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Digital skills and competences are key for social inclusion, well-being, active citizenship and employability, as well as the EU's productivity, competitiveness and resilience. Given the importance of such skills for society and the economy, the EU has set a series of targets for digital skills. However, recent data and trends make it clear that more needs to be done to speed up progress towards these targets. With the review of the European Commission's flagship digital education action plan ongoing ...

The EU's ability to boost its competitiveness, become a climate-neutral economy by 2050, sustain the green and digital transition and achieve strategic autonomy depends heavily on access to critical raw materials (CRMs). Key technologies, across all industries, depend on CRMs' unique physical properties. The CRM Act (CRMA), aimed at making the EU's supply of CRMs more secure, resilient and sustainable, entered into force on 23 May 2024. The CRMA lists 34 CRMs, of which 17 are considered 'strategic ...

The European Union’s policies influence third country trading partners’ domestic policy in different ways. Unilateral legislation in the green and digital fields, for example, contribute to setting global standards as traders must comply with EU requirements to access the Single market. The digital transition cooperation between Africa and the EU could lead to further regulatory convergence in the digital field. The EU's human-centric approach to digital policy, fostering consumer protection and ...

Standards are voluntary guidelines, providing technical specifications for products, processes and services. They ensure a certain level of quality, enable interoperability, boost consumer confidence and remove trade barriers. Laws may prescribe standards as a preferred or mandatory requirement for compliance. In the digital sphere, their strategic importance has made them the focus of geopolitical competition.

The success of the green and digital transitions depends on their being conducted in a socially fair way, with attention paid to securing quality jobs and ensuring enough skilled workers are available to perform them. Given the existing shortages in terms of both occupations and skills, reskilling and upskilling of the EU labour force are vital. The start of the new legislative cycle has energised the debate on the EU approach to tackling skills gaps, and MEPs are due to debate a Commission statement ...

The EU automotive sector has a century-old tradition of producing vehicles with internal combustion engines. It enjoys a global reputation for mechanical engineering excellence, quality, design and creativity. Today, the sector is at a crossroads: the green transition, digitalisation and global competition (in particular China's emergence as a leading global auto exporter) have fundamentally altered the competitive environment. The sector must adapt its business model quickly to mitigate the risks ...

Upon request of the Committee on Petitions (PETI), the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs commissioned the present study on Regulation 1049/2001 on access to documents with a twofold objective. First, to update the analysis conducted in a 2016 study for the PETI Committee with the latest developments in the case law of the CJEU and the activities led by the European Ombudsman since then – in particular focussing on access to legislative documents, documents relating ...

Strengthening the European Union's economy in the face of rising global economic and political competition and managing the 'twin transitions' of the digital and green transformation is a key challenge for the 2024-2029 legislative term. This briefing highlights key aspects of the debate around strengthening the EU's economy. While the term 'EU competitiveness' is not clearly defined, there is broad agreement that it entails a range of policies focusing on, but not confined to, the EU's single market ...

This briefing tracks progress made in implementing digital measures under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The RRF is at the core of Next Generation EU, the unprecedented recovery instrument helping EU Member States address the socioeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital transformation is one of the RRF's six pillars and a shared priority for the EU. The RRF dedicates 26 % of its overall funding to digital objectives in various digital policy areas, of which digital public ...

The EU Global Gateway, a €300 billion infrastructure investment strategy launched in December 2021, seeks to build sustainable and secure connections in the digital, energy and transport sectors and boost Europe's competitiveness and supply chain security across the world. What might the strategy look like in future? This paper presents four possible scenarios for the Global Gateway in 2030, based on survey responses from 30 policy experts: 'optimal gateway', 'failed gateway', 'corporate gateway' ...