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National parliaments' active participation in EU affairs and enhanced scrutiny of their national governments are instrumental in ensuring the democratic accountability and legitimacy of the EU institutional system. However, despite the inclusion of national parliaments in the text of the Treaties, their ability to impact EU affairs remains generally limited. Nevertheless, national parliaments are willing to play a more active role in EU affairs by being more closely involved in the substance of EU ...

This European implementation assessment has been drawn up to support the work of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Public Health (SANT) on its implementation report on Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. Building on the Commission evaluation report published in 2020, the study assesses the implementation and application of the Regulation on nutrition and health claims made on foods. Health claims and use of health claims on foods containing botanicals are at the heart of this study, while nutrition ...

This briefing provides a pre-legislative synthesis of the positions of national, regional and local governmental organisations on the European Commission's forthcoming proposal on the European Disability Card. It forms part of an EPRS series offering a summary of the pre-legislative state of play and advance consultation on a range of key European Commission priorities during its 5-year term in office. It seeks to present the current state of affairs, to examine how existing policy is working on ...

This study analyses the early outcomes, benefits, risks and challenges linked to the implementation of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), in provisional application since January 2021 and in force since 1 May 2021, for the EU and its Member States. Its chief focus is on the implementation of the level-playing-field provisions – in particular, those dealing with environmental and social/labour rights protection – and on trade flows between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom ...

Ahead of their forthcoming mid-term evaluation, this study provides an initial evaluation of the implementation of the Erasmus +, Creative Europe, European Solidarity Corps, and Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Strand 3 funding programmes since their launch in late 2021. The evaluation focuses primarily on their relevance, coherence and effectiveness, with a view to identifying challenges and shortcomings, but also to highlight good practices and potential for future development. The research ...

The European Council sets the long-term political priorities for the EU. These priorities, which are sometimes updated and fine-tuned in reaction to crises, need to be communicated to EU citizens, the other EU institutions, and the world. Beyond the central communication through the European Council's conclusions, EU leaders convey their own messages. But do they all do this in the same way? On the same topics? With the same messages? To answer these questions, this EPRS study provides an overview ...

The Commission's proposal for the revision of Directive 2005/35/EC on ship-source pollution and on the introduction of penalties was adopted on 1 June 2023, as part of a maritime safety package. This implementation appraisal first outlines the existing EU legislation on ship-source pollution and penalties for infringement before reviewing and summarising the evaluation produced by the Commission. Overall, evaluations found Directive 2005/35/EC only partly effective, despite its having contributed ...

Payment services enable digital payments through direct debits, credit transfers or payments with cards or similar devices. Within the EU, these are regulated through the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which sets rules for payment services, their providers and consumer protection. Announced in September 2021 under the digital finance strategy and the retail payments strategy, the Commission published two proposals on the revision of PSD2 on 28 June 2023 as part of the financial data access ...

This paper presents a regional evaluation in parallel to the EPRS 2023 Peace and Security Outlook. It has been drafted as a contribution to the Normandy World Peace Forum taking place in September 2023. The paper provides the background to EU relations with Iraq. After providing a brief overview of the country's current political, economic and social situation, the analysis provides an inventory of the tools and mechanisms and funding put in place by the EU, looks at recent developments and corresponding ...

This briefing provides a pre-legislative synthesis of the positions of national, regional and local governmental organisations on the European Commission's forthcoming proposal on sustainable food systems. It forms part of an EPRS series offering a summary of the pre-legislative state of play and advance consultation on a range of key European Commission priorities during its 5-year term in office. It seeks to present the current state of affairs, examine how existing policy is working on the ground ...