European Parliamentary Research Service Blog

Written by Clare Ferguson,

As the long, hot summer draws to a close, Members of the European Parliament are packing their bags once more to travel to Strasbourg for the September plenary session. The agenda for this first ‘back-to-school’ session features the final State of the Union address of the current mandate by the President of the Commission, Jean‑Claude Juncker, on Wednesday morning. Other highlights include the latest in the series of debates on the Future of Europe, with the Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, scheduled for Tuesday morning, followed by an address by Michel Aoun, President of the Lebanese Republic, in a formal sitting on Tuesday lunchtime. Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will also address the plenary on Thursday morning, in advance of a referendum linked to the agreement with Greece on the country’s name, set for the end of this month.

Parliament will discuss on Monday evening an agreement to enlarge the structural reform support programme in both scope and funding. The Commission has proposed to expand the scope and financing of the programme, where demand has far outstripped capacity, to cover future euro membership preparations. Parliament has proposed that requests are prioritised, and stressed that other cohesion policy priorities should not be impacted.

Few people can have missed the tragic images of wildlife struggling to survive in our plastic-littered environment. Around 2 % to 5 % of plastics produced end up in oceans, damaging coastal and marine ecosystems. While plastic is a cheap, durable and convenient material, poor treatment of plastic waste impacts on nature, the climate and human health. Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health & Food Safety has urged the Commission to increase recycling of plastics and curtail the use of single-use plastics by 2020, and following a joint debate on the EU strategy for plastics in a circular economy on Wednesday evening, Parliament is due to vote on a resolution on the Commission’s proposals.

The controversy over whether or not glyphosate is a safe pesticide has raged for three years. On Thursday morning, Parliament will vote on a report on the implementation of the Plant Protection Products Regulation that expresses concerns regarding misuse of emergency authorisations allowing individual countries to apply derogations. Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health & Food Safety would like to see greater action on innovative pest management, as well as more transparency within the approval process to ensure that pesticides employed in the EU are low-risk for humans and the environment.

The modern digital environment has changed the way copyright-protected works and content are created, produced, distributed and used in the EU and beyond, rendering current legislation inadequate to deal with the issues thrown up by widespread use of the internet. On Tuesday afternoon, Members will propose amendments and debate the Commission’s proposal to tackle exceptions to copyright protection in the digital single market for research and education (text and data mining), press publishers’ rights, and the ‘value gap’ created by online sharing. This follows the rejection in plenary in July of the Legal Affairs Committee’s agreed mandate to negotiate with the Council on the proposal.

Digitalisation should also make it easier for citizens to obtain information or carry out an administrative procedure throughout the EU. The Commission has accordingly made a proposal for a single digital gateway. Should the proposal be approved, Member States will have to provide their most frequently used procedures online, in at least two languages. Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection has already succeeded in modifying the proposals to ensure the facility is clear, simple, and provides adequate data protection and access for the disabled. Parliament will discuss a compromise text agreed with the Council, on Wednesday evening. Data protection rules apply to the EU’s own bodies, offices and agencies too, and Parliament will debate a compromise text on the protection of personal data processed by the Union institutions and bodies on Wednesday afternoon. Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affairs Committee is keen to see a harmonised regime that also covers the sort of sensitive operational data processed during judicial and police cooperation.

Looking further afield, an own-initiative report on the state of EU-US relations is scheduled for discussion on Tuesday evening, where President Trump’s willingness to withdraw the US from a number of international agreements on trade and security has raised considerable concern. Despite recent divergences, however, Parliament and the US Congress remain committed to working together. Other external relations items on the agenda on Tuesday evening include the state of EU-China relations and a statement by the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the emergency situation in Libya and the Mediterranean.

Parliament will debate on Monday evening an initiative announced in the 2016 edition of President Juncker’s State of the Union speech to create a European Solidarity Corps. Parliament has been keen to ensure that this new opportunity for young people to volunteer in education, health, environmental protection, disaster prevention, and the reception and integration of migrants and asylum-seekers, is funded by fresh money, rather than reallocations. Parliament’s negotiators have been largely successful in ensuring that the aim of the Corps is to provide meaningful, non-profit opportunities that help the vulnerable while also improving young people’s job prospects.

Finally, on Tuesday evening, Parliament is due to debate an agreed text on controls on cash entering or leaving the EU, which are intended to close the gaps in existing laws that could be exploited for the purposes of money laundering or financing terrorism, specifically by tightening up definitions of ‘cash’.

 

A list of all material prepared for this Plenary Session: European Solidarity Corps (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Protection of personal data processed by the Union institutions and bodies (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Single Digital Gateway (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Structural Reform Support Programme: financial envelope and general objective (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Controls on cash entering or leaving the Union (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Plastics in a circular economy (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Implementation of pesticides legislation (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Copyright in the digital single market (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Countering money laundering with criminal law (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) State of EU-US relations (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Amending Budget No 4 to the 2018 EU budget: Mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL)

Written by Mihalis Kritikos,

© TK 1980 / Shutterstock.com.

Exploring the relationship between ethics and technological innovation has always been a challenging task for policy-makers. Ethical considerations concerning the impact of research and innovation (R&I) are increasingly important owing to the quickening pace of technological innovation and the transformative potential and complexity of contemporary advances in science and technology. The multiplication of legal references to ethical principles and the mushrooming of ad hoc ethics committees indicate the institutional embedding of ethics into the scientific research process as such, but also into an increasing array of technological trajectories. Yet the rapid development of disruptive technologies means that social and ethical norms often struggle to keep up with technological development. But what if disruptive technologies were to challenge traditional ethical norms and structures?

