At a glance: Parliament to hold first Ukraine Facility Dialogue on EUR 50 billion EU support programme; the role of EU trade policy in reducing dependencies and boosting sustainability; and Disability Rights Week.

News in Brief – 02/12/2024 - English

Since the 1980s, HIV has gone from being a fatal diagnosis to a manageable condition, thanks to global advances in treatment and prevention. Over 88 million people worldwide have been infected, with 42 million deaths to date. Currently, there are about 40 million people living with HIV, including an estimated 810 000 people in the EU. Although healthcare systems are organised nationally, the EU supports cross-border programmes, funds research through Horizon Europe, and backs public health campaigns. The EU is also committed to the UNAIDS ‘95-95-95’ goals: by 2025, 95 % of people with HIV should know their status, 95 % of those who know their status should be receiving treatment, and 95 % of people receiving treatment should be virally suppressed. In this episode of ‘Raising the Game: Better Legislation’, we explore the EU’s vital role in preventing HIV, combating stigma, and improving lives across the EU countries. The goal is a HIV-free future by 2030.

Ending the HIV epidemic by 2030

At a glance: Parliament approves over EUR 116 million in aid for flood recovery in Germany and Italy and calls for expanded solidarity fund; MEPs demand accountability for irregularities in Georgia’s disputed parliamentary elections; MEPs and the Commission discuss strengthening children’s rights on 35th anniversary of UN Convention.

News in Brief – 29/11/2024 - English

At a glance: Parliament approves the College of Commissioners; MEPs vote for the 2025 EU  budget; MEPS debate the targeting of Baltic Sea critical infrastructure.

News in Brief – 28/11/2024 - English

At a glance: President Metsola calls for stronger EU action to end violence against women; Parliament reaffirms its unwavering support for Ukraine amid ongoing Russian aggression; MEPs to discuss strengthening children’s rights on 35th anniversary of UN convention.

News in Brief – 27/11/2024 - English

At a glance: Parliament to vote on the new European Commission tomorrow; MEPs will vote on the 2025 EU budget and debate the outcomes of the COP29 climate conference

News in Brief – 26/11/2024 - English

At a glance: a new European Parliament plenary session kicks off in Strasbourg today; Parliament and the Commission discuss the crisis in the Middle East; MEPs to debate Baltic Sea infrastructure sabotage and address violence against women.

News in Brief – 25/11/2024 - English

The multiannual financial framework is essentially the European Union’s long-term budget plan. It sets the spending priorities and limits for the EU for several years, ensuring that the EU’s financial resources are in line with its political and economic goals. The multiannual financial framework sets out the structure for annual budgets and helps balance the competing interests of EU countries.
It allocates financial resources across a variety of areas, including funding for less developed regions, subsidies and rural development, humanitarian aid and investments in the green and digital transitions, and in EU foreign policy.

The Multiannual Financial Framework

MEPs elected Roberta Metsola (EPP, MT) on January 2022 as President of the European Parliament until 2024.

Roberta Metsola won the election in the first voting round, where she received an absolute majority of 458 votes out of 690 cast in the remote secret vote, among three candidates.&nbsp;

President Metsola is leading the Parliament in the second half of the current legislative term, until a new Parliament is constituted following the 2024 European Elections.

Born in Malta in 1979,&nbsp; Roberta Metsola who has been an MEP since 2013, is the youngest EP President ever elected. She became First Vice-President in November 2020, and was Parliament’s acting President after President Sassoli passed away on 11 January 2022.

She is the third female President of the European Parliament, after Simone Veil (1979-1982) and Nicole Fontaine (1999- 2002).

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament 2022-2024

In July 2024&nbsp; MEPs re-elected Roberta Metsola (EPP, MT) as President of the European Parliament until 2027, with 562 votes in the first round. Roberta Metsola won the election in the first round of voting, where she received an absolute majority of 562 votes cast out of 699 by secret paper ballot, among two candidates. She will continue to lead Parliament for the first two and a half years of the 10th legislative term.

Born in Malta in 1979, Roberta Metsola has been an MEP since 2013.&nbsp;She was elected First Vice-President in November 2020, and was Parliament’s acting President after President Sassoli passed away on 11 January 2022. On 18 January 2022,&nbsp;she was elected President&nbsp;for the second half of the 9th legislative term. She is the third female President of the European Parliament, after&nbsp;Simone Veil&nbsp;(1979-1982) and Nicole Fontaine (1999-2002).

