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The magnitude of current global challenges, such as the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, stresses the relevance of joining forces worldwide and pooling human and financial resources to facilitate the creation and dissemination of knowledge and innovative solutions for EU research. In 2021, the European Commission adopted a communication on a global approach to research and innovation – the new European strategy for international cooperation. In 2022, the European Parliament and the EU Member ...

This briefing focuses on policy measures to contain aggressive tax planning (ATP) that six Member States – Ireland, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta and the Netherlands – have laid out in their individual national recovery and resilience plans, which were drawn up in order to benefit from the Next Generation EU (NGEU) recovery instrument. The countries were selected because their European Semester and 2019 and 2020 country-specific recommendations (CSRs) highlighted ATP concerns. ATP is a harmful ...

EU integration represents an inspiring example of conflict resolution. Some 30 years of violent sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland was brought to an end in 1998, with the signature of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. At the time, both the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland were Member States of the European Union, having both joined the European Communities on 1 January 1973. The EU's engagement in the Northern Ireland peace process materialised first through support for the International Fund ...

On 5 April 2022, the Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on fluorinated greenhouse gases that would repeal Regulation (EU) No 517/2014. The proposal is amongst the last from the 'fit for 55' package, aiming to align EU climate and energy laws with the EU Climate Law's 2030 target. The proposal aims to further reduce emissions of fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases). It would change the existing quota system, gradually reducing the supply of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) to the EU market ...

During the second part-session of March 2023, the European Parliament is expected to vote on the political agreement on the proposed regulation on general product safety reached in trilogue negotiations on 28 November 2022. This new regulation will replace the current General Product Safety Directive. It addresses the product safety challenges of emerging technologies, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and connected devices, and establishes clear obligations for online marketplaces ...

On 5 April 2022, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) that would repeal the current F-gas Regulation. The proposal aims to reduce F-gas emissions further. It would change the existing quota system, gradually reducing the supply of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) to the EU market to 2.4 % of 2015 levels by 2048. It would also ban F-gases in specific applications, and update the rules on implementing best practice, leak-checking, record-keeping ...

In July 2022, the European Commission published its third annual rule of law report, featuring for the first time country-specific recommendations for each Member State. A motion for a resolution tabled by the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) notes that, while the Commission has partially addressed Parliament's requests in its resolutions on the previous annual rule of law reports, they need to be addressed in their entirety.

The Ozone Regulation, in force since January 2010, is the main legal instrument governing ozone-depleting substances (ODS). In April 2022, the European Commission proposed a new regulation on ODS aimed at increasing the efficiency of the existing measures and rules, and ensuring more comprehensive monitoring, while also making administrative simplifications and saving costs. The European Parliament is expected to vote on the proposal during the March II 2023 plenary session, and thereby set its position ...

Equal pay for equal work is one of the European Union's founding principles. However, the implementation and enforcement of this principle remain a challenge. On 4 March 2021, the European Commission proposed a directive to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work between men and women, through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms. Parliament's negotiators reached an agreement with the Council on the proposal on 15 December 2022, and that text is now due to be ...

The EU has the world's largest carbon-pricing system, the emissions trading system (ETS). Emissions pricing can encourage industrial decarbonisation, but it also risks carbon leakage, whereby EU companies move their production abroad. To date, the EU has mitigated this risk through free allocations to certain industries, but with rising climate ambition and higher carbon prices, the Commission is now seeking to phase out free allocations. A new carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) would also ...