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This document provides an overview of key developments under the preventive and corrective arms of the Stability and Growth Pact on the basis of the latest Commission and Council decisions and recommendations in the framework of the Stability and Growth Pact and the latest European Commission economic forecasts. It also includes a section on the on-going review of the EU fiscal framework. This document is regularly updated.

On 25 November 2021, the European Commission put forward a proposal to modify Council Directive 94/80/EC on the right of mobile EU citizens to vote and stand as candidates in municipal elections. The proposal tied in with the Commission President's priority for a new push for European democracy. The proposal was presented together with three others: a proposal to modify Directive 93/109/EC on EU citizens' right to vote and stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament; a proposal on ...

The arrival of refugees and irregular migrants in the EU in unprecedented numbers in 2015 exposed a number of deficiencies in the EU's external border, asylum and migration policy, and sparked EU action through various legal and policy instruments. Today, even though the EU has been relatively successful in securing its external borders, curbing irregular migrant arrivals and increasing cooperation with third countries, Member States are still reluctant to show solidarity and do more to share responsibility ...

While shell companies – company entities that have no or minimal economic activity – can serve useful commercial and business functions, they are sometimes abused by companies or individuals for aggressive tax planning or tax evasion. To ensure sustainable public finances under the exceptional circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, in December 2021 the European Commission presented a directive on preventing shell companies from misusing their structure for tax purposes ('Unshell'). The proposal ...

Most migrants arrive in Europe legally, to work, study or join family members. Over a million of the first residence permits granted to non-EU third-country nationals in 2019 were for work purposes. The EU shares competence on legal migration with Member States but can set conditions for third-country nationals' entry into and legal residence in Member States. However, Member States retain the right to determine admission numbers for third-country nationals seeking work. The Single Permit Directive ...

The European Council consists of the 27 Heads of State or Government of the EU Member States, who are voting members, together with the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission, who have no vote (Article 15(2) Treaty on European Union). The chart shows the current members, the national office they hold, their most recent European political affiliation, and the year their membership began.

Governments seek to protect low-income households from the risk of poverty by regulating minimum wages and setting up support programmes that include both social insurance and social assistance transfers. At their centre are guaranteed minimum income schemes as last-resort income support. While minimum income schemes exist in all EU Member States, they are not always adequate; they do not reach all those in need, nor do they motivate people to return to the labour market. In many EU countries, the ...

This document provides summarised and tabular information on the Recovery and Resilience Plans. It will be regularly updated.

This table provides a regular update on Member States invited for an Economic Dialogue in the competent Committee of the European Parliament and an overview of the respective legal base.

This note gives a short overview of the main steps in the framework of euro area Member States’ budgetary policy coordination and surveillance during the autumn cycle of the European Semester. This enhanced monitoring and surveillance of euro area Member States’ budgetary policies is done in accordance with EU law. It aims to identify and correct at an early stage during the Semester cycle any risks of deviation from fiscal policy recommendations agreed by the Member States, ultimately by asking ...