Cuardaigh

A solemn ceremony was held in Strasbourg to honour the Parliament's late President David Maria Sassoli, who died the previous week. Following this sad occasion, the main point on the agenda for the January 2022 plenary session was the already scheduled mid-term election of Parliament's President, 14 Vice-Presidents and 5 Quaestors. Parliament also debated the programme of activities of the French Council Presidency, with Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic.

In absolute figures, Cyprus's National Recovery and Resilience Plan amounts to €1.2 billion. Cyprus decided to use its allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) predominantly in grants (€1.005 billion), with €200.3 million in loans. These resources represent around 0.2 % of the entire RRF, but are equal to 5.2 % of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 (the RRF being 5.2 % of EU-27 GDP in 2019). They will underpin a vast programme of reforms and investments that aims ...

Estonia's Recovery and Resilience Plan – one of the last such plans submitted to the European Commission – sets out the reforms and public investment projects that Estonia intends to implement with the support of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The RRF is one of the main components of Next Generation EU, an EU instrument to counter the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Estonia's plan is one of the smallest in the EU in terms of the total amount allocated. However, when taking into account ...

Latvia's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) sets the package of reforms and investment measures designed by the country in the context of the European Union (EU) response to the crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. In absolute figures, Latvia has decided to use €1 826 millions of grant allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), while declining to avail of the loan component. These resources represent 0.3 % of the entire RRF, equal to 6 % of the country's gross ...

The implementation timetable for cohesion policy is defined largely by its legislative framework. In order to be able to plan parliamentary work and exercise systematic scrutiny of policy implementation and of the Commission’s work, it is essential to have an overview of the timing of different steps in policy implementation in the coming years. This type of briefing was first published (and subsequently updated) in 2014 covering the 2014-2020 programming period. This version includes the policy ...

This EPRS paper analyses the implementation of the UK Withdrawal Agreement in three areas identified by the EU as key to ensuring the UK's orderly exit from the Union: financial settlement, citizens' rights and the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol. The citizens' rights provisions contained in Part Two of the Agreement are designed to protect the rights of both EU and UK citizens who had exercised free movement and made life choices based on the rights flowing from the UK's membership of the EU. ...

Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance and the Recovery of France, is participating in the ECON Committee in his capacity of President of the ECOFIN Council during the French Presidency (January-June 2022). In accordance with the Treaty of the Union, “Member States shall regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern and shall coordinate them within the Council”. This briefing provides an overview of the French presidency priorities in ECON matters, including the Council ...

The study explores the working conditions and risks faced by essential frontline workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on women and migrant workers in low-paid frontline occupations. The study also provides an overview of the main legislative and policy measures adopted at EU and national level to support essential workers in order to identify possible policy actions to revaluate these occupations. The analysis is based on the triangulation of data and information resulting ...

When the Nazis grabbed power in Germany, they had clear ideas about what art is. The persecution of Jews allowed them to seize Jewish property, forbid Jews from running art galleries, push them out of their countries to exile, and send them to camps and death. All this enabled some prominent Nazis to start their own art collections. However, most of the looted valuable classical artworks were destined for existing or planned museums. Nazis and their collaborators looted art collections and moved ...

This year marks the 50th anniversary of accession to the former European Communities by Ireland and Denmark. The path to membership was not smooth for either country, with their first two applications made in 1961 and 1967, together with the United Kingdom, effectively blocked by French opposition. With a change of government in France, the six members of the European Communities reaffirmed their agreement to the enlargement of the Communities, and negotiations on membership began with Denmark, Ireland ...