In a traditional technological setting, ethics is mostly seen as a constraining procedural requirement of a legal nature that needs to be met at the outset of the scientific research endeavour. This is frequently the case in technological domains where human participation, clinical trials or animal experimentation are planned. Obtaining prior ethics approval remains a primary challenge for scientists and technology developers. However, as ethical requirements become stricter and new technology-related ethical challenges arise, concepts such as ‘ethics by design’ and ‘responsible innovation’ are gradually being mainstreamed in several policy contexts such as nanonotechnologies, gene editing and emerging information technologies. In these domains, ethics has gradually become part of the design process, building on methodologies, such as the value sensitive design approach, ethically aligned design, the recently adopted blockchain ethical design framework or even the ongoing work on the 7000 – model process for addressing ethical concerns during system design, that provide a way to ensure that social and moral values and ethical principles are protected, and human values accounted for in a comprehensive manner.

Can technology challenge established ethical norms and structures?

Most ethicists, regulators and policy-makers tend to treat moral beliefs as independent variables, as if these were immune to technological influences, exhibiting either moral futurism or moral presentism and neglecting the interaction or even co-production of technology and ethical norms. Besides being a long-lasting object of ethical action, new technologies, which are inducing profound social and cultural changes, have started affecting the relative importance of various moral principles, human values and normative orientations. Their advancement may also reshape our assumptions and practices in relation to ethics, and may alter social norms around what is ‘acceptable’, ‘normal’ and ‘ethical’. New and emerging technologies, such as genome testing and profiling technologies, strain our traditional moral theories and may blur the lines of what ‘ethical’ means by influencing, for example, the distribution of social roles and responsibilities, moral norms and values, or identities.

Scientific notions and technological concepts such as gene editing and autonomous machines are penetrating existing ethical categories, and triggering the reconsideration of traditional ethical norms, such as autonomy and human responsibility. Wearable cameras pose challenges to traditional ethical guidelines around informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality, data protection and privacy, mostly because of the growing accessibility of personal information. Robotic technologies also affect the central categories of ethics: our concepts of agency and responsibility, and our value frameworks. Some scholars have even argued that ‘people’s moral judgements depend on the digital context in which a dilemma is presented’ and that, when faced with high-conflict moral dilemmas, people are more likely to opt for a utilitarian solution if they are responding on a smartphone rather than on a personal computer. Big data transforms traditional concepts of ethical research, and moves ethical analysis to less concrete notions, such as data discrimination and privacy-conscious engineering. With their ever-increasing power, breadth and multi-functional integration, emerging technologies are becoming increasingly intrusive, interfere with private life and also question the authority of institutional ethics-governance procedures to cope with technological novelties that invalidate traditional ethics-governance instruments.

What do the disruptive effects of technology upon ethics mean for European policy-making?

Achieving compliance with ethical standards has become a legal requirement in many areas of EU law including the rules for the commercial authorisation of medicinal and biotechnology products, the essential requirements for receiving EU research funds and the processing of personal data. At the EU level, all ex-ante ethical assessments of technological and scientific proposals are performed on the basis of ethics checklists that refer to a variety of ethical values, rights and principles. Such ethics checklists and compliance requirements, which are part of the legal framework for the evaluation and selection of EU-funded research proposals, are becoming increasingly incomplete as they do not recognise the dynamic character of morality and its interaction with technology. The same applies to the opinions of expert groups on ethics that often remain external to the dynamic and disruptive nature of technological development. In order to connect the ethics of technology more closely with the day-to-day work of R&I practitioners as well as with rapid technological advancements, reflexive procedures without an a priori, fixed ranking of principles are needed for the resolution of contextual value conflicts.

The recently adopted European Parliament resolution on civil law rules on robotics – comprising a ‘code of ethical conduct for robotics engineers’, a ‘code for research ethics committees’, a ‘licence for designers’, and a ‘licence for users’ – is a step in the right direction, as it introduces a detailed process-based architecture for technology ethics in a rapidly evolving technological domain. The charter on robotics contained in the resolution combines an ex-ante ethics-by-design approach with a reflexive framing and a meta-ethical analysis of the governance process employed for the embedding of ethics into the structures for the development of this disruptive technology. This legislative initiative resolution should be part of a wider paradigm shift that could include the introduction of new ethical principles (such as the right not to be measured, related to possible misuses of artificial intelligence and the internet of things, and the right to meaningful human contact, relating to possible misuses of care robots). It could also trigger the development of novel models of ethical assessment that will enrich evaluation procedures and initiate public debates on the need to depart from the prevailing ‘ethics as a constraint’ approach. Such a paradigm shift may need to introduce procedural steps that would allow technology design choices and socio-technical trajectories to be deliberated upon from an ethical viewpoint, as an essential part of the wider technology assessment and policy-framing practice.

All these considerations could constitute elements of a new EU-wide social contract on responsible innovation that might possibly place ethics by design at the epicentre of the technology development cycle. Such a contract could render anticipatory technology ethics tools fully operational and bring forward the role and limitations of ethical expertise as a source of epistemic authority that claims to represent the entirety of societal concerns. At the same time, the introduction of research integrity legal standards, ethical impact assessments, ethics audits or follow-ups and harmonised accreditation procedures for research ethics committees may need to be considered as an immediate response to the ambiguity of claims, and the challenges associated with value pluralism and moral uncertainty concerning emerging technologies.

