European Parliamentary Research Service Blog
events
New ways to finance cross-border transport infrastructure
Written by Mihalis Kritikos, Border regions face considerable challenges when it comes to cross-border transport infrastructure. These regions therefore need Member States’ support to develop their own unique mobility and transport plans. Publication of a forthcoming STOA study on innovative transport infrastructure funding, expected in November 2017, will follow a presentation to the STOA Panel on … Continue reading
Trade benefits outweigh costs, but victims need aid: EPRS-OECD conference
Written by Marcin Grajewski. Globalisation and free trade have supported world economic growth and higher living standards, but the process has coincided with rising inequality, a concentration of job losses at the middle skills level, and declines in manufacturing jobs in certain regions of the high-income economies. Although the benefits of free trade outweigh their … Continue reading
Health systems for the future – Making EU health systems innovative and resilient
Written by Gianluca Quaglio and Amr Dawood Over the last decade, EU health systems have faced growing common challenges: increasing cost; the rise of chronic diseases and multi-morbidity conditions leading to growing demand for healthcare; shortages of health professionals; technological advances; and inequities in access to healthcare. EU Member States’ future ability to provide universal … Continue reading
Setting European Priorities: The cohesion policy perspective
Written by Vasileios Margaras, European Parliament Vice-President Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso (EPP, Spain) opened an EPRS roundtable discussion on ‘Setting European Priorities: The cohesion policy perspective’ on 20 June in the EP Library reading room. An audience of representatives from local and regional offices, as well as MEP offices and officials, demonstrated the growing interest in the future … Continue reading
EU Development Days: time for new action, new thinking
Written by Eric Pichon, The main global development partners meet in Brussels for the European Development Days (EDD, EUDevDays.eu) on 7 and 8 June. This year the focus is on the various ways of ‘Investing in Development’. The debates take place at a time when the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the international community in … Continue reading
Health systems for the future
Written by Gianluca Quaglio and Amr Dawood, The health care sector plays an important role in the overall EU economy, accounting for 8 % of the total European workforce and 8.5 % of EU GDP. All EU Member States face strong and growing economic pressures on their health and long-term care systems, driven by already high levels … Continue reading
Blockchain stimulates a lively debate at the European Parliament
Written by Philip Boucher, On 11 May 2017, the STOA workshop ‘Spotlight on blockchain: a new generation of digital services’ provided a unique opportunity for the public to join policy-makers, technology experts and businesses to discover the wide-ranging opportunities and challenges presented by blockchain technology. In the course of the workshop, co-organised with the European … Continue reading
New Strategic Landscape
Written by Elena Lazarou with Jessica Parks. On 11 May 2017, EPRS organised a public event on the EU’s external dimension, and more specifically on what the EU’s strategic priorities should be in a changing strategic landscape. The event is the second in a series of roundtables aiming to assist preparatory work in the European … Continue reading
Opportunities and challenges of 5G in the EU
Written by Mihalis Kritikos. ‘The European Union will manage to gain a competitive advantage if it takes a leading role in the definition and standardisation of 5G technologies’ is how Eva Kaili, (S&D, Greece), Chair of Parliament’s Scientific and Technology Options Assessment (STOA), opened the workshop on ‘Opportunities and challenges of 5G in the EU’, which … Continue reading
The political impact of the European Parliament in the 1980s
Written by Christian Salm, Research on the history of the EU has mainly covered the impact of the nation states and their governments on the European integration process. Consequently, historical research on the role of the EU’s supranational institutions has been neglected. There are only a few exceptions where historical studies reconstruct the influence of … Continue reading
The European social pillar and reform of economic and monetary union: setting European priorities
Written by Nora Milotay, On 1 March 2017, the European Commission launched its white paper on the future of Europe. The Commission also plans to publish five reflection papers before the end of June on major EU issues, such as the social dimension, globalisation, economic and monetary union, defence and finance. In this context, EPRS … Continue reading
From Bratislava to Rome… and Beyond
Written by Ralf Drachenberg, The Rome Declaration of 25 March 2017, issued by the Heads of State or Government of the EU-27 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, marked the end of a process that began following the United Kingdom referendum on EU membership on 23 June 2016. The point of departure for … Continue reading
Spotlight on blockchain: A new generation of digital services
Written by Philip Boucher, Blockchain technology is a remarkably transparent and decentralised way to record lists of transactions. The technology is complicated, controversial and fast-moving, but is also of increasing interest to citizens, businesses and legislators across the European Union. A new report, ‘How blockchain technology could change our lives’, published in February 2017 by … Continue reading
From Bratislava to Rome
Written by Ralf Drachenberg, On the 60th anniversary of the Rome Treaties, the EU leaders’ Rome Declaration of 25 March 2017 proclaimed that ‘the European Union is facing unprecedented challenges, both global and domestic: regional conflicts, terrorism, growing migratory pressures, protectionism and social and economic inequalities. Together, we are determined to address the challenges of a rapidly … Continue reading
World Health Day 2017 – ‘Depression: Let’s talk’
Written by Nicole Scholz, 7 April each year is ‘World Health Day’, marking the anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO), founded in 1948. World Health Day is one of the WHO’s eight official health days for raising awareness and mobilising people to act. This year’s focus is on depression. The WHO campaign has three … Continue reading
EPRS conference: New US administration increasingly professional, despite early blunders
Written by Marcin Grajewski, American society and politicians may be more polarised than ever, the new President, Donald Trump may be mercurial and unpopular, but the American economy looks poised for accelerated growth, the foundations of American foreign and defence policy are solid, and the new administration is becoming increasingly professional, according to analysts and … Continue reading
What future for global trade?
Written by Krisztina Binder, Worldwide, countries are facing major international trade challenges. Trade policy was at the forefront of the 2016 United States presidential campaign, and the new US administration’s approach leans toward global trade restriction. Protectionist pressures, not to mention concerns regarding the potential effects of Brexit, are increasing on the world stage. Against … Continue reading
Empowering Women requires Women in Power
Written by Rosamund Shreeves, As the British historian, Mary Beard, highlighted this week, although women now sit alongside men in parliaments and government, powerful women – and the association of women with power – continue to elicit strong, negative reactions. For a telling illustration, Beard cites the use of Greek mythological imagery to depict the … Continue reading
Ethical and social challenges of agricultural technologies
Written by Mihalis Kritikos with James Tarlton, ‘We shouldn’t hinder technological development, but we should … protect our citizens and our natural resources” is how Marijana Petir (EPP, Croatia), a member of the European Parliament’s STOA (Science and Technology Options Assessment) Panel, opened the ‘ethical and social challenges of agricultural technologies – issues for decision-makers’, … Continue reading
How will evolving global shifts impact us in 2017?
Written by Naja Bentzen, Following 2016, a year of shifts and shocks, there is little doubt that 2017 holds potential for much uncertainty. A new EPRS publication, Ten issues to watch in 2017, explores a number of issues – internal and external security, the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit), the new United States … Continue reading
