European Union

MEPs condemned Turkey's military intervention in northeast Syria in a resolution which received cross-party support in the European Parliament on Thursday (24 October), urging Ankara to withdraw all of its forces from Syrian territory or expect "economic measures".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged on Wednesday (23 October) members of parliament's Finance Committee, including from his own party, to take a polygraph test in the wake of bribery allegations.

The European Court of Auditors recommended on Thursday (24 October) to improve the evaluation of EU initiatives in the field of venture capital, and to develop a “comprehensive investment strategy”, after a series of flaws detected in this field.

Welcome to EURACTIV’s Digital Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.   “This is the first time ever a nascent industry has been pulled out of the only legal framework it...

Written by Monika Kiss,

© Nmedia / Fotolia

Economic and technical changes are redrawing the map of the world of work: new jobs are appearing while others are becoming obsolete, and atypical work patterns are replacing full-time work and open-ended contracts.

In addition, work is increasingly being carried out on online platforms connecting buyers and sellers, or by large project teams across borders and time zones.

Robotics and digitalisation raise new questions, as machines progressively replace the human workforce for routine tasks, and new types of professional and personal skills are required to respond to technological progress.

Active labour-market policies are gradually adapting to the changing reality in the world of work. This concerns social security systems, which increasingly face include new, and constantly changing requirements, as well as ethical and practical problems relating to robotics. The EU focuses on protecting workers’ rights while ensuring innovation, as the examples of the recently adopted Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions and the establishment of the new European Labour Authority illustrate. The need for the new digital skills that are essential to successfully master the challenges of the new working environment also continues to grow.

This is an update of an earlier Briefing on the Future of work in the EU, from April 2017, PE 599.426.

Read the complete briefing on ‘A fresh look at the future of work in the EU‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

“20 Visions for Europe” gathers unique visions from public officials, intellectuals, artists, diplomats, athletes, civic actors and business representatives. The project is part of EURACTIV’s celebration of 20 years of free, independent reporting with European values at its core. The...

The Italian government said in a letter sent to the European Commission Thursday that its 2020 draft budget did not breach EU rules and that Italy wanted to revive its economy. "The projected change in the structural balance in 2020 would not constitute a significant deviation," economy minister Roberto Gualtieri said. EU commissioner for economic affairs Pierre Moscovici said Tuesday that Brussels was not likely to ask Italy for changes.

In a report presented in Paris on 23 October, the government institution France Stratégie proposed to support employment in the agricultural sector rather than the amount of cultivated land. But for this to become reality, a complete overhaul of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy is needed. EURACTIV France reports.

Gas power plants in Spain are running below 25% capacity, according to an investigation published in the Spanish media yesterday (23 October), sparking calls from environmentalists to stop funding the country’s “oversized” gas infrastructure.

In a resolution adopted on Thursday, the European Parliament stresses that both countries meet the requirements to start negotiations.

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

In a resolution adopted on Thursday, the European Parliament stresses that both countries meet the requirements to start negotiations.

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

MEPs call on EU countries to make full use of existing EU instruments to mitigate the impact of the Thomas Cook bankruptcy.
Committee on Transport and Tourism

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

MEPs call on EU countries to make full use of existing EU instruments to mitigate the impact of the Thomas Cook bankruptcy.
Committee on Transport and Tourism

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

MEPs strongly condemned the unilateral Turkish military intervention in northeast Syria, urging Turkey to withdraw all of its forces from Syrian territory.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Security and Defence

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

MEPs strongly condemned the unilateral Turkish military intervention in northeast Syria, urging Turkey to withdraw all of its forces from Syrian territory.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Security and Defence

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted three resolutions taking stock of the human rights situation in Egypt, Uganda and Indonesia.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Human Rights

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted three resolutions taking stock of the human rights situation in Egypt, Uganda and Indonesia.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Human Rights

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

MEPs on Thursday adopted a resolution urging member states to work on long-overdue rules obliging multinationals to disclose what taxes they pay in each country.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee on Legal Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

MEPs on Thursday adopted a resolution urging member states to work on long-overdue rules obliging multinationals to disclose what taxes they pay in each country.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee on Legal Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

Turkey’s recent behaviour "has put us all in a terrible situation", US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said in Brussels on Thursday. He said Ankara's "unwarranted" invasion into Syria jeopardised the security gains made as the US-led coalition and allied Kurdish forces battled the Islamic State (IS) in the area in recent years.