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The International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) on 6 February is an occasion to raise awareness and call for further action to end this practice that puts an estimated four million girls at risk of severe harm every year. The available data shows that there are also survivors of FGM or potential victims in at least 16 EU Member States. The EU supports international efforts to end FGM and has made preventing and combating it a key part of its strategies on women's and children's ...

Located in south-east Asia, Thailand is a constitutional monarchy with a long history of instability, alternating between military rule and unstable civilian governments. The Constitutional Court's decisions have often had an impact on Thai politics. King Vajiralongkorn (crowned as Rama X in May 2019) has been the king of Thailand since December 2016. Anutin Charnvirakul has been the Prime Minister since September 2025. The bicameral National Assembly consists of an elected 500-member House of Representatives ...

A special plenary session will take place in Brussels on 27 January, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The date marks the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in 1945, and provides an opportunity to remember the victims of the Holocaust and to reaffirm the need for overcoming stereotypes and prejudice.

This study examines the perpetrators and methods of transnational repression within the European Union (EU) and suggests possible counter-strategies for EU institutions. The study explains how transnational repression relates to associated issues faced by the EU, such as foreign interference, disinformation, abuse of migration frameworks and hybrid threats. Whilst the scale, scope and methods of transnational repression comprise a global phenomenon, this problem is specifically prevalent within the ...

On 25 November 2021, the European Commission submitted a proposal to modify Directive 93/109/EC on the right of mobile European Union (EU) citizens – those residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals – to vote and stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament. Directive 93/109/EC gave EU citizens the same rights to vote and to be elected to the European Parliament as the citizens of the Member State in which they reside. However, Member States have varying rules on the ...

Online child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) and grooming practices (manipulation aimed at exploiting and abusing people), now increasingly targeting younger children, have been proliferating at an alarming rate. In 2024, more than 20.5 million reports of suspected online child sexual abuse materials were detected. Reports related to AI-generated CSAM saw a 1 325 % increase, rising from 4 700 in 2023 to 67 000 in 2024. Most activities detected were hosted in Europe. In response to this situation, on ...

The latest annual review of EU external action to promote human rights and democracy, covering 2024, highlights a challenging situation, shaped by 'multiple and cascading crises'. During its January plenary session, the European Parliament is expected to vote on a resolution on its own yearly report on human rights and democracy in the world, responding to the annual review and recommending further EU action.

This study examines housing needs across the EU, focusing on inequalities in affordability, accessibility, and quality. It provides a mapping of the current housing needs in the EU across territories, including across Member States, rural and urban areas, outermost regions, and islands and across population groups. The study analyses key factors affecting housing demand and supply challenges, and the impacts of housing scarcity on health, education and employment. It also reviews how EU legislation ...

The European Citizens' Initiative, 'My voice, my choice: for safe and accessible abortion', seeks an EU-level financial solidarity mechanism to support access to abortion care for women who cannot obtain safe and legal abortion in their home Member State, without harmonising national abortion laws. In November 2025, the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) adopted a motion for a resolution and an oral question supporting the ECI's aims. A debate is scheduled for the December plenary ...

Although it is a long-standing concept, the 28th regime was emphasised by Enrico Letta's report in 2024 as a major recommendation to reinforce the single market and remove internal barriers. The International Monetary Fund estimates that the persistent barriers to the EU single market still represented the equivalent of a 110 % tariff on services. The 28th regime, which has yet to be defined, would possibly be a specific legal framework that would govern various aspects of businesses that opt into ...