Further reading

• What if technologies challenged our ethical norms?

• What if technologies had their own ethical standards?

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

© Savvapanf Photo / Fotolia

US President Donald Trump has pushed ahead in recent months with his controversial policies on trade and defence, which critics say could undermine the global rules-based order and create new uncertainties. The European Union’s trade spat with the US eased somewhat following a meeting of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker with Trump in July. However, the NATO summit earlier that month and Trump’s subsequent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin did little to reassure the EU about the stability of transatlantic relations.

This note offers links to recent commentaries and reports published by international think tanks on President Trump’s policy moves, focusing on relations with Europe, Russia, China and trade. It does not cover reports on Iran, North Korea and the US domestic situation, which will be topics of future issues of What think tanks are thinking.

US-EU

The Trump-Juncker meeting in DC raises urgent questions for the next Commission
Centre for European Policy Studies, August 2018

Can lowering trade barriers fuel American energy exports to Europe?
Atlantic Council, August 2018

Germany’s current account surplus: A transatlantic view on the debate
Bertelsmann Stiftung, August 2018

The EU needs to rethink its approach to liberal order
Carnegie Europe, August 2018

An Eastern European view on great power politics
Egmont, August 2018

Was the Trump-Juncker meeting really a success?
Atlantic Council, July 2018

Europe’s trade victory in Washington
Peterson Institute of International Economics, July 2018

Trading Places: How the EU-China Summit underlined US isolationism in trade under Trump
Council on Foreign Relations, July 2018

It’s time for the United States and Europe to face the politics of cultural displacement
Brookings Institution, July 2018

Yes, he can: Trump provokes a trade war. A clever EU will refrain from further tariffs but hold firm on WTO rules
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, July 2018

Is Europe America’s friend or foe?
Bruegel, July 2018

Trump’s vindictive return to Europe
International Institute for Strategic Studies, August 2018

Trump provides China an opening in Europe
Carnegie Europe, July 2018

If the EU is Trump’s Foe, the EU should address Trumpism within Europe
Egmont, July 2017

L’Europe: Sujet ou objet de la géopolitique des données ?
Institut français des relations internationales, July 2018

A plea for European Atlanticism
Friends of Europe, July 2018

The EU and multilateralism in an age of great powers
Egmont, July 2018

US-Russia and security

Enlarge NATO to ensure peace in Europe
Atlantic Council, August 2018

The myth of Trump’s ‘soft’ Russia policy
Cato Institute, August 2018

The Helsinki Summit and great power competition
Brookings Institution, August 2018

What’s Vladimir Putin’s next play?
Heritage Foundation, August 2018

Walking a fine line on Russian sanctions
Rand Corporation, August 2018

Unpacked: What Trump gets right and wrong about defense burden sharing
Brookings Institution, August 2018

If Trump wants to show he’s tough on Russia, here’s what he should do next
Atlantic Council, July 2018

Trump’s biggest gift to Putin
Council on Foreign Relations, July 2018

At Helsinki Summit, Trump and Putin become partners in destruction
Chatham House, July 2018

The Trump-Putin Summit: The emphasis is the dialogue, not the outcome
National Institute for Security Studies, July 2018 

Trump’s meaningless NATO spending debate
European Council on Foreign Relations, July 2018

Why Europe is very nervous about a Trump-Putin summit
European Council on Foreign Relations, July 2018 

Trump’s performance in Helsinki shouldn’t have come as a surprise
German Marshall Fund, July 2018

What did the 2018 NATO Summit accomplish with respect to cyber issues?
Council on Foreign Relations, July 2018

Ukraine’s Helsinki hangover
German Marshall Fund, July 2018 

The watershed that wasn’t in Helsinki
Brookings Institution, July 2018

US-Russia relations and a second Trump-Putin summit
Brookings Institution, July 2018

The United States and Russia aren’t allies. But Trump and Putin are
Brookings Institution, July 2018 

Trump and Putin go home
Carnegie Europe, July 2018 

The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy
Real Instituto Elcano, July 2018

Trump’s attitude toward NATO makes Putin’s job easier
Carnegie Europe, July 2018

Trump’s NATO
Carnegie Europe, July 2018 

Western unity is best for Russian summitry
Rand Corporation, July 2018 

US-China

How the United States should confront China without threatening the global trading system
Peterson Institute of International Economics, August 2018 

US-China trade war: What’s in it for Europe?
Bruegel, August 2018

The worst scenario for an emerging trade war with China
Heritage Foundation, August 2018

America under Trump lacks the commitment to compete with China in Asia to defend the global order
International Institute for Strategic Studies, August 2018 

US-China Competition: Trade wars for technological supremacy
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, August 2018 

The US-China trade war: Different messages
Rand Corporation, July 2018 

US tariffs and China’s holding of Treasuries
Bruegel, July 2018

Trade deal with Mexico

Trump’s new trade agreement: What’s in it?
Atlantic Council, August 2018

A reported NAFTA auto deal would backfire against consumers and auto makers alike
Peterson Institute of International Economics, August 2018

