In this paper, we propose a multistep algorithmic method that enables us to determine the seat allocation for the European Parliament on a permanent basis applicable across various scenarios, including different numbers of Member States and their population sizes. According to the Lisbon Treaty, the allocation of seats must take into account a number of constraints regarding the minimum and maximum number of seats allocated to each Member State, the maximum size of the European Parliament, and degressive proportionality. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This briefing outlines recent and past developments concerning Romania's fiscal situation and the steps taken under the Excessive Deficit Procedure. On 4 June 2025, the Commission issued a recommendation stating that Romania had failed to take effective corrective action. The Council adopted a decision in this regard on 20 June. In July 2025, the Council required Romania to present measures by 15 October 2025; Romania has since adopted two fiscal packages. Because of the June Council decision, the Commission would be obliged to propose the suspension of payments or commitments under the ESI Funds and the RRF. This briefing reviews Romania's macroeconomic and fiscal situation (Section 1), EDP developments including fiscal packages adopted (Section 2), Country-Specific Recommendations (Section 3), EU funds at stake (Section 4), the legal framework for suspensions (Section 5), and the role of the European Parliament with lessons from the 2016 Spain-Portugal precedent (Section 6). Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The United States (US) Defense Industrial Base (DIB) is the world's largest, comprising over 60 000 companies and 1.17 million employees. It is dominated by five major corporations – Lockheed Martin, RTX, General Dynamics, Boeing and Northrop Grumman – which together account for around one third of US Department of Defense (DoD) contracts and half of the revenue of the top 100 defence companies in the world. While the DIB sustains US technological dominance, it faces challenges linked to market consolidation, supply chain resilience and workforce shortages. The 2023 Biden administration's National Defense Industrial Strategy seeks to address these issues, among other things, through enhanced supply chain resilience, workforce development and flexible acquisition. However, experts expect vast changes, including for the DIB, in strategy under the new Trump administration's national defence strategy that is currently being developed. By contrast, the European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB) remains fragmented, and has been under-invested in for decades. In 2024, EU defence spending reached €343 billion, roughly 2.5 times less than the US level (around €864 billion in 2024), with a large part of procurement sourced from the US. The 2024 European defence industrial strategy and the European defence industry programme aim to strengthen European defence industrial sovereignty, promote collaborative procurement, and emphasise a 'Buy European' approach. The European Parliament supports close EU–US cooperation but insists that EU programmes must primarily reinforce the EDTIB and increase strategic autonomy.  Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

As the second pillar of the common agricultural policy (CAP), the EU’s rural development policy is designed to support its rural areas and meet the wide range of economic, environmental and societal challenges they face. Greater flexibility (in comparison with the first pillar) enables regional, national and local authorities to formulate their rural development support schemes based on a ‘menu’ of EU-wide measures. Unlike the first pillar, which is entirely financed by the EU, second-pillar programmes are co-financed by EU funds and regional or national funds. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy is part of the European Union’s Green Deal, which aims to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050. The F2F Strategy is a policy framework setting out policy goals and initiatives designed to make the European Union’s food system more sustainable and environmentally friendly. The strategy comprises both regulatory and non-regulatory initiatives, with the common agricultural and fisheries policies as key tools to support a just transition. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In October 2025, for the first time in its history, Japan elected a female prime minister. Takaichi Sanae won the race for the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and was later elected by both chambers of the National Diet (Japan's parliament). She will lead a minority government, formed in a new coalition with the right-leaning Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin no Kai), after Kōmeitō ended its 26-year alliance with the LDP. Takaichi, known for her hardline stance, will face numerous challenges in her new role. She must focus on rebuilding public trust in politics, especially after her party's involvement in a slush-fund scandal, and navigate a fractured political landscape to pass crucial legislation. The government must address the Japanese public's main concerns, such as inflation and declining real wages. The task is complicated by modest growth (about 1 % of GDP) and high gross government debt (about 230 % of GDP), all against the backdrop of acute demographic crisis. Takaichi aims to implement an expansionary fiscal policy and limit the Bank of Japan's autonomy on monetary policy. Japan currently finds itself in a complex geopolitical environment, surrounded by authoritarian and nuclear-armed neighbours. The United States (US) – Japan alliance remains a cornerstone of Tokyo's foreign policy, but it has faced challenges under US President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to visit Japan in late October 2025. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In this paper, we propose a multistep algorithmic method that enables us to determine the seat allocation for the European Parliament on a permanent basis applicable across various scenarios, including different numbers of Member States and their population sizes. According to the Lisbon Treaty, the allocation of seats must take into account a number of constraints regarding the minimum and maximum number of seats allocated to each Member State, the maximum size of the European Parliament, and degressive proportionality. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In line with the Erasmus+ Regulation for 2021-2027, the European Commission conducted an evaluation covering Erasmus+ actions for the period 2014-2023. It comprises both an interim evaluation of the current 2021-2027 programme and a final evaluation of the 2014-2020 programme. Across both programme generations, the evaluation found that Erasmus+ delivered significant European added value, performing well against key evaluation criteria and effectively achieving its objectives. It yielded substantial benefits for individuals, organisations and the wider education, training, youth and sport sectors, providing opportunities for personal, educational and professional growth of learners and staff, for cross-border cooperation among organisations and for policy development. Erasmus+ funded learning mobility abroad for over 6.2 million participants in 2014-2020 and around 1.6 million in 2021-2023. The share of participants with fewer opportunities increased from around 10 % in 2014-2020 to around 15 % in 2023. Furthermore, Erasmus+ provided funding to over 136 000 distinct organisations in the 2014-2020 programme and more than 77 000 from 2021 to 2023. For most programme actions, demand for funding exceeded the available resources in both programming periods. The evaluation also highlighted areas for improvement to inform and support enhancements to the programme, such as reinforcing its inclusivity and accessibility, building greater synergies with other EU programmes, and widening international cooperation. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Union's fisheries and aquaculture sector contributes about €5.5 billion per year to the EU economy and provides direct employment to around 193 000 fishers and aquaculture farmers across Europe. European fisheries statistics (EFS) have been collected since 1950 and provide official EU-wide data on fleet size and structure, catches, landings and aquaculture production. Statistical data are also used by the EU Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture to fulfil EU reporting obligations to international bodies, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and regional fisheries management organisations. Fisheries statistics are regulated by five separate regulations adopted between 2006 and 2009, which are largely recasts of 1990s legal acts. Together, these acts constitute the EFS framework. However, the European Commission's 2019 evaluation identified a number of key shortcomings and concluded that the existing legal framework is outdated, inflexible, and no longer meets the needs of policy makers and users. These findings, together with successive reforms of the common fisheries policy and the emergence of new EU data sources under the Control Regulation and the EU data collection framework, led the Commission to propose a new European fisheries and aquaculture statistics regulation on 30 July 2025. This implementation appraisal outlines the existing EFS framework, reviews and summarises the main findings of the 2019 Commission evaluation and its impact assessment, and identifies how the main findings of the evaluation and impact assessment are addressed in the proposed new regulation. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Croatia's national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP) is an ambitious outline of reforms and investment designed to mitigate the pandemic's socioeconomic fallout and to address the consequences of the two devastating earthquakes of 2020. Following the December 2023 amendment of the Croatian NRRP, to which a REPowerEU chapter was added, the plan's worth reached €10 040.7 million (or 18.5 % of national gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019). The amended plan comes with a grant allocation of €5 779.4 million and a loan allocation of €4 254.2 million (of which more than 62 % is for the REPowerEU chapter). The grant part includes the country's REPowerEU grant allocation of €269 million and the €7.2 million transfer from Croatia's share of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve. In June 2025, the Council approved the second revision of the plan; the subsequent request to amend the NRRP was sent to the European Commission in October 2025. So far, Croatia has received €5 322.9 million of Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) resources (53 % of the amended NRRP) in the form of pre financing, six grant and two loan instalments. The disbursements are below the current EU average of 56.4 %. The seventh payment request (grants and loans) is under assessment by the Commission. The plan focuses on the green transition by devoting 38.6 % of the resources to it. It also fosters the digital transformation by committing 20.2 % of the funds (excluding the REPowerEU chapter) to digital projects. In the context of the 2025 European Semester, the Council recommended that Croatia accelerate the implementation of its NRRP. The European Parliament continues to ensure transparency and accountability through interinstitutional dialogues on RRF implementation, and scrutiny of the Commission's work. This briefing is one in a series covering all EU Member States. Fifth edition. The 'NGEU delivery' briefings are updated at key stages throughout the lifecycle of the plans. The author would like to thank Amalia Fumagalli, trainee in the Next Generation EU Monitoring Service, for her research assistance. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Dieses Dokument ist Teil einer Reihe von Studien, mit denen das Prinzip des Umweltschutzes in verschiedenen Rechtsordnungen aus rechtsvergleichender Perspektive dargestellt werden soll. Nach einer kurzen historischen Einleitung und der Darstellung der einschlägigen Rechtsvorschriften und Rechtsprechung werden der Inhalt, die Grenzen und die mögliche Entwicklung dieser Freiheit analysiert. Die vorliegende Studie hat den Fall Deutschland zum Gegenstand. Hier sind Rechtsvorschriften zum Umweltschutz seit dem 19. Jahrhundert, d.h. weit vor dem Konzept des „Umweltschutzes“ entstanden. Von einzelnen Normen des Denkmalschutz, Naturschutz-, Immissionsschutz- und Wasserrechts aus entwickelten sich nach dem 2. Weltkrieg große umweltrechtliche Kodifikationen wie das Wasserhaushaltsgesetz und das Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz (die Gesamtkodifikation in einem Umweltgesetzbuch scheiterte 2009). Europäisierung und neue Bereiche wie Boden- und Klimaschutzrecht ließen das deutsche Umweltrecht weiter wachsen und machen es omnipräsent in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. In den 1990er Jahren traten in Bund und Ländern verfassungsrechtliche Regelungen hinzu, die Umweltschutz zum Staatsziel machten, aber lange keine große Wirkung zeigten. Hinter der Vielfalt der umweltrechtlichen Regelungen steht nach wie vor prägend das Vorsorgeprinzip. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Russia's escalating hybrid attacks, including drone incursions, have prompted NATO's Operation Eastern Sentry and the European Union's (EU) plans for a European Drone Wall and Eastern Flank Watch. These initiatives aim to strengthen eastern defences but face disputes over cost, feasibility and strategic focus. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have welcomed the initiatives. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI), exposes the adverse effect of legislative complexity to the application of EU law, and advocates the reform of the monitoring of the application of EU law to embrace a qualitative, in depth evaluation of complexity, as a contributor of legislative effectiveness of EU Acts and implementing measures for all three legislative audiences (citizens, Member States and national authorities, and EU institutions). Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This European implementation assessment (EIA) aims to inform the ongoing work of the European Parliament's Committee on Public Health (SANT) on its own-initiative implementation report (2025/2139(INI)) on Europe's Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP). The assessment is composed of two parts. The first part is an introduction by the European Parliamentary Research Service that focuses on Parliament's role in cancer control action plans and cancer policies. It also describes the structure, governance framework and funding mechanisms of the EBCP. The second part of this EIA is a study undertaken by a team of external experts that assesses the implementation of the EBCP across all EU Member States between 2021 and 2024. The analysis focuses on three core areas: (i) gaps and delays in implementation of the EBCP, particularly in prevention, cancer care, and quality of life; (ii) the EBCP's impact on cancer inequalities across the EU; and (iii) lessons learned and their applicability to future EU initiatives on non-communicable diseases. Drawing on desk research, stakeholder interviews, and eight country case studies, the study identifies key challenges and opportunities for strengthening EU health governance. It concludes with a set of recommendations to improve coordination, embed equity, and ensure sustainable progress in cancer prevention and control. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The CONT Committee organised a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the Budgetary Treaty of Brussels. The event, held on 24 September 2025, reflected on the history and evolution of the Treaty, highlighting key developments over the past 50 years (1975-2025). It also examined the future challenges of parliamentary scrutiny and budgetary control. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This briefing provides a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the current 10th parliamentary term (2024-2029) who had held public office at local, regional and/or national level before taking up their mandates (or, in some cases, continue to hold sub-national level public posts). The analysis found that 64 % of MEPs had previously held public office at one or more of these levels before the current term. Their roles included mayors, city councillors, members of regional assemblies, regional ministers, members of national parliaments, national ministers and prime ministers. Specifically, 41 % of MEPs had held office at national level, 37 % at local level and 24 % at regional level. Notably, 23 % had served at two levels of government and 7 % at all three. The average duration of prior experience in these roles is significant: 10 years at local level, 7 years and 8 months at regional level, and 8 years and 5 months at national level. These figures are broadly consistent with those from the 9th parliamentary term (2019-2024), both in the proportion of MEPs with prior office-holding experience and the duration of that experience, which suggests continuity in Parliament's institutional profile. In terms of gender patterns, a higher share of male than female MEPs had held office across all three levels. The gap was relatively small at local and regional level but wider at national level, where 44 % of men had prior experience compared with 35 % of women. Finally, the briefing examines how the share of MEPs with prior office-holding experience varies across parliamentary committees – in which they serve as full members – highlighting variations by policy area and level of government. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Union controls the export of dual-use items and technologies that can be utilised for both civilian and military purposes. This stems from international obligations to counter the proliferation of items with potential military use. Entities planning to export these items need to obtain authorisation. These controls are administered and enforced at Member State level. Current Regulation (EU) 2021/821 sets common rules on the control of exports, brokering, technical assistance, transit and transfer of dual-use items. Annex I to the regulation, based on internationally agreed controls, lists the dual-use items requiring export authorisation. The Commission periodically amends the list of dual-use items through a simplified delegated regulation. Apart from this annex, which is binding in all EU Member States, the Commission publishes two other lists of export control measures to be taken by Member States. This parallel system means that the EU lacks a uniform, timely and effective control framework, required more than ever during these times of war on Europe's borders. At the same time, evidence shows that Western dual-use items are still feeding Russia's war machine, and the aggressor is hampering expansion of the scope of multilateral non-proliferation agreements. These factors led the Commission to include in its 2025 Annex I update items Russia prevents from being controlled multilaterally. Many experts consider this move an indication that the EU is consolidating powers in export controls to overcome this obstruction. The European Parliament has until 8 November 2025 to raise any objections to the new annex. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

State of play - 10th legislative term, as of October 2025 This document provides an overview of the European Parliament’s committee-level Economic Dialogues with other institutions of the European Union under the European Semester for economic policy coordination. It also lists the Recovery and Resilience Dialogues with the European Commission as undertaken by the competent committee(s) since the start of the current legislative term in June 2024, and includes an overview of the respective legal bases. During the 10th legislative term, the competent committees have so far held 5 Recovery and Resilience Dialogues and 3 Economic Dialogues with the European Commission, 3 Economic Dialogues with the Council, and 1 Economic Dialogue with the Eurogroup. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This study reviews the current framework to protect democracy in the EU in view of the forthcoming European Democracy Shield. It provides a comprehensive map of the existing instruments, while identifying and assessing outstanding policy challenges, regulatory gaps and implementation issues. The study also formulates recommendations to strengthen democratic resilience. The study was commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Justice, Civil Liberties and Institutional Affairs at the request of the EUDS Special Committee Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

To raise awareness of the many forms of trafficking in human beings and to boost efforts to address them, the European Union has set 18 October as EU Anti-trafficking Day. Marking the day is an opportunity to highlight the European Parliament's call to step up action against trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, which is now broadly recognised as a significant problem across the EU, affecting both EU and non-EU citizens. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

As part of the EU's long-term budget for the 2028-2034 period, the European Commission did not present a separate fund to support the common fisheries policy (CFP). Instead, as part of a redesign of the EU's long-term budget, support for fisheries, aquaculture and ocean-related activities would be integrated into a single, larger fund that also covers other areas, such as cohesion and agriculture. Consequently, rather than launching a legislative proposal to establish the successor to the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) of the 2021-2027 programming period, the Commission published a shorter, sectoral proposal outlining specific conditions for funding in support of the CFP, the ocean pact and the EU's maritime and aquaculture policy. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP) was establised in 2021 to put Europe’s ambition on cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and quality of life for patients and survivors into practice. It consists of ten flagship initiatives, each supported by EU-funded projects, most of which have already concluded. The EBCP has established important foundations by creating networks, mapping inequalities, and investing in knowledge centres. These achievements now provide a basis to advance cancer research, improve care delivery, and make better use of existing tools. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Increased political polarisation has led to a proliferation of attacks against elected representatives, political candidates and party members. Verbal abuse and insults, harassment, threats and intimidation, as well as smear campaigns against politicians, occur regularly both online and offline, marking a serious degradation in the quality of political debate in the EU. During the 2024 European elections campaign, there were serious incidents in several countries. Nevertheless, acts of physical violence remain isolated and less frequent in the EU than in many other parts of the world. Violence is a risk to which politicians have always been exposed, including in democratic regimes. Organised crime and radicalised individuals or groups resort to violence to promote their political or economic agendas. EU countries have been unevenly affected; violence linked to organised crime has particularly affected certain regions, especially southern Italy, where it has proven difficult to eradicate. By contrast, violence driven by political radicalisation is a more recent phenomenon and increasingly affects all EU countries – albeit to varying degrees – and tends to flare up during periods of heightened tension, such as election campaigns and large-scale public protests. The impact on political debate, free exchange of opinions and compromise-building is profoundly negative. Violence and intimidation pressure politicians to self-censor when addressing politically sensitive issues and, in some cases, to step out of politics altogether. To counter this, several EU countries have adopted preventive and protective measures, including regular data collection. Examples include classifying offences against elected representatives as aggravated offences, simplifying reporting, and providing training, counselling and emergency assistance. Parliaments have also promoted civility and mutual respect in debates through codes of conduct and have established support services such as legal aid, psychological counselling and security assistance. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Commission's interim evaluation of the current (2021 2027) European Solidarity Corps programme affirms the programme's success in fostering youth engagement, social cohesion and solidarity across Europe. The evaluation confirms that the programme effectively promotes inclusion, diversity and democratic participation while strengthening European identity and values. However, it also finds that the programme lacks sufficient funds. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Housing affordability problems are widespread across the European Union. This in-depth analysis explains how different groups experience these problems in different ways, focusing on younger people, households with children and older people. It does so using a framework mapping housing affordability problems in terms of housing exclusion, housing insecurity, problematic housing costs and housing inadequacy. It critically discusses how demand and supply oriented housing policies, as well as non-housing policies, can address these problems. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

On 19 November 2023, Javier Milei, the self-proclaimed 'anarcho-capitalist' and founder of the La Libertad Avanza party (LLA), won the presidential runoff with a campaign promising to radically reduce the Argentine state debt and reverse the country's persistent structural economic problems. Following his assumption of the presidency on 10 December 2023, Milei has implemented the most ambitious austerity and deregulation programme Argentina has seen this century. At the end of the first half of his term there have been impressive successes on the macroeconomic side (reducing inflation, consolidating the state budget and economic recovery). However, the measures have also had severe social implications. Almost two years after Milei's election victory, the midterm legislative elections taking place on 26 October 2025 are an important litmus test on the acceptance of his radical reform programme and his possible re-election in 2027. The question is whether Milei's LLA party can increase its seats in the bicameral Congress, where it will have to negotiate with the opposition on the implementation of further structural reforms. From the EU perspective, Argentina is particularly important as it is one of the four founding members of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) with which the EU is aiming to conclude the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (EMPA). Moreover, Argentina holds vast reserves of critical raw materials which are key for the clean transition of the EU economy and for the EU's strategic autonomy. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

At more than one in five, the number of children at risk of poverty in the European Union (EU) remains high. This year's International Day for the Eradication of Poverty presents an opportunity to take stock of what the EU is doing to fight child poverty. Even though legal competence for child policy remains primarily with the Member States, the fight against child poverty is a major EU priority. The European strategy on the rights of the child now reflects the EU's increasing willingness to tackle child poverty, while the use of European funds is key to success. This is a further update of a publication originally from November 2019. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Union (EU) has developed a complex architecture of information systems to support its policies on external borders, migration management and internal security. In response to recent migration and security challenges, the EU has sought to expand and upgrade its existing information systems on borders and security, and establish new systems and ensure their interconnection (interoperability). The underlying policy goal has been to 'close information gaps' on third-country nationals arriving or staying in the EU, to combat irregular migration and counter security threats more effectively. While the legislative work of updating and expanding EU-wide information systems for borders and security has been swift, the implementation of changes has been more challenging. Following the launch of the revised Schengen information system in March 2023, the new entry/exit system started operations on 12 October 2025. The European travel information and authorisation system (ETIAS) will follow at the end of 2026. This briefing provides an overview of EU-wide information systems for border management and security. It discusses recent developments and presents, where available, key figures on the operation of these systems. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The ‘common market organisation’ (CMO) Regulation introduces changes to rules governing the common market organisation in agricultural products (including the rules on wine), the EU quality schemes (geographical indications) and the support measures for remote regions. The aim is to equip agricultural markets with support measures to face new challenges, update provisions, simplify procedures and ensure consistency with other regulations under the common agricultural policy (CAP). Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The economic and monetary union (EMU) is the result of economic integration in the EU. A common currency, the euro, has been introduced in the euro area, which currently comprises 20 EU Member States. All EU Member States – with the exception of Denmark – must adopt the euro once they fulfil the convergence criteria. A single monetary policy is set by the Eurosystem, comprising the European Central Bank’s Executive Board and the governors of the central banks of the euro area. 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

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

A surge in autocratic governance has become increasingly threatening to global politics, having gathered momentum over the past two decades. This autocratic wave continues to evolve, becoming ever more complex and diverse as it unfolds. Hence, the shifting dynamics driving this wave need to be fully understood and disaggregated if the European Union (EU) is to design effective responses. Democratic strategy needs not only to hold at bay severe repression, but also to engage with the ideas and narratives that underpin autocracy’s apparent appeal. Accordingly, this paper draws on historical and contemporary writings that present various arguments against democracy. After unpacking the different components of this autocratic wave, EU responses over recent years are assessed, looking at how these relate to pro-authoritarian narratives. It finds that the EU has improved many elements of its policies during this time but still needs to tailor its strategies to the ideational aspects of anti-democratic trends. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted both the need for a resilient healthcare system and for quick access to inventions and technologies in challenging situations. Following this experience, EU lawmakers negotiated a compulsory licensing scheme intended to facilitate rapid use of patents while preserving strong patent protection as an incentive to innovate. Views on the original European Commission proposal diverged. Civil society organisations supported broad application of the compulsory licensing scheme, while industry advocated a narrow scope. Stakeholder positions diverged more sharply than those of the co-legislators. Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement on 21 May 2025, largely amending the Commission proposal in favour of rights-holders. The compromise would: (i) exclude semiconductor crises, emergencies relating to gas supply security and defence-related products from the regulationʹs scope; (ii) preserve confidentiality of protected know-how; (iii) significantly lower the maximum fines and penalties the Commission may impose on licensees for non-compliance, and remove rights holders from the sanctions regime entirely. By consensus, the co-legislators rejected the Commission's proposal to cap licensing fees. In line with the Parliamentʹs position, the competent advisory body must invite an observer from the European Parliament to relevant meetings. Fourth edition. The 'EU Legislation in Progress' briefings are updated at key stages throughout the legislative procedure. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This study serves as an evidence base to support policy discussions and contributes to a future revision of the Combined Transport Directive. It identifies and analyses a subset of the network of intermodal freight terminals across the European Union, offering insights into their location, served transport modes, physical area, handling capacity (in TEUs), loading equipment, and additional services provided. The report includes selected case studies that illustrate targeted actions aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of terminal operations. Furthermore, it maps the main connections between inland and port-based terminals and key European seaports. A dedicated analysis is also presented on the average distances travelled to and from intermodal terminals in four selected EU Member States, providing context on logistical patterns and accessibility. Together, these findings lay the groundwork for informed policy development with a view to incentive the expansion of the EU’s multimodal freight transport framework. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP