EU environment ministers met in Luxembourg and reached a general approach on the green claims directive, the soil monitoring directive and the revised waste framework directive. They formally adopted the nature restoration law. Nature restoration law Today, the Council formally adopted the – first of its kind – regulation on nature restoration. This law aims […]
Annual EU report illustrates continuous deterioration of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong
The European Commission and the High Representative have adopted the 26th annual report to the European Parliament and the Council on political and economic developments in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This report covers developments in 2023. The electoral overhaul of the District Councils, adopted on 6 July, drastically reduced the number of directly […]
EU legislation on combating violence against women enters into force
The first EU rules on combating violence against women and domestic violence enter into force. Violence against women and domestic violence affects an estimated one in three of the 228 million women in the EU. By criminalising certain forms of violence against women across the EU – including online – and strengthening victims’ access to […]
People at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the European Union in 2023
In 2023, 94.6 million people in the EU (21% of the population) were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, i.e. lived in households experiencing at least one of the three poverty and social exclusion risks: risk of poverty, severe material and social deprivation, and/or living in a household with very low work intensity. The figure slightly decreased compared with 2022 […]
53% of the laws approved in Spain between 2019 and 2024 derive from European directives and decisions
53.6% of the laws approved by the Spanish General Courts during the IX legislature of the European Parliament originated from European institutions, according to a detailed analysis conducted by the European Parliament Office in Spain. Despite certain periods of lower legislative activity at the national level, such as the one following the Covid-19 pandemic in […]
Election 2024: Seat projection for new European Parliament
Projection for the composition of the new Parliament based on provisional results in 23 countries and estimates and pre-electoral data for the remaining four (as of 00.17). The above projection is based on: provisional results from 23 EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Finland, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, […]
European Central Bank lowers interest rates by 25 basis points
The Governing Council today decided to lower the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points. Based on an updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission, it is now appropriate to moderate the degree of monetary policy restriction after nine months of holding […]
European elections: EU institutions prepared to counter disinformation
The EU institutions are playing their part to defend the European elections on 6-9 June against disinformation and information manipulation targeting European democracy. The European elections are a flagship of European democracy. As documented by e.g. the European Digital Media Observatory, disinformation actors from inside and outside the EU seek to undermine the integrity of the […]
European elections 2024: people eligible to vote
The 2024 elections for the European Parliament are set for 6-9 June 2024. Eurostat has asked the National Statistical Institutes of the EU Member States for a dedicated data collection on the number of people eligible to vote. Following the publication of first estimates on 4 April 2024, this article presents the most recent estimates […]