Trump’s deal with Mexico: A new NAFTA?
Council on Foreign Relations, August 2018

U.S.-Mexico trade deal: What was agreed and what comes next
Cato Institute, August 2018 

Other related reports

The global order will outlast US leadership
Rand Corporation, August 2018

Portrait de Donald Trump: Président des Etats-Unis
Institut Montaigne, August 2018

Donald Trump n’est pas un protectionniste archaïque, c’est un mercantiliste pragmatique
Institut Thomas More, August 2018

Summing up the Trump summits
Council on Foreign Relations, July 2018

The cost of Trump’s economic nationalism: A loss of foreign investment in the United States
Peterson Institute of International Economics, July 2018

Power in the international trading system: Trump administration risks destroying world trade order
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, July 2018

Ubu ou Machiavel?
Bruegel, July 2018

Reforming the WTO: With or without the US?
Institut Jacques Delors, July 2018

Trump is wrong: Guns alone don’t make a super power
Friends of Europe, July 20184

Read this briefing on ‘President Trump’s trade and international policies‘ on the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for victims of online hate speech.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

Threats, abuse and intimidation posted on social media can go viral within seconds and wreak havoc on the victim’s life. Victims of online hate speech cannot remove the posts as easily as they spread. They depend on online platforms to help them. Over half of the citizens in the European Union (EU) follow debates on social media. According to a 2016 Eurobarometer survey, 75 % of people who follow or participate in online debates had witnessed or experienced abuse, threat or hate speech. Almost half of them said that this discouraged them from engaging in online discussions.

© #104086734 | Focus Pocus LTD/ Fotolia

Hate speech, both offline and online is a criminal offence under EU law. Responding to the growing problem, the European Commission set up dialogues with online platforms and is funding projects to counter online hate speech. In May 2016, the Commission and four major platforms (Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube) announced a Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online. Since then, more companies have joined, and they are increasingly meeting the goals of the Code of Conduct, including removing illegal hate speech within 24 hours. As a follow-up, in March 2018, the Commission recommended a set of operational measures to increase these efforts, before deciding whether to propose legislative measures. Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said: ‘Online platforms are becoming people’s main gateway to information, so they have a responsibility to provide a secure environment for their users.’

Further information

• Code of Conduct — Illegal online hate speech Questions and answers, 2016, http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/document.cfm?doc_id=41844
• Tackling Illegal Content Online, European Commission Communication, 2017, https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2017/EN/COM-2017-555-F1-EN-MAIN-PART-1.PDF
• A Europe that protects: Commission reinforces EU response to illegal content online, 2018, http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-1169_en.htm

Written by Angelos Delivorias (1st edition),

© nito / Fotolia

As a part of the European regulatory responses to the financial and sovereign debt crises, the European Commission has proposed a regulation on sovereign bond-backed securities (SBBS), a new class of low-risk securities backed by a diversified pool of national government bonds. The proposal seeks to provide an enabling framework for a market-led development of SBBS, thus encouraging banks and investors to diversify their holdings of euro area bonds. The proposal is meant to address a weakness that appeared during the aforementioned crises, when banks’ high exposure to their sovereigns’ own debt, coupled with deteriorating creditworthiness of those sovereigns, led to balance sheet strains for banks. This in turn put pressure on government budgets, thus creating mutual contagion and financial instability. The procedure is currently at the initial stage in the European Parliament and the Council.

Versions

• August 2018: ‘Sovereign bond-backed securities: Risk diversification and reduction‘ (1st edition)

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on sovereign bond-backed securities Committee responsible: Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) COM(2018) 339
24.5.2018 Rapporteur: Jakob von Weizsäcker (S&D, Germany) 2018/0171 (COD) Shadow rapporteurs:

 

  Fulvio Martusciello (EPP, Italy)
Bernd Lucke (ECR, Germany)
Enrique Calvet Chambon (ALDE, Spain)
Martin Schirdewan (GUE/NGL, Germany)
Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA, Spain)
Marco Zanni (ENF, Italy) Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Publication of draft report

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for asylum seekers.

Since 2014, Europe has seen a mass movement of people arriving at its borders. Many of them are asylum seekers who are fleeing war, instability or persecution in their countries.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

While national authorities decide on who is recognised as a refugee and offered protection, the EU sets out a number of conditions that all EU countries must respect during this process. These include adequate reception conditions, processing times for asylum applications and safeguards for vulnerable applicants. EU rules require countries to give asylum seekers the chance to work after six months in a country, and ensure the right to an education for underage asylum seekers.

© Frank Gärtner / Fotolia

Those common standards were, however, undermined by exceptionally high migratory flows, especially in 2015. This put a strain on some countries’ reception capacities, and prompted calls to make the EU asylum system more responsive, effective and fair.

As a first step, the EU set up a temporary relocation system to distribute asylum seekers more evenly between all EU countries. The EU provides funding for relocation and monitors progress closely. The EU also set up ‘hot spots’ – operational centres along the main entry points – where staff from EU border and asylum agencies help local authorities to register and instruct arriving asylum seekers.

Since 2016, the EU is working on simplifying the rules and reducing differences between EU countries’ approaches to asylum.

