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In 2019, the European Union (EU) adopted the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Screening Regulation (Regulation 2019/452/EU), applied since October 2020. The regulation provides the EU with a framework for screening incoming foreign direct investment (FDI) from third-countries, with the objective of better equipping the EU to identify, assess and mitigate potential risks certain FDIs pose to the security or public order of the Union or its Member States. These concern, for example, access to sensitive ...

The implementation timetable for cohesion policy is defined largely by its legislative framework. In order to be able to plan parliamentary work and exercise systematic scrutiny of policy implementation and of the Commission’s work, it is essential to have an overview of the timing of different steps in policy implementation in the coming years. This type of briefing was first published (and subsequently updated) in 2014 covering the 2014-2020 programming period. This version includes the policy ...

Better law-making has grown significantly in importance in recent years. As a methodology, its purpose is to design and to decide on regulation that is fit for purpose. This is achieved through a set of measures applied at all stages of the policy cycle, starting from agenda-setting, policy design and consultation, through to the actual moment of decision-making by the co-legislators. It also includes the phase of ex-post evaluation, when, after a period of transposition and implementation, the laws ...

This study analyses the absorption rates of the EU Cohesion Policy funds in 2014-2020 over time across funds (ERDF, ESF, CF, and REACT-EU), and across Member States and regions. It also provides a comparison with 2007-2013 absorption. A summary of absorption drivers, obstacles and undertaken solutions is presented based on the relevant literature and the findings of case studies. Conclusions and recommendations on improving the absorption of funds are set out.

The budget of the European Union has four pillars: its expenditure, its financing, its link to funds outside the budget and its audit. This paper looks at the origins of the budget, its development through multiannual planning and annual budgeting. It does so amid the European Parliament’s changing powers over the budget and the evolution of its financing and of the audit process. Since the very first European Community in 1952, there has been a tension over budgeting among the European institutions ...

Exponential progress in the area of ICT improves access to data and information, which in its turn can lead to greater accessibility, reduced complexity, efficiency and respect of fundamental rights in policy, law making and implementation of law. Drafting and publication of laws need to be reformed from paper based format to modern digital media. Expertise, evidence and data should constitute mandatory elements of policy and law making. Ex-post quantified evaluation of legislation needs to be ...

The original full study discusses the present and future of the European electricity and gas infrastructure, exploring production capacity scenarios and their impact on the electricity system (including the role of interconnections, transmission and distribution grids, prosumers, and storage). It also assesses the potential impact of renewable hydrogen development in terms of production and transport. Furthermore, it discusses Ukraine’s synchronisation with the EU power grid and its potential impact ...

This study analyses the present and future of the European electricity and gas infrastructure, exploring production capacity scenarios and their impact on the electricity system (including the role of interconnections, transmission and distribution grids, prosumers, and storage). It also assesses the potential impact of renewable hydrogen development in terms of production and transport. Furthermore, it discusses Ukraine’s synchronisation with the EU power grid and its potential impact on the EU ...

European Parliament has been an active agenda-setter and initiator of several calls to regulate corporate social responsibility (CSR). On 10 March 2021, Parliament called the Commission to prescribe sustainability duties for companies established in the European Union or governed by EU law. Building on Parliament’s resolution, in February 2023 the Commission published a legislative proposal for a directive on corporate sustainability due diligence. On 19 March 2024, the JURI Committee adopted the ...

This study presents an overview of how the issue of obstetric and gynaecological violence is currently being apprehended in the EU. Based on research carried out across the EU 27 Member States, it identifies issues and challenges; looks at the legal framework currently applicable to this form of violence; examines ongoing political and legal developments; and gathers initiatives carried out at the national level to improve understanding and prevention of this form of gender-based violence by healthcare ...