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European Parliament scrutiny of Frontex
Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 transformed Frontex into the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and considerably increased its tasks, powers, responsibilities and budget. The regulation extended the agency's tasks and competences while also balancing them with stronger fundamental rights safeguards and increased liability and accountability, including by giving the European Parliament oversight of the agency's activities. As part of this oversight, Parliament endorses the agency's budget, can ask the ...
Understanding EU policies for people with disabilities
The EU and its Member States have signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and use its definition of disability as a common reference at EU level. There is no other harmonised definition of disability in the EU. Although a wide variety of statistical surveys are available in terms of questions asked and population surveyed, a complete statistical assessment of disability in the EU does not yet exist. However, the annual Eurostat statistics on income and living conditions ...
Proposal for a ban on goods made using forced labour
On 14 September 2022, the Commission proposed a regulation to ban products made using forced labour, including child labour, on the European Union (EU) internal market. The proposal covers all products made available on the EU market, whether made in the EU for domestic consumption and for export, or imported. It covers products of any type, including their components, from all sectors and industries. EU Member States would be in charge of enforcing its provisions, and their national authorities ...
European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse
Child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse are among the worst forms of violence against children, and are crimes that know no borders. The constant rise of these crimes, exacerbated by the pandemic, underscores the importance of harmonised national legislation and international cooperation to improve prevention, protect the victims and prosecute the perpetrators. The European Day helps to raise awareness to this end.
Data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services
On 7 November 2022, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation on data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services. The proposal contributes to the Commission's priorities to make the EU fit for the digital age. To build a future-ready economy that works for people and builds on the recent Digital Services Act, the proposal regulates online platforms that connect hosts and guests for short-term accommodation rentals. The regulation should facilitate ...
Corporate sustainability due diligence: How to integrate human rights and environmental concerns in value chains
Companies can play a key role in building a sustainable economy and society. At the same time, their global value chains can pose risks to human rights and the environment. A growing number of EU companies have taken initiatives to deploy due diligence processes, often using existing voluntary international standards on responsible business conduct. Some Member States have meanwhile started developing their own legal frameworks on corporate due diligence. In a legislative-initiative resolution adopted ...
Vacancy for a vice-president and quaestor
During the October II plenary session, Parliament is expected to elect a new vice-president and a new quaestor. This vote is necessary as two Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to national parliaments in general elections, and must therefore vacate their seats in the European Parliament and their respective offices of vice-president and quaestor.
2022 report on Montenegro
A multi-ethnic country, Montenegro is composed of Montenegrins (43 %), Serbs (32 %), Bosniaks (7.8 %) and Albanians (5 %). In a May 2006 referendum, 55.5 % of the electorate voted for independence. Public opinion surveys show that almost 80 % of Montenegrins are in favour of joining the EU. On 2 April 2023, after securing 59 % of votes in a presidential election run-off, Montenegro's former Economy Minister Jakov Milatović declared victory over the incumbent, Milo Đukanović, who had been president ...
World Mental Health Day 2023: 10 October
The purpose of World Mental Health Day is to improve knowledge, raise awareness and mobilise efforts in support of mental health around the world. This year's theme, 'Mental health is a universal human right', underlines that a mental health condition should never be a reason to deprive a person of their human rights.
Posting of third-country nationals in the EU
Under EU rules, EU citizens are free to reside and work in any Member State, and can be posted to any other EU country to provide a service job. By contrast, labour migration by third-country nationals (TCNs) is controlled by a different regulatory framework. However, Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) case law provides that TCNs with work and residence permits in one Member State may be posted across the EU to perform temporary work. The posting of TCN workers is increasingly being used ...