Further information

• European Commission, European agenda on migration, COM(2015) 240 final
• European Commission, Delivery of the European Agenda on Migration, COM(2017) 558 final
• European Parliamentary Research Service, Migration and asylum (animated infographic)

Written by Vasileios Margaras (1st edition),

© nelsonaishikawa / Fotolia

For the next EU budget, covering the 2021-2027 period, the European Commission proposed to update EU cohesion policy with a new set of rules, on 29 May 2018. The proposal for a Common Provisions Regulation (CPR) sets out common provisions for seven shared management funds: the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, the Asylum and Migration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Border Management and Visa Instrument. Additional specific regulations add certain provisions needed to cater for the particularities of individual funds, in order to take into account their different rationales, target groups and implementation methods.

The CPR proposal is of utmost importance as it will set the main rules that govern the above-mentioned funds for the forthcoming period. While the proposal builds upon the previous sets of rules covering the 2014-2020 period, it nevertheless introduces a number of innovations, and aims, amongst other things, at providing simplification and better synergies between the different EU policy tools.

Versions

• August 2018: ‘Common Provisions Regulation: New rules for cohesion policy for 2021-2027‘ (1st edition)

Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum and Migration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Border Management and Visa Instrument Committee responsible: Regional Development (REGI) COM(2018) 375
29.5.2018 Co-rapporteurs: Constanze Krehl (S&D, Germany)
Andrey Novakov (EPP, Bulgaria) 2018/0196 (COD) Shadow rapporteurs:

  Ruža Tomašić (ECR, Croatia)
Iskra Mihaylova (ALDE, Bulgaria)
Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, France)
Monica Vana (Greens/EFA, Austria)
Rosa d’Amato (EFDD, Italy) Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Publication of draft report

Written by Marie Lecerf (1st edition),

© Doreen Salcher / Fotolia

In preparation for the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation on the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) on 30 May 2018. In the same spirit as the current European Social Fund 2014-2020, the ESF+ will provide the main EU financial instrument for improving workers’ mobility and employment opportunities and strengthening social cohesion, improving social fairness and increasing competitiveness across Europe for the 2021-2027 period. With a provisional budget of €101.2 billion (current prices), the ESF+ should merge the existing European Social Fund (ESF), the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), and the Fund for European Aid to the most Deprived (FEAD), the Employment and Social Innovation Programme (EaSI) and the EU Health Programme. The new fund will concentrate its investment in three main areas: education, employment and social inclusion. At the European Parliament, the file has been allocated to the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), with Verónica Lope Fontagné (EPP, Spain) as rapporteur. A presentation of the draft report in the EMPL Committee is scheduled for 29 August 2018.

Versions

• August 2018: ‘European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) 2021-2027‘ (1st edition)

European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) 2021–2027 Committee responsible: Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) COM(2018) 0382
30.5.2018 Rapporteur: Verónica Lope Fontagné (EPP, Spain) 2018/0206 (COD) Shadow rapporteurs:

 

  Brando Benifei (S&D, Italy)
Ulrike Trebesius (ECR, Germany)
Jasenko Selimovic, (ALDE, Sweden)
Gabriele Zimmer (GUE/NGL, Germany)
Terry Reintke (Greens/EFA, Germany)
Laura Agea (EFDD, Italy)
Mara Bizzotto (ENF, Italy) Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Presentation of draft report

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for children participating in decision making about their lives.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

You might remember how important it was when you were a child that your voice was heard in the world of grown-ups. Did you know that it is more than just a child’s desire and that according to the international law, children have the right to be heard? Children’s views and opinions should be taken into account in family life, schools and in court proceedings in all the matters that concern them.

©Gelpi / Fotolia

Protection of children’s rights, including their right to be heard is the responsibility of individual EU countries. On the level of the EU, that right is recognized in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It established EU agenda for the rights of the child in 2011, stressing that children must be given a chance to voice their opinions and participate in the making of decisions that affect them. EU has also put in place a range of laws and policies that focus on children’s right to be heard. According to one law, for example, court must ensure that a child is given the opportunity to be heard during proceedings following parental child abduction. The child must also be heard in proceedings concerning visiting rights. Another law gives a child victim the right to be heard during criminal proceedings. It enables individual children to participate in proceedings, by promoting a child sensitive approach.

European Commission is keeping a keen eye on developments regarding children’s right to be heard throughout Europe. It evaluates the legislation, policy and practice in the EU, recognizes the gaps in national legislation and policies and makes recommendations.

Further information

• European Commission’s publication Evaluation of legislation, policy and practice on child participation in the European Union, https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/3f3c50b2-6a24-465e-b8d1-74dcac7f8c42
• European Commission’s website The right to be heard – child participation, https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/rights-child/right-be-heard-child-participation_en

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for people interested in Massive Open Online Courses.

Are you thinking of upgrading your skills? Online learning is a good way to go back to school without giving up your other activities. Some 23 million new students signed up for their first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in 2017, taking the global number of learners to 81 million. If you are in the process of selecting a higher education institution, you may want to choose one of the over 1 700 MOOCs offered by various platforms and universities in the EU.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

OpenupEd, launched by the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities and supported by Erasmus+ is a pan-European MOOC initiative. Learners can choose from over 200 MOOCs in the 8 languages of its EU partners plus Russian, Hebrew, Turkish and Arabic.

© bnenin / Fotolia

Over 1 million people have enrolled with the EU-supported German platform iversity, one of the few platforms offering online courses that award the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), which aims to make it easier for students to move between countries. If you want to learn how to ‘Make the most of EU resources for your region or city‘, then the iversity MOOC is the one for you!

