European Union

Delistings on Euronext alone have led to a loss of €2.3 trillion in market capitalisation since 2015, a new AFME report shows.

Parliament’s President and political group leaders adopted the following statement marking 1000 days of Russia's illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Parliament’s President and political group leaders adopted the following statement marking 1000 days of Russia's illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

His government must roll up its sleeves to address mounting social discontent.

As the EU embarks on a new mandate, its ambitious goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is driving a renewed focus on shaping a regulatory framework that fosters sustainability and preserves Europe’s competitiveness.

AMENDMENTS 446 - 767 - Draft report Implementation of the common foreign and security policy – annual report 2024
Committee on Foreign Affairs
David McAllister

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

AMENDMENTS 89 - 445 - Draft report Implementation of the common foreign and security policy – annual report 2024
Committee on Foreign Affairs
David McAllister

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

As EU negotiators eye a political agreement at a dedicated ‘Mercosur summit’ in Uruguay on 2-4 December, securing clear parliamentary support may give Paris’ firm 'non merci' the political weight Macron needs before the deed is done. 

AMENDMENTS 768 - 1019 - Draft report Implementation of the common foreign and security policy – annual report 2024
Committee on Foreign Affairs
David McAllister

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

MEPs achieved increases for the 2025 EU budget and secured funds for helping EU countries facing climate-related disasters.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

MEPs achieved increases for the 2025 EU budget and secured funds for helping EU countries facing climate-related disasters.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

On Tuesday 5 November 2024, the EUHealthGov network held its second event. This one-day knowledge exchange workshop brought together academics, policymakers and practitioners to discuss health law and governance in the context of growing uncertainty and intertwined crises. The COVID-19 pandemic has not unfolded in isolation from other overlapping, interacting, and mutually reinforcing crises: from climate change, the war in Ukraine and in Palestine, sharply rising socioeconomic inequities and the cost-of-living crisis, to an exacerbated distrust in liberal democratic institutions, Brexit, and the rise of the far-right and Euroscepticism reflected in the newly elected European Parliament. At the same time, EU law and policy appears increasingly characterised by a state of permanent crisis, which institutionalises governance architectures and tools associated with emergency responses.

The purpose of this workshop was to exchange ideas, experience, and work-in-progress around one question: how do contemporary uncertainties and crises affect health law, policy, and governance in the EU, the UK, and their evolving relationship?

First, Dr Tomislav Sokol (Member of the European Parliament), joined us online and shared an exhaustive and detailed overview of the health-related priorities currently on the agenda in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. The workshop was taking place a few months after the European Parliament elections and in the middle of the Commissioner hearings determining the confirmation of the new college of Commissioners for Ursula von der Leyen’s second term.

Examining these ongoing developments, Dr Louise Bengtsson (Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies), provided her analysis of the new von der Leyen mandate and the role of health policy in this new political landscape. She highlighted the increased overlap and fluidity between Commissioner portfolios, as well as the central focus on competitiveness and security. Amidst the growing role of the EU in health since COVID-19 highlighted by Bengtsson, Dr Mechthild Roos (Augsburg University) presented her current research, which uses the framework of input/throughout/output legitimacy as a lens to understand the European Parliament’s involvement during the crisis phase of the pandemic. She highlighted how the Parliament sought to balance its support for swift, necessary emergency responses on one hand, and the need to prevent the risk of institutionalising modes of governance that bypass ordinary legislative procedures on the other hand.

Diving into the legal and political ins and outs of specific health crises, Juan Collado Pérez-Llantada (University of Liverpool) shared his insights into the role EU law can play in regulating antimicrobial resistance through a ‘OneHealth’ approach. He outlined the existing legal framework. But he also emphasised the difficulty inherent to governing this multifaceted and multilevel crisis, visible notably in the lack of action on the environmental spread of AMR and the issues of competence limitation. Another pharmaceuticals-related crisis was discussed by Mark Dayan (Nuffield Trust). He focused on the medicine shortages in the UK and EU, highlighting the global drivers of the crisis in the nature of pharmaceutical markets and recent disruptions caused by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. He also discussed the UK, EU and Member State responses – including industrial policy approaches and stockpiling.

Finally, the presentations of our two last speakers zoomed out and broadened the geographical scope of analysis even further, putting the EU in a global context. Dr Asha Herten-Crabb (LSE) presented her research on the EU as an emerging global actor. Drawing on critical postcolonial theory, one of the key elements of her research puzzle is to understand how the EU perceives itself and constructs its relationship within the global health architecture in the context of growing decolonisation and anti-West rhetoric. Prof Gabriel Siles-Brügge (University of Bristol) focused the global health crisis represented by non-communicable diseases – and how measures to tackle these were being challenged within the World Trade Organisation’s Technical Barriers to Trade Committee. The crisis in the global trading system has increased interest in such committees amongst the trade officials involved, including within the EU, as they exist outside of the limelight.

The post Health Law and Governance in an Uncertain Europe appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

On Tuesday, Parliament held an extraordinary plenary session with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, marking 1000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

On Tuesday, Parliament held an extraordinary plenary session with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, marking 1000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

On Tuesday, Parliament held an extraordinary plenary session with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, marking 1000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

AMENDMENTS 1 - 88 - Draft report Implementation of the common foreign and security policy – annual report 2024
Committee on Foreign Affairs
David McAllister

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Commission v Czech Republic
Citizenship of the Union
Citizenship of the Union: denying EU citizens residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals the right to become a member of a political party infringes EU law

Length of video : 157'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

I was fortunate enough to receive a UACES microgrant to help fund a month of conducting PhD fieldwork and research in Spain. I am pleased to say the trip was a success, and I gathered not only crucial archival evidence but also managed to establish key original strands of investigation through such findings, which will prove vital in shaping the argument at the crux of my thesis.

The trip was predominantly centred around making use of a number of Spain’s archivos estatales, however I also managed to integrate attending a conference in my very field of research into the stay, which would not have been possible without this financial backing. The Archivo Histórico Nacional in Madrid was my main base during the stay, and I used the PARES portal to find relevant archives and document them in relation to my key research questions. I particularly wanted to find out why a particular type of Spanish literature, known as the picaresque, was re-emerging in modern times – most notably in Spain’s postwar period, and here I found ample evidence that the popularity and trend of this type of writing was not only resurfacing, but being used as a tool for political defiance and a guise for the hypocritical bemusement of a generation marred by the depravity and austerity of a Civil War. The Archivo General de la Administración in nearby Alcalá de Henares also archived a return of the picaresque in not only a literary outlet, but through film, proving of its capability to adapt to the times and transcend boundaries. However, one key theme remained – despite European emulations of such work, it remained inherently Spanish. But why?

A breakthrough in my research trip came from my time spent at the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica in Salamanca, where the knowledgeable staff were able to discuss gaps in my research with me, leading to the discovery of a wealth of resources which could frame Spain’s postwar inwardness in stark contrast to the wider outfacing dynamic of Europe during this watershed period of war and enmity. I also made ample use of the digitalised archive collection to grasp a better understanding of conditions within Spain during this time, and the ties these had with the picaresque as not only a mere literary genus, but also as a watershed way of feeling, thinking and acting; ergo a trait of intrinsicality to the contemporary Spaniard. Following on from this part of my fieldwork, I then travelled to León to attend a conference specifically on the picaresque which was organised by the University of León in conjunction with the academic organisation CELPYC. At this event I was able to not only become familiar with current research being undertaken in my field, but also share my recent findings with like-minded academics, who have asked me to present my research at their upcoming congress in Santander in June 2025.

Sarah Ellis, Department of Languages Cultures and Film, University of Liverpool

The post UACES Microgrant Blog post: Chronicling an inward-looking postwar Spain in an outward-facing wartime Europe: Research trip to los archivos estatales appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

A Parliament delegation arrives in Baku today to participate in the COP29 climate change conference, which aims to define a new collective goal for financing climate action.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP