European Parliamentary Research Service Blog
Institutional and Legal Affairs
What if insects were on the menu in Europe? [Science and Technology podcast]
Insects, while commonly consumed elsewhere in the world, have long been off the menu in Europe, but they could soon be creeping their way onto our plates. Continue reading
Priority dossiers under the German EU Council Presidency
This note looks at the legislative and political projects, which could feature predominantly during the German Presidency. Continue reading
Plenary round-up – Brussels, June 2020
The June 2020 plenary session was the fourth conducted with Members participating remotely, although this time a majority were present in Brussels, and using the alternative voting procedure put in place in March by Parliament’s Bureau. Continue reading
Coronavirus and prisons in the EU: Member-State measures to reduce spread of the virus
The coronavirus crisis has put huge pressure on European prisons, already often affected by chronic overcrowding and poor healthcare services. Continue reading
EU and UK citizens’ rights after Brexit: An overview
On 1 February 2020, the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) became effective. With the UK’s exit from the EU, UK nationals lose the rights deriving from EU citizenship, unless they also have the nationality of an EU Member State. Continue reading
States of emergency in response to the coronavirus crisis: Situation in certain Member States III
The spread of the coronavirus pandemic has prompted countries to take extensive and far-reaching measures to tackle the consequences of the outbreak. Apart from curbing the spread of the disease, these measures have also posed legal and economic challenges, significantly affecting people’s lives. Continue reading
Key issues in the European Council: State of play in June 2020
Established as an informal summit meeting in 1975, the European Council became a formal European Union institution, with a full-time President, in 2009, on the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. Continue reading
Coronavirus and elections in selected Member States
With the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, many countries around the world that were or are due to organise elections or referendums, have had to decide whether to hold them as originally planned, introducing mitigating measures, put them on hold or postpone them to a later date. Continue reading
Outlook for the European Council video-conference of 18-19 June 2020
The European Council meeting on 19 June, to be held by video-conference, will be almost exclusively dedicated to the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the proposed new EU recovery fund, dubbed ‘Next Generation EU’. Continue reading
Understanding EU data protection policy [Policy Podcast]
The near-ubiquity of data in the lives of ordinary people, along with its exponential growth in generation rate and potential misuse, has made the protection of personal information an increasingly important social, legal and political matter for the EU. Continue reading
Better Regulation practices in national parliaments
Ex-ante impact assessment and ex-post evaluation are regulatory policy tools that help inform the policy-making process with evidence-based analysis. Both tools are geared towards raising the quality of policies and legislation. Continue reading
Plenary round-up – Brussels, May 2020
The May 2020 plenary session was the third conducted with a majority of Members participating remotely, although more were present in Brussels than at the April session, and using the alternative voting procedure put in place in March by Parliament’s Bureau. Continue reading
How does creating LGBTI inclusive regions and cities matter to their development?
Regions and cities can play an important role in promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) equality. Continue reading
States of emergency in response to the coronavirus crisis: Situation in certain Member States II
Member States have adopted a range of emergency measures in response to the unprecedented public health crises generated by the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading
Coronavirus and the cost of non-Europe: An analysis of the economic benefits of common European action
Although the European Union is about much more than economics – promoting peace, common values, democratic governance, international development, human rights, health, social protection, research and innovation, and many other public goods – the process of European integration has been key to driving economic growth for half a century, generating significant gains in gross domestic product (GDP) for EU Member States both collectively and individually. Continue reading
Outcome of the Zagreb EU-Western Balkans video-summit of 6 May 2020
The EU-Western Balkans Summit, which normally would have been held in Zagreb, took place by video-conference on Wednesday 6 May 2020. Continue reading
Schuman Declaration: 70 years on
Aiming to secure peace in Europe after the horrors of the Second World War, the Schuman Declaration proposed cooperation among European countries in two key economic areas central to rearmament and warfare: coal and steel. Continue reading
States of emergency in response to the coronavirus crisis: Situation in certain Member States
With the first case of unknown pneumonia reported in the province of Wuhan (People’s Republic of China) on 31 December 2019, within few weeks the coronavirus (Covid-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 30 January 2020. Continue reading
Recent migration flows to the EU
This infographic aims to present the latest available data on migrant flows to the EU in the year 2019. It covers the detection of illegal crossings on the EU’s external borders, numbers of deaths of migrants on those crossings, the number of asylum applications in EU Member States and their decisions on those applications. Continue reading
Outcome of the European Council video-conference of 23 April 2020
At the European Council’s video-conference meeting on 23 April, EU leaders demonstrated greater willingness to achieve a coordinated response at EU-level to face the coronavirus crisis than had previously been the case. Continue reading
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