Other big MOOC providers in the EU include the British platform FutureLearn, led by the Open University, with 145 partners worldwide and boasting nearly 8 million learners. The Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia has a substantial share of MOOCs in Spain. France Université Numérique, the first French digital learning portal, broadcasts 269 MOOCs in 2017 to over 900 000 users worldwide. Are you ready to give it a go?

Further information

• EPRS publication on New global interactive strategies for teaching and learning, 2014, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/EPRS/New-global-interactive-strategies-for-teaching-and-learning.pdf
• OpenupEd website, http://www.openuped.eu/openuped-temp/59-about-openuped

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for cultural tourists.

If you choose your holiday destinations on the basis of the cultural sites or museums to visit, as 40 % of European tourists do, you may be interested to know how the EU supports sites that are off the beaten track and helps them link up with similar sites in cross-border areas. These often hidden treasures are economic assets and it is important to attract tourists to visit them.

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Two museums in northern France have benefited from EU funds. The Calais Lace Museum, based in the old Boulart lace factory, highlights the shared history of France and England and old and new uses of lace in fashion. Le Louvre-Lens provides an opportunity to enjoy the treasures of the world famous Parisian museum at a lower cost and perhaps closer to home.

© olly / Fotolia

The EU has also supported the Danube Limes archaeological sites along the lower Danube in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, tracing the borders of the Roman Empire across the region. The aim is to preserve the sites and promote tourism, focusing on common heritage and joining up with other sections of limes to form an extended Unesco cultural heritage site.

A number of wooden Orthodox churches on the Polish-Slovak border and renovated with EU funds are on the Unesco heritage list. Along with other wooden monuments they form part of a wooden architecture route. The EuroVelo 3 Pilgrims Route meanwhile, co-financed by the EU in the context of sustainable tourism, is a cycle path from Norway, via Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Belgium and France, to Santiago de Compostela, following the ancient Saint James pilgrimage route.

Further information

• EPRS publication on ‘Tourism and the European Union’, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2015/568343/EPRS_IDA(2015)568343_EN.pdf
• European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs website, http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/tourism/offer/cultural_en

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for unemployed people.

Are you, or is someone close to you, one of the nearly 19 million Europeans who were unemployed in 2017? Whatever the reasons for losing your job – the economic crisis, a skills mismatch, lack of education or training – the EU is putting measures in place to fight unemployment.

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© Andrey Popov / Fotolia

The EU wants 75 % of 20-64 year-olds to be in work by 2020. European employment strategy focuses on creating more and better jobs, and the ‘New Skills for New Jobs’ programme helps national governments to increase ‘flexicurity’, job quality, ensure better working conditions and create jobs. The 2012 employment and the youth employment packages introduced measures to tackle the demand side of job creation by reducing labour taxes and supporting business start-ups.

The European Social Fund (budget of over €86 billion for 2014-2020) finances projects that help people learn new skills and find jobs. The Employment and Social Innovation Programme (budget €920 million) aims at ensuring that those jobs are fair, durable, and involve adequate and decent social protection, while the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (budget €150 million) helps those who have lost their jobs when big companies reduce production or move it out of the EU, such as textile and clothing workers who face competition from Asia, or those employed in the manufacturing and car industries hardest-hit by global recession.

Sometimes, the problem is that there are no jobs at all in your region. The EU has set up the EURES network to help workers to move to work in any EU country (plus Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway).

Further information

• EPRS publication ‘Public expectations and EU policies – The fight against unemployment’, 2016
  http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2016)583864
• European Commission website on Employment, social affairs and inclusion
  http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=568
• European Commission website ‘Employment package’,
  http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1039
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for local and regional banking providers.

Whether you are a business owner, want to start one, or a financial intermediary, you have access to EU funds. The European Investment Bank provides credit lines to finance providers such as local banks and financial institutions, helping them develop their lending portfolio and offer greater access to credit to a wider range of clients. This support helps finance the medium and long-term loans offered to private sector firms, commercially run public-sector enterprises or even local authorities. The Bank invests €75 billion in over 400 projects in a typical year. While such loans must meet some conditions (e.g. increase local growth and employment or help protect the environment), they offer benefits such as long time-to-maturity and attractive pricing. The finance providers can also make use of the technical assistance offered both to the intermediaries and the final recipients.

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© Elnur / Fotolia

In addition, EU microfinance support tools help microfinance providers (e.g. private or public banks, non-bank microfinance institutions and not-for-profit microcredit providers) to offer loans up to €25 000 for setting up or developing a small business. EU support includes not only loans but also guarantees, which help share the providers’ potential risk of loss. Microloan conditions for entrepreneurs vary depending on the provider, but the EU makes sure that priority goes to groups which have difficulty getting conventional credit, e.g. social enterprises and the unemployed. In addition, technical support is available for microcredit providers to help them build capacity.

Further information

• EPRS Publication on ‘Helping European SMEs to grow’, 2017, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2017/603967/EPRS_IDA(2017)603967_EN.pdf
• EPRS Publication on ‘SME support in EU regions’, 2015, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2015/564360/EPRS_BRI%282015%29564360_EN.pdf
• European Investment Bank, http://www.eib.org/intermediarieslist/search
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for residential property buyers.

Many if not most Europeans looking to purchase their first apartment, or thinking of buying a bigger apartment or house to fit a growing family, take out mortgages for the purpose. Under these contracts, the purchased property secures the mortgage and, should repayment obligations not be fulfilled, allows the loan provider (usually a bank) to seize the property and sell it to pay off the loan. Taking out a mortgage loan is therefore a very important financial decision, entailing a financial commitment that can last for decades and carrying risks for both the buyer and the bank.

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© Stasique / Fotolia

The Mortgage Credit Directive is designed to ensure that anyone taking out a mortgage to purchase a property is adequately informed and protected against the risks. The directive applies to all loans made to consumers in order to buy residential property.

The directive states that lenders are required to provide consumers with clear and detailed information on loan conditions, as well as to assess their creditworthiness according to common EU standards. Furthermore it sets out common quality standards and business conduct principles for all EU lenders and establishes the right to repay credit earlier than determined in a contract. Last but not least, it sets up an EU ‘passport’ scheme that allows banks that are authorised to operate in one EU country, to deliver services across the whole EU, thus offering consumers a far greater choice than what they would normally find nationally.

Further information

• Mortgage credit – Directive 2014/17/EU, https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/mortgage-credit-directive-2014-17-eu_en
• Buying residential property – rules on loans, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/LSU/?uri=CELEX:32014L0017
• Your Europe: your rights – mortgage loans, https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/financial-products-and-services/mortgages/index_en.htm
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for people unhappy with their purchase.

Have you have ever bought something that you weren’t happy with when you got home? If so, EU rules provide you with a certain set of rights.

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© Samo Trebizan / Fotolia

One is that you can change your mind within 14 days, without giving a reason, if your purchase was made online, over the phone, by mail order, or you bought it from a door-to-door salesperson. Be careful though, because this right does not apply when you buy a product in a shop, or if the product was tailor-made especially for you.

Regardless of where you bought the item, if it is faulty, you have the right to have it repaired or replaced by the seller. If this does not work out, you have the right to get the price reduced or a full refund. Throughout the EU, the legal guarantee for products is always at least two years. However, during the first six months there is an assumption that a product that doesn’t work was faulty from the start, after which, in most countries, it is you who has to prove that this was the case.

Remember, though, that these rules apply only if you bought from a business. If you buy from a private person, even if the goods they sell are new, EU consumer rules do not apply and your rights depend exclusively on national law.

If you have problems with an item you bought in another EU country, and you are unable to resolve the issue with a professional seller, you can turn to the European Consumer Centre. Regardless of where the product was bought, you can also try to settle the dispute out-of-court using an alternative dispute resolution procedure or through the ODR platform if it was bought online.

Further information

• European Commission’s Your Europe website on guarantees and returns, https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/index_en.htm
• European Commission’s Your Europe website on out-of-court procedures for consumers, https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/consumers-dispute-resolution/out-of-court-procedures/index_en.htm
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for parents and parents-to-be.

As soon as you find out that you are going to become a parent, you are confronted with a new situation that requires not only mental readiness but also some basic equipment.

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© Kzenon / Fotolia

You will need the means to transport the new family member (pushchair, car seat or baby carrier), a place for him or her to sleep safely (cot, barriers), clothes, nappies, and the list goes on. Although it is still early days, it might not be long before you start thinking about toys. Then after a few months, you might start buying ready-made baby food.

Every product on sale in the European Union has to comply with general safety rules. Particular rules apply to toys, electrical and electronic goods, cosmetics, chemicals and other specific product groups. European standards ensure the safety of toys, nursery products and furniture, child resistant products and protective devices, and playground and sports equipment for children. Children’s car seats have to comply with global rules.

Manufacturers declare that a product has been checked against all essential EU safety criteria by using the CE conformity mark, which is legally required for products sold in the European Union, Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway. The rapid alert system for non-food, dangerous products (RAPEX) facilitates the rapid exchange of information between 31 countries: consumers are then warned and the product taken off the shelves. RAPEX weekly reports provide information about dangerous products.

Food for infants and young children, meanwhile, must meet special strict EU requirements regarding nutritional composition and food safety.

Further information

• EPRS publication on the safety of toys, 2014, https://epthinktank.eu/2014/12/20/ensuring-europes-parents-can-rely-on-the-safety-of-toys
• European Commission’s website dedicated to RAPEX, https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/consumers_safety/safety_products/rapex/alerts/repository/content/pages/rapex/index_en.htm
• European Commission’s website on food for infants and young children, https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/labelling_nutrition/special_groups_food/children_en
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for people who like chips.

If you love chips or indeed any other fried or baked foods such as crisps, biscuits or toast, you may have heard of acrylamide, a harmful substance present in these foods.

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Discovered by Swedish scientists in 2002, acrylamide can be found in a wide range of everyday starch-rich foods that are fried, baked or roasted at high temperatures. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded in 2015 that acrylamide in food is a public health concern, highlighting links with cancer and obesity.

Following EFSA’s opinion, the European Commission presented a proposal in June 2017 on measures to reduce acrylamide levels in food. The new rules apply from 11 April 2018.

Ingredients used and storage and processing temperatures have a major influence on acrylamide formation. Manufacturers should therefore select potato and flour varieties with lower acrylamide-forming potential and keep to the right storage temperature. They are advised to wash or soak chips before frying, to keep the oil temperature as low as possible, and to control the colour of the final product, as a longer cooking time and deeper colour increase the amount of acrylamide. In addition, manufacturers must measure the levels of acrylamide in their products to check them against the values set by the Commission. If these voluntary efforts fail to be sufficiently effective, the Commission is considering setting binding limits for the food industry.

The way you cook at home also has a substantial impact, so the advice is to fry your chips until golden yellow, not brown, and to avoid overcooking your toast.

Further information

• European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Food Safety website, https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/chemical_safety/contaminants/catalogue/acrylamide_en
• European Food Safety Authority’s website, http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/acrylamide
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for teleworkers.

If you work from home, you are among the 17 % of EU employees engaged in telework or mobile work. This type of work can be good for your work-life balance, reducing commuting time and boosting productivity; but it also brings the risk of longer working hours and work-home interference.

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© Jelena / Fotolia

The 2002 European Framework Agreement on Telework improved the protection of teleworkers and laid down rules to ensure they enjoy the same rights as their counterparts working on the employer’s premises. The guidelines cover data protection, privacy, work organisation, health and safety, training, and career prospects. They have been implemented in accordance with each country’s national procedures, via changes to legislation or collective agreements.

Further protection for teleworkers is offered by EU rules on working time and health and safety. The Working Time Directive sets standards for maximum working hours, daily and weekly rest periods, annual leave, and night and shift work. The Health and Safety at Work Directive, and additional rules on the use of work equipment, display screens and workplace requirements, helps to make sure working environments are safe, also covering the use of ICT equipment and ergonomics. The European Pillar of Social Rights puts a strong emphasis on fair working conditions and equal opportunities for workers in atypical working conditions, such as teleworkers.

The EU also publishes research on telework. Eurofound and Eurostat prepare statistics, surveys and reports on the extent of telework, sectors and types of jobs, and the effects on people and firms.

Further information

• EPRS publication on ‘Smart workplace: Relativity of space and time’, 2016, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2016/579107/EPRS_ATA(2016)579107_EN.pdf
• Eurofound-ILO, report ‘Working anytime, anywhere: The effects on the world of work’, 2017, https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2017/working-anytime-anywhere-the-effects-on-the-world-of-work
• Eurofound, 2015 European Working Conditions Survey, https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/european-working-conditions-surveys/sixth-european-working-conditions-survey-2015
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for hairdressers.

The hairdressing sector in Europe employs more than a million people. Together with other owners of small and medium-sized companies, as a hairdresser you can benefit from the EU’s small business-friendly legislation. You can access EU-backed loans for small businesses and European market information. Enterprise Europe Network makes it easier to find a new business partner in Europe. Moreover, EU laws allow EU countries to apply reduced value added tax rates to various services, including hairdressing. This reduction, if applied, helps to increase profit margins for the sector.

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© JackF / Fotolia

It is estimated that there are around 400 000 hairdressing salons in the EU. Customers tend to view salons as safe and relaxing places, probably not realising that for hairdressers themselves the workplace can, in fact, be very harmful. According to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), exposure to chemicals and the nature of hairdressing work more generally can lead to various skin and respiratory diseases, chronic pain, physical injuries and even cancer.

The EU has already funded two projects focused on researching and implementing the prevention of occupational skin diseases in the hairdressing sector – SafeHair 1.0 (2010) and SafeHair 2.0 (2011). In addition, there is a growing body of EU occupational safety and health legislation that aims to protect all people, including hairdressers, from exposure to dangerous substances and other health threats at work.

Further information

• The Small Business Act for Europe, http://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/business-friendly-environment/small-business-act_en
• European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) report on ‘Occupational health and safety in the hairdressing sector’, 2014, https://osha.europa.eu/en/tools-and-publications/publications/literature_reviews/occupational-health-and-safety-in-the-hairdressing-sector
• European Commission, VAT rates applied in the Member States of the EU, 2018, https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/resources/documents/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/rates/vat_rates_en.pdf
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for vocational students.

If you are studying on a vocational or professional track, your talents are key to a strong economy and the EU wants to help you develop your skills. The EU invests in improving awareness, creating opportunities, and supporting those in charge to provide the best quality and most relevant training possible.

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© auremar / Fotolia

Still considering your options? The European Vocational Skills week, with more than 1 000 events across Europe showcases opportunities for young people and raises awareness of the importance of vocational education and apprenticeships.

If you are already a vocational education student, Erasmus+ offers mobility opportunities so you can carry out part of your studies or training abroad. A new initiative, ErasmusPro, even caters for long term mobility.

Your learning experience should be both relevant and worthwhile. The EU is keen to ensure that all players who shape vocational education in EU countries define good quality vocational education and training together. To understand how well things are working in practice, the EU also provides studies and research. And when you go to another country, it will also be easier for your skills and qualifications to be recognised when EU countries understand each other’s training systems better.

Of course, you want to find work at the end of your studies, so the EU also helps develop links between vocational education and training (VET) schools, businesses in a given sector, and public authorities. Together they identify skills the labour market needs and develop motivating courses that prepare you for a job that appeals to you.

Further information

• Agricultural education and lifelong training in the EU: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/608788/EPRS_BRI(2017)608788_EN.pdf
• Dual Education: a bridge over troubled waters? :
• http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2014/529072/IPOL_STU(2014)529072_EN.pdf
• Education and Vocational Training: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/fiches_techniques/2017/N53722/04A_FT(2017)N53722_EN.pdf
• EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service: www.epthinktank.eu