What is a smart village? The concept implies the participation of local people in improving their economic, social or environmental conditions, cooperation with other communities, social innovation and the development of smart village strategies. This concept is gaining traction on the rural development agenda, coinciding with the ongoing reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP). A key eleme...

Racial and ethnic minorities face discrimination and its consequences on a daily basis. The exact scale of the problem is hard to gauge owing to a lack of data and general under-reporting of racist incidents. The pandemic has seen a major increase in reports of racist and xenophobic incidents, however, while racial and ethnic minority groups have been disproportionately affected by the crisis, wit...

In her first State of the Union speech, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for the use of qualified majority voting (QMV) in areas such as sanctions and human rights. The crises and security challenges accumulating in and around the European Union have added to the urgency of having a more effective and rapid decision-making process in areas pertaining to the Common Foreign...

The arrival of the Covid-19 vaccines marks a turning point in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. According to estimates, coverage of at least 60 % to 75 % is needed to establish population immunity through vaccination. But, as regards Covid-19 vaccination, surveys suggest that Europeans are among the most sceptical in the world. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?re...

The dramatic consequences of climate change and environmental degradation have brought the need for a more sustainable economy to the top of the agenda. Transforming the EU economy to make it more sustainable requires large investments, especially for enabling a green and low-carbon transition. Given that the public sector alone cannot cover this financial need, solutions have been sought to bring...

International law imposes an obligation to render assistance to persons and ships in distress at sea, which must be provided regardless of the persons' nationality or status or the circumstances in which they are found. Nevertheless, over the last couple of years, the Mediterranean Sea has been the backdrop for the largest number of casualties and missing people. One solution, proposed by academic...

The public sector loan facility is the third pillar of the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM), along with the Just Transition Fund and just transition scheme under Invest EU. The facility will consist of a grant and a loan component. With the contribution of €1.525 billion for the grant component from the Union budget and EIB lending of €10 billion from its own resources, the aim is for the public se...

The pandemic has highlighted the risk involved, including for the EU, in relying heavily on external suppliers. The EU's 30 critical raw materials (CRMs) combine two characteristics: they are strategically important for its industry and economy, and there are high risks associated with securing their supply. The twin transition to a green and digital future relies particularly on the safe and dive...

The EU has unveiled an ambitious plan to regulate online platforms, and the European Commission is proposing to introduce ex ante regulation to ensure that markets characterised by large platforms acting as digital gatekeepers remain fair and competitive for innovators, businesses, and new market entrants. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2020)659397 htt...

The EU climate target plan proposes to increase the 2030 target from a 40 % emissions reduction to a 55 % net emissions reduction, compared with 1990 levels. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2020)659370 https://youtu.be/i6h6f6whtdg Source: © European Union - EP

The EU adopts restrictive measures – mostly in the form of travel bans and asset freezes – against individuals and organisations responsible for some of the worst human rights violations. Until now, the EU has mostly adopted sanctions targeted at individual countries. However, the EU is now shifting to a more thematic approach, under which sanctions focus on a particular type of problem rather tha...

Listen to Madeleine Albright, the first ever female United States Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton, give her opinion about the current state of democracy in the West as well as global international relations. https://youtu.be/C3j6oq_SCds Source: © European Union - EP

In the first two decades of the 21st century, with new risks and opportunities arising owing to the twin digital and green transformations there is an emerging debate, rethinking economic growth theories with more focus on inclusion and combatting inequality, and exploring the relevance of traditional welfare state models. This debate has intensified in the wake of the 2008 crisis, and now also as...

European territorial cooperation has brought Europeans closer together, strengthened connectivity and improved the natural environment, supported by EU mechanisms such as the European groupings of territorial cooperation, and macro-regional strategies. Yet despite these achievements, numerous obstacles to closer cooperation still remain, such as divergent national rules in the areas of employment,...

Covering nearly one third of the land surface of the globe, forests make a wide range of direct and indirect contributions to human well-being. Home to most of the world's terrestrial biodiversity, they also play an essential role in climate change mitigation, removing about a quarter of the CO2 that human activities add to the atmosphere. Worldwide, millions of hectares of forests and other types...

The marked political shift towards greater technological sovereignty and strategic autonomy within the EU has been given further impetus with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which disrupted global value chains and highlighted the case for a more self-sufficient EU model. Important projects of common European interest may be useful tools for creating complex new value chains that have the...

International maritime transport is the backbone of the global economy. However, vessels release emissions that pollute the air and contribute significantly to global warming. As shipping is forecast to grow, reducing these emissions is urgent, in order not to undermine emissions-reducing efforts in other areas, to keep humans healthy, preserve the environment and limit climate change. https://www...

Household consumption in the EU has major environmental impacts, which in a number of cases exceed planetary boundaries. Two thirds of consumers in the EU realise that their consumption habits have negative effects on the environment, and the solution that they mention most often is to change consumption habits and production patterns. However, a number of studies have shown a gap between consumer...

The question of setting a minimum wage is one of the most analysed and debated topics in economics. Over recent years and in the context of the economic and social crisis engendered by the COVID-19 outbreak, the creation of a European minimum wage is increasingly considered as a useful instrument to ensure fair wages and social inclusion. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?r...

Statistics and research results show that in recent decades, before the coronavirus pandemic, the EU's labour market witnessed an increase in female employment rates. Women's employment seems to have been more resilient than men's to the economic and financial crisis in 2008. The coronavirus crisis, however, has had a harsher impact on women than on men when it comes to the labour market. https://...

Intergovernmental organisations need money to finance their activities, realise their goals and maintain their own structures. But where does this money come from? How big are the budgets? And how much do citizens of different countries contribute? Let's try to answer these questions by comparing the numbers of three of the world's largest intergovernmental organisations: The United Nations, the W...

As governments scramble to protect their populations from COVID-19 many of the personal freedoms and rights we take for granted are being –temporarily- taken away… Although certain rights enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights can be suspended in situations of emergency, an extra effort is needed to prevent abuse and protect the most vulnerable. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinkta...

The EU is set to review the way it has implemented the so-called permanent structured cooperation in the field of security and defence - PESCO for short - before the end of the year. It'll be an opportunity to review strengths and weaknesses and see how to better match ambitions with capabilities to pursue its own security interests and become a strategic global security provide… but without clear...

As the world's second largest economy and with an ever-expanding domestic market, including a growing wealthy middle-class with a taste for high-quality products with foreign labels, China is an opportunity European businesses and investors cannot afford to ignore… But it's a difficult market to access! And not a very fair nor transparent one… So, what is the EU doing to achieve a real level playi...

With a population of around 150 million, there are more pigs than any other livestock category in the EU! The sector is supported by the Common Agricultural Policy, but it is facing serious challenges… Its negative impact on the environment, concerns about animal health and an uncertain international context need to be addressed if the sector is to become more sustainable in the future and match t...