Pretraži

Since the mid-1980s, Latin America has enjoyed long and broad democratic expansion, and has made considerable progress with regard to free and fair elections and respect for human rights. As the 'most democratic emerging-market region in the world', over 80 % of the Latin American population enjoy democracy, a proportion surpassed only in western Europe and North America. Standards vary widely however: while Costa Rica, Uruguay and Chile stand out in all classifications as the most free and democratic ...

The Summit for Democracy, a pledge of US President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral campaign, came to fruition on 9 10 December 2021. The first-ever global summit dedicated to harnessing international support for democratic renewal launched the 2022 'year of action', aimed at fostering resilient democracies worldwide.

'The European Council will revert to the issue' or 'reiterates' its view, were probably the most used sentences in the conclusions issued following the 16 December 2021 meeting of the Heads of State or Government. For many of the issues on the agenda, such as energy, where the geopolitical stakes are high, differences in position remain in the European Council; achieving consensus is therefore part of a longer process. On security and defence, no big decisions, but specific guidelines and targeted ...

The role of the European Council is to 'provide the Union with the necessary impetus for its development' and to define its 'general political directions and priorities'. Since its creation in 1975, the European Council has exercised considerable influence over the development of the European Union, a process enhanced by its designation as a formal institution of the Union under the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. The European Council Oversight Unit within the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS ...

The European Council consists of the 27 Heads of State or Government of the EU Member States, who are voting members, together with the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission, who have no vote (Article 15(2) TEU). The chart shows the current members, the national office they hold and their political affiliation, as well as the year their membership of the institution began. This publication is updated periodically to reflect changes in the European Council's ...

Whereas social media provide individuals with new opportunities to access information, express opinions, and participate in democratic processes, they can also undermine democracy by distorting information, promoting false stories and facilitating political manipulation. This EPRS paper provides an overview of the key risks social media pose to democracy related to surveillance, personalisation, disinformation, moderation and microtargeting. It also discusses key approaches to tackling social media ...

The last regular European Council meeting of 2021, on 16 December, will discuss a broad range of topics, notably the coronavirus pandemic, crisis management and resilience, energy prices, security and defence, migration, and external relations. In the context of the worsening epidemiological situation and the emergence of the Omicron variant, EU leaders will address progress in vaccination across the EU and the impact of new restrictions on the single market. They will also discuss international ...

The Monthly Highlights publication provides an overview, at a glance, of the on-going work of the policy departments, including a selection of the latest and forthcoming publications, and a list of future events.

Disinformation has continued to spread in recent years, receiving a significant boost during the COVID-19 pandemic and constituting one of the most pressing threats for democratic countries. Authoritarian regimes have played their part in the proliferation of manipulated content, particularly disinformation. This paper analyses recent instances of the misuse of social media platforms and other communication channels perpetrated by authoritarian regimes in Iran, China, and Russia to influence the ...

The year 2019 provided a respite for the European Council from crisis management, but was not without major challenges. Three stood out: the Spitzenkandidaten process for selecting the next President of the European Commission; Brexit, which unexpectedly remained on the agenda of the European Council throughout the year; and policy towards climate change. The European Council had mixed feelings about the Spitzenkandidaten process, with one of its leading members being adamantly opposed. That set ...