The EU’s Eastern Partnership policy, established in 2009, covers six post-Soviet states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. It was created to support political, social and economic reform efforts in these countries with the aim of increasing democratisation and good governance, energy security, environmental protection, and economic and social development. All the members except Belarus participate in the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.In June 2023 Moldova and Ukraine were granted EU candidate country status, followed by the decision of the European Council on 14 December 2023 to open accession negotiations with both countries. On 24 and 25 June 2024 the EU held the first Intergovernmental Conference at ministerial level to officially open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, but the formal opening of negotiating clusters is still pending as of April 2025. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Individual citizens’ rights and European citizenship are enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EUCFR), the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 9 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). They are essential factors in the formation of a European identity. In the event of a serious breach of basic values of the Union, a Member State can be sanctioned. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Nuclear energy is a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels and accounts for around 25% of the electricity produced in the EU. However, in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the 2011 catastrophe in Fukushima, nuclear energy has become highly controversial. While Member States choose whether to include nuclear power in their energy mix, EU legislation aims at improving the safety standards of nuclear power stations and ensuring that nuclear waste is safely handled and disposed of. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) is a central plank of the EU’s broader internal security architecture. Law enforcement cooperation and policies are still developing, with a special focus on countering terrorism, cybercrime and other serious and organised forms of crime. The main goal is to achieve a safer Europe for the benefit of everyone in the EU, in compliance with fundamental rights and data protection rules, as requested several times by Parliament. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Violence against women is a violation of human rights and a serious form of discrimination against women. It takes many forms and, according to survey data, affects one third of women in the EU. Such violence has a major impact on victims and imposes a significant cost burden on society. International documents adopted by the United Nations and Council of Europe, including the latter's 'Istanbul Convention', to which the EU acceded in 2023, set the normative framework for combating violence against women. The EU has embodied these international norms in its legislation and policies. The EU has deployed all the tools at its disposal to combat this phenomenon. It has adopted specific legislation focused on violence against women and has used legislation on other related subjects to address this type of violence. It has funded multiple programmes at EU and international level and has organised exchanges of good practice among its Member States. Although there are similarities between national policies to combat violence against women, the Member States have adopted different approaches. Parliament has been a strong supporter of EU action in the area. It has repeatedly called on the Commission and Member States to adopt legislative and non-legislative measures to combat violence against women, and has debated the multiple forms of this violence in its resolutions. This is a further update in a series of EPRS briefings on the matter dating back to February 2014. The most recent previous edition was from 2022. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In this paper, we analyse potential impacts that dollar-denominated stablecoins could have on monetary policy. We also consider related questions about the introduction of the digital euro. Based on our findings, the adoption of stablecoins in Europe is unlikely to be large-scale without state support. The development of the digital euro with full state and central bank backing is more likely to succeed. To be a viable alternative to private payment options, the digital euro needs to be carefully designed. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In this paper, we review the recent economic outlook, policy decisions and communication of the ECB against the backdrop of growing uncertainty. First, inflation heterogeneity has receded with inflation, thus contributing to facilitating the design of monetary policy. Second, monetary easing is somewhat dampened by the reduction in ECB’s balance sheet. Third, ECB has chosen to foreground uncertainty more explicitly in its public-facing communication, potentially as a tool to manage expectations and signal caution to a broader audience. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The current US administration promotes dollar-backed stablecoins—privately issued and supported by US debt—to reinforce dollar dominance worldwide, a strategy we dub “cryptomercantilism.” This report studies the EU’s 2024 Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCAR) and its safeguards for the EU’s monetary sovereignty. It also compares MiCAR to the proposed GENIUS Act in the US. Under existing policies, USD stablecoins create severe risks for third countries, indirectly also affecting the EU. The EU should counter digital dollarisation by promoting the international role of the euro in a context of enhanced multilateral payment systems. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This study explores the design of future Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation (R&I) in the European Union. Employing a foresight methodology – comprising a literature review, case studies, scenarios and foresight workshops with stakeholders – the study examines prevailing discourses on Framework Programme structures, identifies key R&I trends, and analyses the challenges posed by current developments. It presents a set of hypothetical programme structures alongside policy recommendations to optimise the Framework Programme for fostering effective R&I across the EU. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Confronted with warfare on the European continent since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, EU Member States, along with other European partners, have backed the need for a substantial increase in defence spending. This budgetary challenge has in turn raised important questions about the role of taxation in financing these efforts. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Driven by the rapid pace of technological change and the need for a human-centric approach to the development of artificial intelligence (AI), AI skills have a significant role in shaping the future European workforce. The growing skills gap in the EU, with almost half of the population lacking basic digital skills, including AI skills, poses a significant challenge for the future that needs to be addressed for the EU to maintain its competitiveness and manage regional disparities. Several EU initiatives are under way, including the recently adopted union of skills communication and AI continent action plan. Fostering anticipatory governance, a culture of innovation, supporting diversity and inclusiveness in the AI workforce, and strengthening digital infrastructure are all critical to ensuring that the benefits of AI are shared by all, while minimising its negative impacts. Aligning with European values will be important to ensure fairness in this process. The EU's future prosperity depends on using AI's potential while basing it on a human-centric approach and ethical development, ensuring transparency and accountability, as well as prioritising people's wellbeing. Targeted investment in EU-wide digital infrastructure and education that emphasises lifelong learning and skills development could ensure balanced economic growth and competitiveness in the global talent market. By examining the multifaceted interaction between AI, skills and jobs, a way forward may be identified that focuses on the needs of EU citizens and ensures that the future European workforce – and citizens in general – are equipped to succeed in an increasingly automated and AI-driven economy. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Freedom of movement and residence for persons in the European Union is the cornerstone of EU citizenship, established by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992. The gradual phasing-out of internal borders under the Schengen agreements was followed by the adoption of Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of EU citizens and their family members to move and reside freely within the EU. Notwithstanding the importance of this right, substantial implementation obstacles persist. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Confronted with warfare on the European continent since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, EU Member States, along with other European partners, have backed the need for a substantial increase in defence spending. This budgetary challenge has in turn raised important questions about the role of taxation in financing these efforts. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Driven by the rapid pace of technological change and the need for a human-centric approach to the development of artificial intelligence (AI), AI skills have a significant role in shaping the future European workforce. The growing skills gap in the EU, with almost half of the population lacking basic digital skills, including AI skills, poses a significant challenge for the future that needs to be addressed for the EU to maintain its competitiveness and manage regional disparities. Several EU initiatives are under way, including the recently adopted union of skills communication and AI continent action plan. Fostering anticipatory governance, a culture of innovation, supporting diversity and inclusiveness in the AI workforce, and strengthening digital infrastructure are all critical to ensuring that the benefits of AI are shared by all, while minimising its negative impacts. Aligning with European values will be important to ensure fairness in this process. The EU's future prosperity depends on using AI's potential while basing it on a human-centric approach and ethical development, ensuring transparency and accountability, as well as prioritising people's wellbeing. Targeted investment in EU-wide digital infrastructure and education that emphasises lifelong learning and skills development could ensure balanced economic growth and competitiveness in the global talent market. By examining the multifaceted interaction between AI, skills and jobs, a way forward may be identified that focuses on the needs of EU citizens and ensures that the future European workforce – and citizens in general – are equipped to succeed in an increasingly automated and AI-driven economy. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In light of the upcoming review of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy strategy, this briefing highlights the strategic relevance of a frequently underestimated component of the central banking toolkit: the collateral framework. While it typically attracts less attention than interest rate decisions or balance sheet policies, the framework plays a key role in shaping liquidity conditions and influencing market incentives by setting the eligibility criteria and terms for assets used in central bank operations. This paper examines its significance, particularly with regard to green and sovereign bonds, and underscores its often-neglected political implications, along with the need for greater transparency and scrutiny. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly designated 20 June as World Refugee Day, to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

France's national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP) is a subpart of 'France Relance', a larger recovery strategy France adopted in 2020, worth €100 billion in total (4.1 % of France's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019). The NRRP had an initial value of €40.9 billion (total costs), while the plan as amended in 2023 is worth €41.9 billion. Under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), at the core of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) instrument, France's RRF grant allocation decreased from €39.4 billion to €37.5 billion, following the June 2022 update. In April 2023, France submitted a request to amend its NRRP – partly in order to take into account the decrease in the EU's financial contribution, but also to add a new REPowerEU chapter, which comes with an additional grant allocation of €2.3 billion. France also asked to transfer a portion of its share of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve to its plan (€504 million). The EU contribution to the French amended plan totals €40.3 billion in grants, with the rest to be covered by national means. France has not requested loans. The RRF resources allocated to France represent 5.3 % of the entire RRF resources for the EU, and 1.6 % of the country's GDP in 2019 (the RRF representing 5.2 % of EU-27 GDP in 2019). Measures under the plan are to be completed by August 2026. France is the most advanced Member State in terms of progress in NRRP implementation: so far, it has received €34.1 billion (85 % of funds) and has fulfilled 82 % of the milestones and targets. The European Parliament, which was a major advocate of the creation of a common EU recovery instrument, participates in interinstitutional forums for cooperation and discussion on its implementation and scrutinises the European Commission's work. This briefing is one in a series covering all EU Member States. Sixth edition. The 'NGEU delivery' briefings are updated at key stages throughout the lifecycle of the plans. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This paper assesses the European Central Bank (ECB)’s monetary policy stance as of June 2025, analysing its evolving interest rate path, balance sheet developments, and communication strategy. It highlights the transition toward a neutral policy rate, ongoing quantitative tightening, persistent inflation dispersion, and increasing macroeconomic uncertainty. The analysis concludes that while inflation is converging toward target, elevated uncertainty, and divergence between interest rate policy and balance sheet reduction demand cautious calibration and transparent communication. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The recruitment of minors into serious and organised crime has increasingly become a tactic used by criminal networks to avoid detection, capture and prosecution. By using minors, the criminal networks increase the distance between the criminal activity and the network's core members or leaders, hampering identification. Even though there is a lack of reliable and comparable data on this phenomenon, several EU Member States have reported an increase in the involvement of minors in serious and organised crime. While the rising demand for recreational drugs seems to be the main driver behind the increase, minors are involved in other markets too, including property crime and online fraud. Criminal networks exploit children as young as 12 years for low-skilled roles such as local street dealers, cash couriers, warehouse operators and extractors of drugs from shipping containers. Easier access to firearms has led to a shift from minor crime to more serious, especially violent, crime, such as extortion and killings. Many minors are lured into organised crime by the promise of financial gain, social status, or sense of belonging, whilst others may be coerced or forced into this lifestyle due to their circumstances or environment. The consequences of such involvement are far-reaching, affecting not only the minors involved, but also the communities and society as a whole. The processes for recruiting minors into organised crime are still poorly understood, but there is a clear trend of increased use of digital tools for recruitment and communication, such as encrypted messaging services, apps and video games that are popular with young people. The EU recognises the severity of the problem and the need for closer cooperation between the affected Member States and for an integrated preventive response. By facilitating the exchange of best practices amongst Member States, integrating the local dimension into efforts to counter the infiltration of criminal networks into the economy and society, and by adopting a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach, the EU contributes to preventing the recruitment of minors into organised crime and to mitigating the devastating consequences. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

