European Union

The Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), which is close to President Maia Sandu, clearly won the Moldovan parliamentary election on Sunday with 52.8 per cent of the vote. The communists and socialists under Sandu's predecessor Igor Dodon only achieved 27.2 per cent. With their previous parliamentary majority, Dodon's supporters had blocked the formation of a government for months. Is the way now clear for reforms?

After four years of trials Iceland is introducing a four-day workweek. Around 86 percent of the country's employees will now have the right to work a 35-hour week instead of the previous 40 hours - with full pay. Trials with one percent of the workforce testified to fewer cases of burnout, higher job satisfaction and equal or even improved performance. The model is stimulating debate in other countries.

In the wake of the plane hijacking and the resulting EU sanctions on Minsk, the number of migrants crossing the border from Belarus into Lithuania has risen to well over 100 per day - many of them people who have travelled from Iraq, Syria and Russia. Lukashenka has confirmed that he is deliberately not stopping drug smugglers or mass migrations at the border. Lithuania has declared a state of emergency and is now erecting a border fence.

For those in the orbit of the EU institutions – lobbyists, journalists, policy wonks, activists – the suspense is almost unbearable. Wednesday (14 July) will see the European Commission unveil the so-called “Fit for 55” package: more than a dozen pieces of legislation that aim to ensure the bloc reduces emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

The European Parliament adopted a proposal last week to broaden the mandate of the European Medicines Agency ahead of upcoming talks with member states on EMA's future role. EURACTIV takes a look at where the Parliament and the Council stand ahead of the negotiations.

Kyiv will be invited on Tuesday (13 July) to join EU industrial alliances on batteries and raw materials, with a view to develop an entire value chain of the extraction, refining and recycling of minerals in Ukraine to supply the EU market for electric cars and digital equipment.

Four weeks ago, Israel was celebrating a return to normal life in its battle with COVID-19. Then came the more infectious Delta variant, and a surge in cases that has forced re-imposing some COVID-19 restrictions and rethinking strategy.

In today's edition of The Capitals, find out more about Rome and France introducing new COVID-19 measures as the Delta variant spreads across both countries, Poland to decide on the constitutionality of EU law, and so much more.

Written by Nicole Scholz.

While the pandemic is primarily a physical health crisis, it has also had widespread impact on people’s mental health, inducing, among other things, considerable levels of fear, worry, and concern. The growing burden on mental health has been referred to by some as the ‘second’ or ‘silent’ pandemic.

While negative mental health consequences affect all ages, young people, in particular, have been found to be at high risk of developing poor mental health. Specific groups have been particularly hard hit, including health and care workers, people with pre-existing mental health problems, and women. The pandemic has also appeared to increase inequalities in mental health, both within the population and between social groups.

To address the population’s increased psycho-social needs, the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe established an expert group on the mental health impacts of Covid-19 in the European region. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has issued analyses and guidance on mental health in general and the pandemic’s impact on mental health in particular.

At European Union level, a December 2020 European Commission communication addressed the pandemic’s impact on mental health. In May 2021, the Commission organised a major online stakeholder event, and published best practice examples of solutions presented.

A July 2020 European Parliament resolution recognises mental health as a fundamental human right, calling for a 2021-2027 EU action plan on mental health. Members of the European Parliament have also called on the Commission to put mental health at the heart of EU policymaking. Stakeholders broadly rally around calls for programmes and funding to improve citizens’ mental health, not least to respond to the pandemic’s long-term implications.

Read the complete briefing on ‘Mental health and the pandemic‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

A manager for US tech giant Uber has been nominated for a new cabinet post in Slovenia charged with overseeing the country’s digital transformation as the head of the digital transformation office, a new government department. “Digital transformation is a...

Parties that form Romania’s centre-right coalition are at odds over the proposal of abolishing the section that investigates offences within the judicial system (SIIJ). The three parties – the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Hungarian minority party UDMR, both from...

The showman and leader of the anti-system party “There is such a people” Slavi Trifonov, who emerged the winner of last weekend’s elections in Bulgaria, presented his ideas for sending three astronauts into space, two from Bulgaria and one Macedonian....