Pretraži

An effective return policy to remove from the EU third-country nationals who do not have the right to stay on EU territory requires common rules and procedures in the EU Member States. These must be implemented in accordance with fundamental rights obligations and with the principle of non refoulement. A robust framework for cooperation with third countries that are willing to accept returnees is also necessary Efforts to increase the number of returns have been a feature of EU migration policy for ...

Michael McGrath (born in 1976), is an Irish politician, a member of the Fianna Fáil party, which belongs to the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament. He holds a bachelor's degree in commerce from University College Cork (1997). Most recently, he was minister for finance (2022-2024) and before that, minister for public expenditure and reform (2020-2022). McGrath has been a member of the lower house of the Irish Parliament (the Oireachtas) for the Cork South-Central constituency since 2007 ...

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 ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 3.2 million, became independent from the former Yugoslavia on 3 March 1992, following a referendum that was boycotted by ethnic Serbs. Bosnia and Herzegovina was offered a European Union membership perspective at the EU-Western Balkans summit in Thessaloniki in 2003. Building on the European Commission's recommendation of 12 March 2024, the European Council decided on 21 March to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina. This 'At a glance ...

Access to housing in the EU has become problematic in recent years. Demography and urbanisation-related structural factors, aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine, soaring energy prices, the cost-of-living crisis and (already high) housing prices that keep rising are preventing many people from accessing decent housing solutions. The lack of affordable housing supply only adds to this situation. These difficulties affect not only low- but now also middle-income households, as ...

This briefing, written by the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs - Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group, examines the situation of Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights in Estonia and how the values of Article 2 of the TEU are respected and implemented in the country.

The EU's approach to digital transformation is rooted in protecting fundamental rights, sustainability, ethics and fairness. With this human-centric vision of the digital economy and society, the EU seeks to empower citizens and businesses, regardless of their size. In the EU's view, the internet should remain open, fair, inclusive and focused on people. Digital technologies should work for citizens and help them to engage in society. Companies should be able to compete on equal terms, and consumers ...

In the past decade, continuous migration and asylum pressure on European Union Member States has made the external dimension of the EU's approach to migration management all the more important. The need to address challenges relating to external border management has reoriented EU migration policy towards extended and stricter border controls, combined with the externalisation of migration management through cooperation with third countries. In this context, the external processing of asylum claims ...

The European Ombudsman submitted her 2022 annual report to the European Parliament in April 2023. The main issues raised in the report relate to ethical concerns, transparency and accountability. The report also provides an overview of the handling of complaints and inquiries, and an assessment of the Ombudsman's other achievements in 2022. The Committee on Petitions has discussed the report and endorsed it; the committee's report is to be put to the vote during Parliament's plenary session in January ...

Consular protection is one of the rights derived from EU citizenship, a fundamental right in the EU legal framework. Directive 2015/637 on the coordination and cooperation measures to facilitate consular protection for unrepresented EU citizens in third countries obliges any Member State to offer unrepresented EU citizens in third countries the same protection as it provides for its own nationals. In practice, unrepresented EU citizens can seek assistance, for instance, an emergency travel document ...