This comparative analysis of national legislation on rape in European Union Member States provides an overview of legal provisions on the crime of rape, with a focus on the notion of consent. According to the Council of Europe Convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence, to which the EU became a party in 2023, lack of consent from victims of rape should be made a constitutive element of the crime. This norm, together with increased social awareness of sexual violence, has inspired a wave of legal reforms in many EU Member States. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This glossary gives an overview of the definitions of performance, mainstreaming and conditionality. This glossary puts forward general definitions consistent with the way these concepts are used in the EU context while remaining, to the extent possible, consistent with commonly accepted notions found in grey and academic literature, as well as within international organisations such as the OECD and the UN. As a complement to these generic definitions, a forthcoming second part of this glossary will provide additional background elements based on a literature review that will provide a short history of the concepts, discuss eventual divergences in the way they are interpreted and provide illustrations on how these concepts are used in practice in EU policymaking. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The EU defence industry is characterised by economic and technological components that are important factors for Europe’s industrial competitiveness. The European Defence Agency supports Member States in improving their defence capabilities and contributes to the development of their defence industry. The sector has recently decided to address some of its main challenges, including market fragmentation and low spending levels, by reinforcing common procurement and enhancing defence expenditure. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This study examines the implications of future enlargements for the next MFF. It reviews adjustments made to the EU budget during past enlargements and estimates the budgetary costs of the accession of all current candidate and potential candidate countries (excluding Türkiye) under three alternative scenarios which distinguish between the number of enlargement countries and the timing of enlargement. It then provides policy recommendations for adapting the next MFF to enlargement. The study was prepared at the request of the Committee on Budgets. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Union provides farmers with income support or ‘direct payments’ to function as a safety net and make farming more profitable, guarantee food security in Europe, assist them in the production of safe, healthy and affordable food and reward farmers for delivering public goods not normally paid for by markets. They are managed jointly by the Commission and the Member States through a number of schemes. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Common rules have been drawn up to ensure that passengers receive at least a minimum level of assistance in the event of serious delays to or cancellation of their journey, irrespective of the mode of transport used, and, in particular, to protect more vulnerable travellers. The rules also provide for compensation schemes. However, a wide range of derogations may be granted for rail and road transport services, and court actions challenging the application of the rules are still common. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

EU regulations on maritime transport focus on the application of the principle of free movement of services and the correct application of competition rules, while ensuring a high level of safety, good working conditions and environmental standards. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Social Fund (ESF) was set up under the Treaty of Rome to improve workers’ mobility and employment opportunities. Its tasks and operational rules have since been revised and complementary EU instruments have been integrated to enhance coherence and synergies, and reflect developments in the economic and employment situation in the Member States, as well as the evolution of the political priorities defined at EU level. As a result, ESF+ has become the main EU instrument for investing in people. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The action of the European Union (EU) in the field of budgetary control is based on two principles: on the one hand, ensuring that the EU’s budget is properly spent and, on the other, protecting the Union’s financial interests and combating fraud. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has the power to investigate fraud against the EU budget, corruption and serious misconduct and develops anti-fraud policy. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) investigates, prosecutes and brings to justice crimes against the EU budget. Even if their primary focus is not strictly on protecting the Union’s financial interests, EUROPOL and Eurojust provide additional support. Finally, the anti-fraud landscape will soon be marked by a further decentralised EU agency, the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA). Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

On 26 February 2025, the European Commission presented the Clean Industrial Deal, a new EU plan to support competitiveness and decarbonisation of EU industry. The Deal focuses mainly on energy-intensive industries and clean technologies (clean tech). Both sectors face high energy prices, intense global competition and complex regulations. The Clean Industrial Deal includes several solutions to address this situation. It aims to bring energy costs down, boost demand for clean products, reduce EU dependency on raw materials, improve circularity and restore domestic manufacturing. Planned legislative initiatives in the energy field include a new electricity grids package, revisions of the energy security framework and Energy Union governance, as well as an Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act and a delegated act on low-carbon hydrogen. Recommendations and guidance documents are also planned, for instance on network charges, energy taxation and the design of long-term instruments for electricity supply. In the short term, the Clean Industrial Deal aims to mobilise over €100 billion through boosting EU-level funding, leveraging private investments and enhancing State aid. The key EU funding sources will be the Innovation Fund, Horizon Europe, InvestEU and a new Industrial Decarbonisation Bank. In the next long-term EU budget, the Competitiveness Fund will support EU investments in research and innovation, industrial deployment and scale-up, manufacturing, clean tech and industrial decarbonisation. The European Parliament is currently working on a resolution on the Clean Industrial Deal. The vote in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is expected in June 2025, while the plenary vote is planned for July 2025. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

