The European Commission has decided to register a European Citizens’ Initiative entitled ‘Respect for the rule of law within the European Union’. The aim of the initiative is to create ‘an objective and impartial evaluation mechanism to verify the application of the European Union’s values by all the Member States’. More specifically, the organisers call […]
Brexit: visa-free access to the EU for UK nationals and to the UK for Europeans
UK nationals would be able to enter the EU visa-free for short periods after the country’s exit, provided EU nationals enjoy the same conditions when travelling to the UK. With 38 votes to 8 and 3 abstentions, Civil Liberties Committee MEPs backed on Wednesday a compromise with the Council on the proposal for a visa […]
Commission adopts €4 billion investment package for infrastructure projects across 10 Member States
Nowadays, the EU Cohesion Policy invests €4 billion of EU funds in 25 large infrastructure projects in 10 Member States. The investment package involves Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Portugal and Romania. The projects cover a wide range of areas: health, transport, research, environment and energy. With national co-financing, the total investment […]
Malta and Slovakia: MEPs warn of lack of judicial independence and corruption
MEPs deplore serious shortcomings in the rule of law in Malta and Slovakia, also warning of rising threats for journalists throughout the EU. Parliament passed on Thursday 28th of March, with 398 votes to 85 and 69 abstentions, a resolution summarising the conclusions of the working group set up within the Civil Liberties Committee to […]
MEPs agree on future regional and cohesion funding
Parliament adopted last Wednesday new funding rules to strengthen the EU’s economic, social and territorial cohesion, with 475 votes to 93 and 53 abstentions. The updated rules, which will apply from 2021 to 2027 to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund (CF), will cover all regions, with special focus on less […]
New projections on the composition of the next European Parliament
The Parliament has published the third round of projections for the distribution of seats for the next legislature, based on a representative sample of national surveys. This third installment of composition projections of the Chamber is drawn up from national surveys carried out until March 26. The data come from a selection of surveys […]
Sight-by-Side Award
Inequalities may take many shapes and forms, shedding light on these can be the first step to reduce them. The Africa Trust Fund is looking for two young photographers with an original perspective, good conceptual skills and experience, to create a bigger picture of “inequalities in Uganda”. We will select one European Union (EU) and […]
Commission welcomes adoption of new rules on single–use plastics to reduce marine litter
The European Parliament today agreed on the ambitious measures proposed by the Commission to tackle marine litter coming from the 10 single-use plastic products most often found on European beaches, as well as abandoned fishing gear and oxo-degradable plastics. The rules on Single-Use Plastics items and fishing gear, addressing the ten most found items on EU beaches place […]
Venezuela EU increases emergency assistance by €50 million!
As the social and economic crisis in Venezuela continues to worsen, the European Commission is allocating a further €50 million in emergency assistance to help Venezuelans most in need. Today’s announcement is also part of the EU’s commitment to mobilise further assistance as stated in the Montevideo Declaration of the International Contact Group. Total EU assistance […]