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On 15 December 2021, the Commission presented a proposal to regulate methane emissions reductions in the energy sector. The proposal is part of the second batch of proposals in the 'fit for 55' package, aiming to align EU climate and energy laws with the EU Climate Law's 2030 target. The proposal aims to address gaps in current legislation: those relating to methane emissions from upstream exploration and the production of oil and fossil gas, but also those from the gathering and processing of fossil ...

Since December 2022, some EU countries have been granting refugee status to all female Afghan asylum-seekers, solely on grounds of gender. This decision is based on the worsening situation in Afghanistan, in particular for women and girls, with the level of discrimination deemed sufficiently serious to amount to persecution of a social group, as defined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, and fulfilling the requirements for granting refugee status.

The EU budget is financed in large part (over 90 %) from own resources. Annual revenue must completely cover annual expenditure. The system of own resources is decided by the Council on the basis of unanimity, having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament, and needs to be ratified by the Member States.

The Just Transition Fund is a financial instrument within the Cohesion Policy, which seeks to provide support to territories facing serious socio-economic challenges arising from the transition towards climate neutrality. The Just Transition Fund will facilitate the implementation of the European Green Deal, which aims to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050.

REACT-EU is a programme to repair the social and economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to prepare for a green, digital and resilient recovery. REACT-EU seeks to mobilise an additional EUR 47.5 billion from the structural funds for the years 2021 and 2022, and to increase flexibility in cohesion policy spending.

European integration has led to significant social developments over the years. A recent milestone came in 2017, when Parliament, the Council and the Commission proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights and reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring better living and working conditions throughout the EU. The related action plan of 2021 set out concrete initiatives to turn this commitment into reality.

As part of its efforts to promote mobility and intercultural understanding, the European Union (EU) has designated language learning as an important priority, and funds numerous programmes and projects in this area. Multilingualism, in the EU’s view, is an important element of Europe’s competitiveness. One of the objectives of the EU’s language policy is therefore for every EU citizen to master two other languages in addition to their mother tongue.

Youth is a national policy area, so EU-level harmonisation is not possible. The EU therefore can only play a supporting role. Key Action 1 of the Erasmus+ programme about mobility for individuals encourages exchanges of young people within the EU and with third countries. Over the past few years, the European Union has strengthened its policies towards young people, as illustrated by the European Solidarity Corps initiative and the DiscoverEU project.

The European employment strategy, dating back to 1997, established a set of common objectives for employment policy and contributed to ‘soft coordination’ among the Member States through a monitoring process and connected funding instruments. Creating more and better jobs was one of the main goals of the Europe 2020 strategy. Since the turn of the decade, the Commission has proposed new and more ambitious targets in the areas of employment, skills and social protection in order to build a strong ...

Social dialogue is a fundamental component of the European social model. It enables the social partners (representatives of management and labour) to contribute actively, including through agreements, to designing European social and employment policy.