Addressing the House after she was elected, President Metsola said: “Together, we must stand up for the politics of hope, for the dream that is Europe. I want people to recapture a sense of belief and enthusiasm for our project. A belief to make our shared space safer, fairer, more just and more equal. A belief that together we are stronger and we are better. A belief that ours is a Europe for all.”

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament 2024-2027

The Euroscola programme in Strasbourg brings together pupils aged 14 and over from the 27 EU Member States, candidate countries and former Member States to simulate the work of the European Parliament by debating, taking sides, negotiating, amending and voting on real European issues. Pupils get an opportunity to exchange views with Members of the European Parliament and experts from this institution, to familiarise themselves with the workings of the European Union, to discuss democracy, fundamental rights, European values and to express their personal opinions on the decisions taken at the European Union level.

Euroscola

Defying international criticism, Iran has sentenced many protestors to death, and continues to execute people arrested during recent demonstrations.

The demonstrations started in mid-September after a young woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of the ‘morality police’ for, they claimed, breaking the strict hijab rules. Hundreds of people have been killed in the protests that have followed and thousands arrested because of their brutal repression by the government.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called these death sentences “state sanctioned killing”, and said that the Iranian government is using executions to intimidate the population and stamp out dissent.

While the EU is discussing a fourth round of sanctions because of the regime crackdown and Iran's military support for Russia, some member states have called for the classification by the EU of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

EU - Iran

Parliament’s Conference of Presidents (President Metsola and political groups’ leaders) travel to Warsaw to meet with Poland’s government well as political group members of the Sejm to prepare the upcoming Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, which will run from January to June 2025. EP President Metsola also has a bilateral meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (Thursday).

Conference of Presidents in Poland

Members of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee hear from Christine Lagarde, first in her capacity as President of the European Central Bank and then as Chair of the European Systemic Risk Board. Economic governance, geo-political risks, and the cost of living are all expected to feature prominently in the discussions. The hearings are followed by another debate with Dominique Laboureix, Chair of the Single Resolution Board (Wednesday).

ECON-Monetary dialogue with Christine Lagarde

The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee discusses the compliance of TikTok with the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) in the context of recent elections across Europe, together with representatives from TikTok and the Commission (Tuesday).

IMCO Debate on the compliance of TikTok with the EU Digital Services Act

EP President Roberta Metsola meets Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa

The European elections are the largest transnational elections in the world. There are some common rules that apply in all EU countries but many details vary by country.


Election days range from Thursday 6 June to Sunday 9 June and it is up to each country to decide when and how they organise the vote.


The number of MEPs elected varies between countries: bigger countries get more seats than smaller ones. Due to changes in the size of the population, some EU countries will get extra seats in the upcoming elections compared to the outgoing Parliament. In total 15 seats will be added.


There are also differences in other aspects of voting, for example regarding the minimum voting age or the rules about voting from abroad.

EU Elections 2024

The European elections are the largest transnational elections in the world. There are some common rules that apply in all EU countries but many details vary by country.


Election days range from Thursday 6 June to Sunday 9 June and it is up to each country to decide when and how they organise the vote.

Map European elections 2024

Online shopping, take-away food, coffee to go... Packaging waste is growing. Find out how much is being produced and how the EU wants to reverse the trend

How to reduce packaging waste in the EU

With war having returned to the European continent, measuring the level of threats to peace, security and democracy around the world – as the 'Normandy Index' does – is more important than ever. The annual Index was presented for the first time at the Normandy Peace Forum in June 2019, as a result of a partnership between the European Parliament and the Region of Normandy. The Index has been designed and prepared by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), in conjunction with and on the basis of data provided by the Institute for Economics and Peace. This paper sets out the findings of the 2023 exercise, which draws on data compiled in 2022, and explains how the Index can be used to compare peace – defined on the basis of a given country's performance against a range of predetermined threats – across countries and regions. It is complemented by 61 individual country case studies, derived from the Index. The paper forms part of the EPRS contribution to the 2023 Normandy World Peace Foru

Mapping threats to peace and democracy worldwide: Normandy Index 2023

Discover key figures about the repatriation of migrants and proposed changes to EU law.
The EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum includes new rules and the revision of existing legislation, such as the Return Directive.
In a draft resolution on the Return Directive adopted in December 2020, MEPs stressed the importance of protecting individual fundamental rights as well as respect for procedural safeguards.

Repatriation: how many migrants in the EU are sent back?

Over the past 30 years the single market has brought unity and opportunities to Europeans.

30 years of EU single market: benefits and challenges

Find out about the top cyber threats in 2022, the most affected sectors and the impact of the war in Ukraine.

The digital transformation has inevitably led to new cybersecurity threats. During the coronavirus pandemic, companies had to adapt to remote working and this created more possibilities for cybercriminals. The war in Ukraine has also affected cybersecurity.

In response to the evolution of cybersecurity threats, Parliament adopted a new EU directive introducing harmonised measures across the EU, including on the protection of essential sectors.

Cybersecurity: main and emerging threats

With fast fashion, the quantity of clothes produced and thrown away has boomed. Find out more about the environmental impact and what the EU is doing about it.

Fast fashion is the constant provision of new styles at very low prices.

To tackle the impact on the environment, the EU wants to reduce textile waste and increase the life cycle and recycling of textiles. This is part of the plan to achieve a circular economy by 2050.

The impact of textile production and waste on the environment

Find out about the economic inequalities that continue to persist between women and men in the EU.

It has been more than 25 years since the adoption of the UN’s Beijing Declaration, which aims to promote equality between men and women. The same goal lies behind the creation of UN Women - dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women - and the inclusion of gender equality in the Sustainable Development Goals.
s
So where do we stand? Progress has been made, but inequality between men and women persists, including on the labour market. On average, women in the EU are paid less than men.

Gender pay gap in Europe: facts and figures

EP Plenary session - Need to adopt an ambitious international legally binding agreement on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment

EP Plenary session - Voting session

EP Plenary session - Foreign interference and espionage by third country actors in European universities

EP Plenary session - Strengthening children’s rights in the EU - 35th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

EP Plenary session - The arrest of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal and the call for his immediate and unconditional release, and the repression of freedom of speech in Algeria

EP Plenary session - Recommendation on smoke and aerosol-free environments

EP Plenary session - Promoting a favourable framework for venture capital financing and safe foreign direct investments in the EU

EP Plenary session - Debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law

This infoclip shows images of Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, highlighting several historic landmarks, including the National Electoral Council (CNE), the Federal Legislative Palace, the National Assembly, and the Caracas City Council. The footage also captures street views of Avenue México and Avenue Bolívar, with scenes of citizens walking, newspaper stands, and the neighborhood of Petare. The European Parliament awards María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s democratic forces, and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia the 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Infoclip: Caracas (Venezuela) - Sakharov Prize 2024 laureate

This infoclip shows images of María Corina Machado, leader of Venezuela's democratic forces, and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia during the election campaign in Venezuela. It also highlights scenes of protests against police violence, with demonstrators holding candles and posters in honor of the victims. The European Parliament awards the 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, with its EUR 50 000 endowment, at a formal plenary sitting in Strasbourg in December.

Infoclip: María Corina MACHADO, leader of the democratic forces in Venezuela, Edmundo GONZALEZ URRUTIA, Venezuelan President-elect and the Venezuelan opposition movement Sakharov Prize 2024 laureate

Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament shares her thoughts about Parliament’s commitment to gender equality

Parliament’s President on gender equality

After carefully reviewing candidates, your representatives in the European Parliament have approved the next EU Commission, the bloc’s executive body.
Ursula von der Leyen put forward her new team after being re-elected as Commission President in July. Members of Parliament gave it the green light following a debate in Strasbourg on 27 November.
Earlier in November, MEPs questioned the prospective Commissioners at special confirmation hearings to assess their skills and track records.
The Commission works on proposing policies and laws central to the lives of 450 million Europeans. Parliament will now keep a close eye on its members, to make sure they deliver on voters’ needs and expectations.

How the European Parliament approved the new EU Commission 16:9

How the European Parliament approved the new EU Commission 9:16

MEPs vote on the following motions for resolutions: the cases of Jimmy Lai and the 45 activists recently convicted under the national security law in Hong Kong, The increasing and systematic repression of women in Iran, The shrinking space for civil society in Cambodia, in particular the case of the labour rights organisation CENTRAL, Georgia's worsening democratic crisis following the recent parliamentary elections and alleged electoral fraud (Debate: 13/11/2024), Reinforcing EU’s unwavering support to Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression and the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, and on new recommendation on smoke and aerosol-free environments.

Voting session

MEPs outline proposals to improve the protection of EU citizens against exposure to second-hand smoke and aerosols, including from electronic cigarettes. In Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the Commission has previously announced its intention to update the current Council Recommendation on smoke-free environments, which dates back to 20019. A revision was needed to extend its scope to certain emerging products, such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco, due to the rapid market growth and appeal of such products in recent years, especially among young people. The Commission recommends EU countries reduce the risk of second-hand exposure by banning the use of all tobacco products in certain outdoor spaces, such as public playgrounds and amusement parks, areas related to restaurants/cafés, public transportation, healthcare and education establishments, as well as workplaces.

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