President Donald Trump threatens that the US will take back the Panama Canal, a strategic maritime route for global trade, because of perceived Chinese influence in the Canal Zone. In fact, a Hong Kong-based private company owns two of the canal's five port terminals at strategically important points. The Panama Canal is a key maritime trade route that handles about 40 % of US container traffic and approximately 5 % of world trade. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Union complements the Member States’ activities with regard to the right of workers to information and consultation by adopting minimum requirements by means of directives or through measures designed to encourage cooperation between the Member States. A number of EU directives protect the rights of workers to information and consultation by establishing rules for both the national and transnational levels. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Free movement is one of the four freedoms enjoyed by EU citizens. This includes the rights of movement and residence for workers, the rights of entry and residence for family members, and the right to work in another Member State and be treated on an equal footing with nationals of that Member State. Restrictions apply for the public service. The European Labour Authority serves as a dedicated agency for the free movement of workers, including posted workers. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Union (EU) considers language learning an important priority as part of its efforts to promote mobility and intercultural understanding. It views multilingualism to be an important element of Europe’s competitiveness and funds numerous programmes and projects in this area. One of the objectives of the EU’s language policy is therefore for every citizen to master two languages besides their mother tongue. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The ‘Horizontal’ Regulation on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy (CAP) provides the legislative framework for adapting the financing, management and monitoring rules of the CAP to its new delivery model. It seeks to achieve more subsidiarity and simplification, with greater responsibility given to Member States, showing a shift from ensuring compliance to monitoring performance and reduced administrative burdens for the Member States. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Territorial supply constraints (TSCs) still constitute a barrier to the single market. TSCs are restrictions on the supply of goods that are linked to the territories in which sales are made at different levels in the supply chain. A study delivered for the European Commission in 2020 estimated that eliminating TSCs could lead to consumer savings of around €14 billion. In the absence of specific rules, this problem has been tackled at EU level by competition law, but with only partial success. Competition law is constrained by certain parameters, notably the requirement for agreements to exist between contracting parties or for one of the parties involved to have a dominant position on the market, which means that it is not suitable to tackle all instances of TSCs. The same phenomenon has been visible in the past in similar policy areas. For example, unfair trading practices in the food sector were also addressed, with partial success, by competition law, before specific legislation was adopted. To meet recent calls for action on TSCs, the same progression – from partial regulation through competition law to full internal market legislation – may be required. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty (2009), the EU national parliaments have had the right to control the principle of subsidiarity through the Early Warning System (EWS). This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Justice, Civil Liberties and Institutional Affairs at the request of the AFCO Committee, examines how the EWS has worked over the past 15 years. It also looks into the interaction of Parliament, the European Commission, local and regional entities, the Committee of the Regions, the Court of Justice of the EU and the Council with national parliaments to this end. Moreover, it considers the principle of proportionality and the EU institutions’ relationship with it. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Once seen as a front-runner of the Eastern Partnership, Georgia's EU path has been de facto halted since June 2024. The country is engulfed in a political crisis following the contested October 2024 parliamentary elections. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In April 2025, the European Commission presented a communication on the mid-term review of the EU cohesion policy, accompanied by a proposal for a regulation amending the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund and the Just Transition Fund. The Commission aims to use the mid-term review to maximise the contribution of cohesion policy to the EU's current and emerging political priorities and to increase its impact on economic, social and territorial cohesion. According to the communication, the amendments to the regulatory framework of the cohesion policy funds seek to align investment priorities with the evolving economic, societal and geopolitical context, as well as with EU climate and environment objectives, and to introduce greater flexibility and incentives in order to facilitate the rapid deployment of resources. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

EU Member States have a shared responsibility to give protection to asylum-seekers, to ensure that they receive fair treatment and that their cases are examined in accordance with uniform standards. The common European asylum system (CEAS) establishes common standards for Member States in their procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection. A critical aspect of a common approach to international protection is the application of the 'safe country of origin' concept. In the context of refugees, the term 'safe country of origin' (SCO) has been used to refer to countries whose citizens should not, in theory, be granted international protection, since those countries are widely regarded as safe. The concept can refer to the automatic exclusion from refugee status of nationals originating from SCOs, or it can raise a presumption of safety that those nationals must rebut. Several international and regional human rights bodies have either raised concerns about the use of the SCO concept or proposed appropriate safeguards to ensure that fundamental rights of persons in genuine need of international protection, but who originate from SCOs, are respected. At EU level, the concept has gradually developed as part of the CEAS, culminating in the adoption of the provisions on the common EU list of SCOs. Many Member States have already established national SCO lists. With the new asylum legislation, transposition of the SCO concept will be mandatory for all Member States, which will also be able to retain or introduce national SCO lists other than those designated at EU level. This is an update of a 2024 EPRS briefing. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The coordination of social security facilitates the free movement of people within the EU. After a fundamental reform of legislation in this area in 2010, the Commission included proposals in its 2016 Labour Mobility Package to further reform the system and adapt it to modern economic and social realities in the EU. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European employment strategy, dating back to 1997, established common objectives for employment policy and contributed to ‘soft coordination’ among the Member States. Creating more and better jobs was one of the main goals of the Europe 2020 strategy. In the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the Commission has proposed new and more ambitious targets in employment policy as well as concrete actions for a fair, equitable and well-functioning labour market. EU law is relevant in certain areas, even if the responsibility for employment policy lies primarily with national governments. Employment policy is monitored and assessed in the European Semester. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Situated at the intersection between economic and environmental interests, the term 'ecosystem-based approach' has shaped the discussion on fisheries management for many years and is currently widely used in the context of ocean governance. There is, however, not necessarily a common understanding of what the approach implies. Different terms as well as a number of different definitions and concepts exist, depending on the entity using them. Two major concepts, the incremental and the holistic method, can be applied for putting the approach into practice. The main difficulties hindering its further deployment in the context of fisheries policy are: knowledge gaps, complex decision-making, and a lack of an interdisciplinary implementing framework. Given these challenges, the common fisheries policy remains dominated by the conventional single-species approach. The European Parliament has repeatedly argued in favour of a further development of the approach in EU policies, and current research points in this direction. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

With the appointment of Apostolos Tzitzikostas as European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, tourism policy has received new impetus. In the European Commission's communications, returning policy objectives are geared towards making tourism greener, more digital, more competitive and – since the COVID-19 pandemic – more resilient. The Commission has also set out several initiatives to improve the travel experience by protecting the rights of passengers and making tourism more accessible for people with disabilities. In addition, the EU makes use of digital tools for issuing or refusing travel authorisations, processing biometric data and protecting travellers' personal data. Furthermore, it addresses the environmental impact of tourism with legislation that encourages energy efficiency and the use of alternative fuels. It also promotes eco-friendly accommodation and little-known destinations in order to cope with overtourism. Service providers in the travel industry face several challenges and opportunities. The sector is affected, among other things, by new taxation rules. Service providers will be able to collect more reliable information on hosts and their short-term rental properties. Funding for tourism is spread across several EU programmes. Some are meant to make the sector more resilient, others to support businesses, protect the environment or encourage cultural exchange. Looking ahead, the Commission work programme for 2025 envisages amending passenger rights, digitising passports and identity cards, facilitating consular protection and protecting travellers. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Improving health and safety at work has been an important concern for the EU since the 1980s. Legislation at European level sets minimum standards for the protection of workers, while allowing Member States to maintain or introduce more stringent measures. Health and safety at work is a key component of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

A ‘posted worker’ is a worker who is sent by their employer to provide a service in another EU Member State on a temporary basis. Freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services are fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The principle governing the status of posted workers is ‘equal pay for the same work in the same place’. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The need for effective communication has a legal basis in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter), which guarantees the right to be informed about EU issues for all citizens. The EU institutions have developed several tools and services to stay in contact with and inform the public. Since its formal launch in 2012, the European Citizens’ Initiative has allowed citizens to become more directly involved in new legislation and EU issues. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This briefing provides a summary of the recent economic developments in EU Member States and gives an overview of relevant economic projections forecasted by major EU and international institutions. Annex 1 includes the latest GDP data and forecasts for all EU Member States. Annex 2 provides the latest inflation data and developments. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

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. As an institutional framework for this cooperation, the Schuman Declaration proposed the creation of the first supranational organisation in Europe, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Established in 1952, the ECSC laid the foundations for today's European Union (EU). The Schuman Declaration is therefore seen as the EU's founding act. Presented by the French Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, on 9 May 1950, the anniversary of this key date in European integration is marked on 9 May each year in the EU. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The analysis explores the competitiveness of European banks compared to their US counterparts. It highlights structural differences between the two systems, particularly Europe’s reliance on traditional bank intermediation versus US’s market-based model. European banks generally lag in profitability and market valuations, but remain central to credit provision and financial inclusion across the EU. US banks have benefitted from more favourable macroeconomic scenarios. At the same time, recent improvements in European bank’s profitability and efficiency are driven by temporary macro factors, raising concerns about sustainability. The study emphasises the need for regulatory harmonisation, capital market development, and integration to enhance the competitiveness and resilience of Europe’s banking sector. It also stresses the importance of considering both quantitative and qualitative indicators to better capture banks’ contributions to the economy and overall welfare. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In 1958, Robert Schuman was elected president of the European Parliamentary Assembly, predecessor to the European Parliament. This French politician, who was particularly sensitive to the tensions between France and Germany, is regarded as one of the 'founding fathers' of what is now the European Union. After the Second World War, he supported the establishment of the Council of Europe and helped to bring many other European projects to fruition. With his declaration of 9 May 1950, considered the founding act of the European integration process, Robert Schuman assumed political responsibility for a common coal and steel market that would later become the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The declaration underlines the role of France in building a strong, prosperous and peaceful Europe, starting with France and Germany. Going far beyond mere objectives, the declaration also sets out the precise basis upon which the negotiations should begin. Robert Schuman was president of the European Parliamentary Assembly from 1958 to 1960. This institution was the political institution par excellence of the Communities: at once a democratic organ representing the peoples of Europe, a body invested with the power of executive scrutiny, and a unifying element between the three Communities. Highly influenced by Christian values, Robert Schuman campaigned to build a strong and united Europe step by step, and to establish institutionalised solidarity between European countries. Robert Schuman's legacy continues to influence and shape the European Union to this day. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

During the May I plenary session, the European Parliament is to decide on granting discharge for the 2023 financial year to the different EU institutions and bodies. Accounting for more than 95 % of the overall EU budget, the European Commission's budget is at the centre of the discharge procedure. The discharge of the Commission includes its six executive agencies and the grant component of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). Separate discharge is granted to the Commission concerning the management of the European Development Funds (EDFs). The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) recommends that Parliament grant discharge to the Commission, all executive agencies and the EDFs for the 2023 budget. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

During the May I plenary session, as part of the discharge procedure for the 2023 financial year, the European Parliament is due to vote on discharge for 33 EU decentralised agencies and 11 joint undertakings (JUs). The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) recommends granting discharge to all decentralised agencies, bodies and JUs, except for the European Union Asylum Agency (EUAA), for which it proposes that the decision on discharge be postponed. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

During its May plenary session, the European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the discharge for the implementation of the 2023 EU budget. The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) recommends granting discharge for eight administrative sections, alongside the European Public Prosecutor's Office. It recommends postponing the decision on granting discharge to the European Council and the Council of the EU. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Türkiye has long been a strategic partner of the EU on migration, security, and trade. However, following the attempted coup in 2016, Türkiye's democratic backsliding led the Council to freeze its accession negotiations in 2018. Although relations have since thawed, the EU is exploring a more realistic framework for bilateral relations. Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) adopted its report on the 2023 and 2024 Commission reports on Türkiye on 9 April 2025. A debate and vote on the report are due to be held in plenary in May 2025. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP