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During the July plenary session, the European Parliament is expected to vote on an agreement with the Council aimed at addressing third countries' unsustainable practices in relation to shared fish stocks. The agreed text resulting from interinstitutional negotiations would amend existing EU legislation in order to make the rules for penalising non-cooperative third countries clearer and more transparent. The aim is to ensure the sustainability of shared fish stocks and to protect EU fishers from ...

The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) covers Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia. It consists of bilateral policies between the EU and the 10 individual partner countries, plus a regional cooperation framework, the Union for the Mediterranean. The EU boosted support for democratic transformation under the ENP in 2011, in response to the uprisings in its southern neighbourhood. It further reviewed the ENP in 2015.

EU cooperation with African countries and the African Union (AU) is based on two distinct frameworks: namely (a) the Partnership Agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states and (b) the Joint Africa-EU strategy.The legal basis for the political, economic and development aspects of the partnership between the EU and the ACP states was established by the Cotonou Agreement in 2000. This was replaced, on 15 November 2023, by the Samoa Agreement, which was negotiated to modernise and ...

On 20 May 2025, the European Union (EU) High Representative/Vice-President of the Commission (HR/VP) announced the launch of a review of Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. The review will assess Israel's compliance with human rights and democratic principles, which is an essential element of the agreement. This is the first step in a procedure that could eventually lead to the suspension of the agreement.

The EU has cooperation agreements with the Gulf Cooperation Council (a regional organisation grouping Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) and with Yemen, and a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Iraq. The EU has no formal agreement with Iran and there is no EU Delegation in Tehran. EU-Iran relations are currently based on the preservation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, or Iran nuclear agreement), signed in Vienna in July 2015.

Since April 2025, the United States (US) and Iran have been engaging in talks over a new nuclear deal. The current multilateral agreement limiting Iran's nuclear programme is considered defunct by most analysts, after the US withdrew in 2018 and Iran started breaching its provisions as of 2019.

Thirty-one out of 54 African countries criminalise consensual same-sex relations between adults. In addition, several African countries penalise the public expression of lesbian, gay, trans, intersex, queer and other non-heteronormative (LGBTIQ+ ) identities, or those who fight for LGBTIQ+ rights. This criminalisation leads to violations of privacy and inhumane treatment, with some countries even providing for the death penalty. Despite decriminalisation in a few states like South Africa, Angola, ...

Türkiye has long been a strategic partner of the EU on migration, security, and trade. However, following the attempted coup in 2016, Türkiye's democratic backsliding led the Council to freeze its accession negotiations in 2018. Although relations have since thawed, the EU is exploring a more realistic framework for bilateral relations. Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) adopted its report on the 2023 and 2024 Commission reports on Türkiye on 9 April 2025. A debate and vote on the report ...

Cooperation between countries to manage shared fish stocks is an international obligation. This is a particular challenge for the EU, which shares many of the fish stocks it exploits with third countries. If a third country does not cooperate in the management of a shared stock and decides unilaterally on its fishing opportunities, there is a risk of overfishing. The EU has adopted Regulation 1026/2012 to take measures against third countries that do not cooperate in the management of shared fish ...

After the fall of the Assad regime, the European Union (EU) is ready to support the Syrian people through the process of transition and reconstruction, including by suspending certain restrictive measures. The Council and the Commission are due to give statements on the issue during Parliament's March plenary session.