and the single market. Continue reading
Vulnerable consumers [What Europe does for you]
While EU laws protect you as a consumer against many misleading and aggressive commercial practices, they provide special protection for consumers who are particularly vulnerable due to their mental or physical infirmity. Continue reading
European Parliament Plenary Session, March II 2019
European citizens are running out of patience with companies and people who do not pay their fair share of the taxes that support services for everyone. The agenda for Parliament’s second plenary session of March opens with a debate on Monday evening on the report of Parliament’s TAX3 Special Committee on the progress made and the work still to do to tackle financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance. Continue reading
Does technology exacerbate social polarisation?
With the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it became clear how technologies such as social media and techniques such as psychological profiling can be combined in election campaigns with worrying effects. Continue reading
Is artificial intelligence a human rights issue?
The debate on artificial intelligence (AI) brings new human rights risks (as diverse as non-discrimination, privacy, security, freedom of expression, and access to public services), to the fore. Continue reading
Plant protection products: Friend or foe of future farming?
The STOA workshop ‘Farming without agro-chemicals’, which took place on 6 March 2019, gave participants an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the impact of plant protection products (PPPs) on food production, and the perspectives of all the different stakeholders in the discussion on PPPs were explored. Continue reading
Babies [What Europe does for you]
Your baby is special. The European Union helps babies’ parents and guardians through measures aimed at children in general that always take the babies’ best interests as a primary consideration. Continue reading
Wine consumers [What Europe does for you]
The identity and reputation of EU wine regions are protected through the EU’s geographical indications (GI), which are recorded in something called the E-Bacchus register. Continue reading
Bank account holders [What Europe does for you]
Bank accounts are an essential part of everyday life, allowing us to manage our money, shop online, and pay bills. Continue reading
Air travellers to and from peripheral and under-served regions [What Europe does for you]
Do you live in a peripheral or under-served region? If so, the EU is working to ensure that regions like yours are linked up to the air travel network. Continue reading
European Parliament Plenary Session, March I 2019
The agenda for the first plenary session in March features, for this month’s debate on the Future of Europe, the attendance on Tuesday morning of Peter Pellegrini, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic. Continue reading
Measuring gender equality
During the events held at the European Parliament this week to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, a number of speakers referred to the slow progress made towards gender equality in the EU over the past decade. How do we know how much progress has been achieved? Continue reading
Spotlight on Women in Politics
With the 2019 European elections fast approaching, the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) is focusing its International Women’s Day event on the theme of women in politics, highlighting the contribution women have already made and urging more women to get involved, both as voters and as candidates. Continue reading
Shaping the future: the Annual ESPAS Conference (afternoon sessions)
The afternoon opened with a session on Global Power in 2030. Shada Islam, Director of Friends of Europe, sees that it is increasingly difficult to generate international consensus on most important issues, and suggests that a model based on ‘constellations’ could help: multilateral agreements in policy areas such as climate change, security cooperation or development initiatives, each bringing together different sets of countries. Continue reading
Shaping the future: the Annual ESPAS Conference (morning sessions)
Parliament Vice-President Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso gave the opening address, following welcoming remarks from EPRS Director-General, Anthony Teasdale, and the Head of the European Policy Strategy Centre, Ann Mettler. The Vice-President reminded guests that the EU stands at a critical juncture. While it prepares for the 2019 elections – ‘one of the world’s largest democratic exercises’ – the EU faces a crisis of confidence from citizens who ‘have felt abandoned’ over the last ten years. ‘This is no time for humility’, therefore – it is fundamental the Parliament remind citizens how it has taken their side. Continue reading
Reconversion of industrial areas and EU regional policy: STOA workshop
Old-model industries, such as the coal and steel, may well represent a symbol of the first steps towards European integration. This workshop aims to show how a more eco and social-friendly approach to reconverting old-style industry in urban areas might trigger a new development path in the European Union. Continue reading
How the internet can harm us, and what can we do about it?
The internet has received much negative news coverage in recent years. Articles focus on major privacy scandals and security breaches, the proliferation of fake news, rampant harmful behaviours like cyber-bullying, cyber-theft, revenge porn, the exchange of child porn and internet predation, internet addiction, and the negative effects of the internet on social relations and social cohesion. Continue reading
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