Think Tank

This document provides an overview of key developments under the preventive and corrective arms of the Stability and Growth Pact on the basis of the latest Commission and Council decisions and recommendations in the framework of the Stability and Growth Pact and the latest European Commission economic forecasts. It also includes a section on the on-going review of the EU fiscal framework. This document is regularly updated.

People in Europe are living and staying healthy for longer, and this is considered to be one of the great developments of the last hundred years. However, in combination with low birth rates and economic uncertainties, this phenomenon puts into question the future financial sustainability of pension systems and several welfare state parameters. Pension systems are a key element of social protection for older people. They are meant to provide older citizens beyond working age with an income in the ...

This Briefing, written by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee, provides background information for the FEMM Mission to Poland scheduled from 2 to 4 November 2022. It includes information about Gender Equality, LGBTI+ Rights, Sexual and reproductive health and rights and Refugees in Poland.

In 2020, the Commission launched a review of the Solvency II Directive, the EU's legal prudential regulatory framework for (re-)insurance companies, which entered into force in 2016. As one output of the review, the Commission made a proposal in September 2021 for a new directive establishing a framework for recovery and resolution of insurance companies – the 'IRRD proposal'. The IRRD proposal would establish harmonised recovery and resolution tools and procedures, with enhanced cross-border cooperation ...

Directive 2009/138/EC – also known as Solvency II – sets out the prudential regulatory framework for the insurance sector in the EU. The framework aims to establish the single market for insurance services further, while strengthening policyholders' protection. On 22 September 2021, the European Commission tabled a proposal for a directive that would amend Solvency II in essentially three ways: i) lowering regulatory obligations on small and low-risk profile insurance companies, ii) taking into account ...