ISSUES AT STAKE • The combined global revenues of Earth observation and positioning-navigation-timing solutions revenues are expected to double between 2023 and 2035, making space services one of the fastest growing economic sectors. According to the European Commission, around 10 % of EU GDP is enabled by satellite signals. However, space congestion hampers further development. • The probability of a new global 'space race' led the European Council to identify space as a sensitive sector where strategic EU dependencies need to be reduced. A legislative initiative on an EU space law is planned in the European Commission’s 2025 work programme (Q2). • While there is a broad consensus on the relevance of collective EU space assets and services for competitiveness and strategic autonomy, Member States hold different views on the most appropriate legal basis and legislative format for EU action. • Most stakeholders in the EU are supportive of an EU space act that would address the safety, security and sustainability of space operations and facilitate the creation of a single market for space services, provided it does not hamper the competitiveness of EU space actors by creating additional burdens, and would apply to any entity delivering space services in the EU. • This situation presents a strategic opportunity for the European Parliament to be proactive and use its tools to shape the proposal (see below), aiming to complement the act with the required financing for space investment in the next EU multiannual financial framework. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Recent shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, have revealed not only the single market’s vulnerability to crises, but also the extent to which its good functioning is important to the EU’s competitiveness. The digital single market plays a transitory role as it benefits the economy, reduces environmental impacts and enhances quality of life through e-commerce and e-governance. The transition of services from fixed to mobile platforms demands an EU framework for cloud computing, cross-border content access and seamless mobile data coverage, which also ensures privacy and cybersecurity. The Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts will significantly transform the market in the coming years. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Union’s action in the field of culture supplements the cultural policy of the Member States in various areas, such as the preservation of European cultural heritage, cooperation between various countries’ cultural institutions and the promotion of mobility among creative workers. The cultural sector is also affected by provisions of the Treaties that do not explicitly pertain to culture. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European energy market is competitive, customer-centred, flexible and non-discriminatory. Its measures address issues of market access, transparency and regulation, consumer protection, interconnections and security of supply. They strengthen the rights of individual customers, energy communities and vulnerable consumers, clarify the roles and responsibilities of market participants and regulators, and promote the development of trans-European energy networks. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Parliament is vested with powers of democratic oversight and political scrutiny vis-à-vis the European Commission. These powers of Parliament enhance the democratic legitimacy of the EU as a whole, and help increase the transparency and accountability of the Commission as the EU's executive body. This study examines Parliament's oversight and scrutiny powers over the Commission. It focuses mainly, but not exclusively, on the powers that are enshrined in specific provisions of the EU Treaties. This includes Parliament's role in the Commission's investiture, in motions of censure, parliamentary questions, committees of inquiry and special committees, and in the Commission's obligations to report, consult and inform. It also looks into Parliament's scrutiny over budgetary issues, of delegated acts, in the context of the EU legislative procedure and agenda-setting, of legal proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union, and of the EU's external relations. The study builds on a previous EPRS study on parliamentary scrutiny of the Commission, originally requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) in 2018. The data presented in this edition focus on the ninth term parliamentary term (2019 to 2024). Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

EU public health policy is under continuous development. While several measures were triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU delivered by addressing both immediate and future health concerns, building resilience against cross-border health threats, implementing Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (better screening and preventive measures), advancing the pharmaceutical strategy for Europe (making sure EU patients have timely and equitable access to medicines) and enhancing the digitalisation of health systems. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This study of Reporting Obligations was commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Justice, Civil Liberties and Institutional Affairs at the request of the JURI Committee. It provides an overview of regulatory reporting and disclosure overlaps that businesses face across the recently enacted Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), and the EU Taxonomy. It provides recommendations on how to mitigate the burdens caused by these overlaps, together with a preliminary assessment of the Commission’s efforts to reduce burdens in the proposed Omnibus Directives. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This EPRS publication, 'Key issues in the European Council', seeks to provide an overview of the institution's activities on major EU issues. It analyses nine broad policy areas, which have been identified as priorities in the European Council's Strategic Agenda 2024-2029, outlining the main orientations defined by the European Council, the legal and political background, and the results of its involvement to date in each policy field. It is updated every half a year before the June and December regular meetings of EU Heads of State or Government. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The EU faces complex environmental issues, ranging from climate change and biodiversity loss to resource depletion and pollution. To address these issues, European environment policy follows the principles of precaution, prevention, rectifying pollution at source and the ‘polluter pays’. In 2019, the Commission launched the European Green Deal, moving environmental concerns to the fore of EU policymaking. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The Treaty of Nice only partially prepared the EU for its significant enlargements to the east and south on 1 May 2004 and 1 January 2007. Therefore, as part of the conclusions to the Laeken European Council meeting in December 2001, EU leaders established the European Convention on the Future of Europe – an effort to produce a new legal basis for the EU in the form of a treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. Following ‘no’ votes in referendums in two of the Member States, this treaty was not ratified. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Public authorities across the EU award contracts for works and services worth EUR 2.448 billion annually, making public procurement a major driver of economic growth, job creation and innovation. The 2014 public procurement package alone adds EUR 2.88 billion to the EU’s GDP each year. Moreover, EU procurement directives have significantly increased total award values, rising from under EUR 200 billion in 2009 to approximately EUR 525 billion by 2017. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The disastrous effects of the Second World War and the constant threat of an East-West confrontation meant that Franco-German reconciliation had become a top priority. The decision to pool the coal and steel industries of six European countries, brought into force by the Treaty of Paris in 1951, marked the first step towards European integration. The Treaties of Rome of 1957 strengthened the foundations of this integration, as well as the notion of a common future for the six European countries involved. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

As part of the wider Indo-Pacific, Southeast Asia has vital geostrategic importance for the EU and is currently facing relevant geostrategic challenges. The Indo-Pacific is undergoing rapid change, and as home to more than 50% of the world’s population, it is becoming a key geostrategic region. Two thirds of the world’s container trade passes through the Indo-Pacific and its sea lanes are important routes for trade and energy supplies. The EU strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific was adopted in September 2021 to increase the EU’s engagement and build partnerships to address global challenges. The EU is adapting its current instruments to achieve strategic autonomy. Its Strategic Compass for Security and Defence, formally approved by the Council in March 2022, promotes an open and rules-based regional security architecture, including secure maritime routes, capacity-building and an enhanced naval presence in the Indo-Pacific.The EU’s strategy priority areas in Southeast Asia are sustainable and inclusive prosperity, the green transition, ocean governance, digital governance, connectivity through the Global Gateway, security, defence and human security. The EU is forging closer ties with Southeast Asian countries and is promoting regional integration with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which represents, as a whole, the EU’s third-largest trading partner outside Europe (after China and the US). The region has geostrategic concerns, such as the South China Sea dispute and the Taiwan issue, as well as environmental concerns, especially in the Mekong sub-region. The EU is a strong economic player in Southeast Asia and a major development aid donor, working to foster connectivity, digitalisation, institution-building, democracy, good governance and human rights. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This interdisciplinary report focuses on tax barriers to cross-border mobility of workers in the EU. Tax fragmentation creates multiple negative impacts on the EU Internal Market, and compliance costs vary considerably across size, industries and countries. Further, employees’ choice of host country may be distorted by the tax differential. The report concludes with specific policy recommendations for more tax harmonisation and coordination, and for simplified compliance requirements. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Executive Vice-President Fitto and Commissioner Dombrovskis are invited to the 19th Recovery and Resilience Dialogue (RRD) under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) Regulation, scheduled for 16 June 2025. The previous RRD took place on 31 March 2025. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The Maastricht Treaty altered the former European treaties and created a European Union based on three pillars: the European Communities, the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs (JHI). With a view to the enlargement of the Union, the Amsterdam Treaty made the adjustments needed to enable the Union to function more efficiently and democratically. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP