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When assessing the benefits Member States (MS) receive from the European Union (EU) budget, they primarily focus on their individual net positions, i.e. the net balance between their national contributions and the transfers received from the EU budget. This ‘just retour’ thinking is associated with several limitations and problems and completely neglects the benefits accruing to MS beyond the pure financial streams related to the EU budget.

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which posed a serious challenge to the work of Parliament, several measures were quickly adopted in order to ensure the continuation of the legislative and democratic life of the EU, while focusing on its response to the COVID-19 crisis. This Thematic Digest contains an overview of the principal debates held by Parliament's committees and delegations, and of the decisions made as a result of their work, following the COVID-19 outbreak.

There is still gender bias and inequality in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math-ematics) fields and the digital sector. This study, an up-to-date litera-ture review on women’s educa-tion and employment, shows that there is still gender bias and inequality in STEM and the digital sector. It identifies obstacles and bottlenecks that prevent gender parity in these sectors and provides suggestions for future re-search, initiatives and policies.

Exception to the budgetary principle of universality, assigned revenues flatten at 10.5 % in last years. The emergency European Recovery Instrument amounts to EUR 750 billion. Out of this amount, more than a third of it will be considered as assigned revenue in the EU budget. On assigned revenue, the Parliament is excluded from the decision-making process. Given the size of the amount in question, the budgetary treatment of external assigned revenue should be reassessed.

Africa has become a major focus for the EU in terms of security, migration, develop-ment, climate change and of rising interest in a fair and sustainable economic part-nership. Following the publication of the new EU-Africa strategy, these briefings give a first evaluation in the areas of competence of three committees and should also contribute to the envisaged meetings between the EU and the African Union end of October this year.

AI applications are expected to deliver a wide range of positive impacts, for individu-al firms, across value chains, as well as at the societal and macroeconomic levels. This study, provided by Policy Department A at the request of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), scrutinises the state of play around AI in the EU, as compared to key competitor countries. It also highlights areas of industry where AI will bring significant socioeconomic benefits.