The Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) have two main goals: to create a safer digital space in which the fundamental rights of all users of digital services are protected and to establish a level playing field to foster innovation, growth, and competitiveness, both in the European Single Market and globally.

The&nbsp;Digital Services Act (DSA)&nbsp;aims to create a safer digital space in which users rights are protected, including rules to tackle illegal content online, enhance the accountability and transparency of algorithms, and dealing with content moderation and targeted advertising.

Digital Markets Act&nbsp; (DMA) sets rules on what big online platforms will be allowed to do and not do in the EU. It&nbsp;blacklists certain practices of large platforms acting as “gatekeepers” and enables the Commission to carry out market investigations and sanction non-compliant behaviour.

Digital Services and Digital Markets Act

Faced with a growing international terrorist threat, the European Union (EU) is playing an ever more ambitious role in counter-terrorism.&nbsp;Even though primary responsibility for combating crime and ensuring security lies with the Member States, the EU provides cooperation, coordination and (to some extent) harmonisation tools, as well as financial support, to address this borderless phenomenon.

EU spending in the area of counter-terrorism has increased over the years and is set to grow in the future, to allow for better cooperation between national law enforcement authorities and enhanced support by the EU bodies in charge of security, such as Europol and eu-LISA.

The action plan to reinforce the fight against the financing of terrorism focuses on two main strands of action: tracing terrorists through financial movements and preventing them from moving funds or other assets and disrupting the sources of revenue used by terrorist organisations, by targeting their capacity to raise funds.

In April the European Parliament adopted a new regulation that will target content such as texts, images, sound recordings or videos, including live transmissions, that incite, solicit or contribute to terrorist offences, provide instructions for such offences or solicit people to participate in a terrorist group. It will also cover material that provides guidance on how to make and use explosives, firearms and other weapons for terrorist purposes.

Hosting service providers will have to remove or disable access to flagged terrorist content in all member states within one hour of receiving a removal order from the competent authority. Member states will adopt rules on penalties, the degree of which will take into account the nature of the breach and the size of company responsible.

Fight against terrorism

The Banking Union (BU) was created as a response to the financial crisis and is an essential complement to the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the internal market, which aligns responsibility for supervision, resolution and funding at EU level and forces banks across the euro area to abide by the same rules. In particular, these rules ensure that banks take measured risks and that failing banks can be resolved in an orderly manner, with as little impact as possible on the real economy and public finances of the participating EU countries.

The Banking Union&nbsp;currently has two elements, the&nbsp;Single Supervisory Mechanism&nbsp;(SSM) and the&nbsp;Single Resolution Mechanism&nbsp;(SRM). The SSM supervises the largest and most important banks in the euro area directly at European level, while the purpose of the SRM is to resolve failing banks in an orderly manner with minimal costs for taxpayers and for the real economy.

The EP is currently following the recent developments on the EU and US markets with&nbsp;the failure of the Silicon Valley Bank and the implications for financial stability in Europe or the UBS’s rescue of the Bank Credit Suisse in Switzerland.

Banking sector

Since the beginning of the pandemic COVID-19, the EU has developed a wide range of health policy responses, exemplified by the common approach to vaccines through the EU Vaccines Strategy and initiatives across a range of other policies.

A common approach to assessing infection rates in different regions made testing and quarantining much more consistent. EU Digital COVID Certificates were agreed on and implemented in record time, paving the way for the safe resumption of tourism and travel during summer, and beyond.

At the same time, the EU took decisive action to tackle the economic fallout of the pandemic with funds and special economic aid for&nbsp;Member states, entreprises and citizens.

The EU Health Union is underway with&nbsp;reinforcing the mandates of the European Medicines Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, addressing cross-border threats to health and creating a future-proof EU pharmaceutical policy. MEPs obtained better support for the EU4Health programme in the 2022 EU budget, with an additional €51 million to build up a strong Health Union and to make national health systems more resilient.

Effective coordination of national measures as well as solidarity among member states together with the importance of&nbsp;making national health systems more sustainable and resilient are the main challenges of the EU, learned from&nbsp;the&nbsp;COVID-19 pandemic.

EU's response to COVID-19

Refugee movements and migration are at the centre of global attention.&nbsp;

The European Parliament is actively involved, in the adoption of new laws on irregular and regular immigration. It is a full co-legislator together with the Council representing member states on these matters since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009.

The European Commission proposed the New Pact on Migration and Asylum in September 2020 to improve asylum procedures and ensure solidarity and fair responsibility sharing among member states when dealing with the arrival of migrants and asylum seekers. The Pact comprises the following legislative proposals: Regulation for Asylum and Migration Management, Regulation for Crisis and Force majeure, Screening Regulation, Qualification Regulation , Reception Conditions Directive (recast), Amended Asylum Procedures regulation, Return Directive (recast), Amended EURODAC Regulation and Union Resettlement Framework Regulation.&nbsp;

The EP calls to advance in the reform of EU migration and asylum common policy before the 2024 EU elections.&nbsp;

Migration

The President of the European Central Bank (ECB) takes part four times a year in a monetary dialogue with Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) to report on monetary policy and answer question from MEPs.&nbsp;Although guaranteed independence under the Treaty, the ECB is accountable for its actions towards the European Parliament, and more precisely the ECON Committee.

The European Central Bank is the central institution of the Economic and Monetary Union and has been responsible for conducting monetary policy for the euro area since 1 January 1999 The ECB and the national central banks of all EU Member States constitute the European System of Central Banks.

Monetary dialogue

Every five years EU citizens choose who represents them in the European Parliament, the directly-elected institution that defends their interests in the EU decision-making process. The next European elections will take place in 2019.

 
From 23 to 26 May 2019, people in the EU vote for the next European Parliament. By voting in the European elections, people living in the EU get to choose the 705 members that will represent them in the European Parliament until 2024.

European elections 2019

EU leaders meet&nbsp;for a European Council summit on 23-24 March 2023. The main items on the agenda are the ongoing war in Ukraine, the competitive of the European single market and the economy, as well as energy prices and logistics.

In a debate with Presidents Michel and von der Leyen, MEPs&nbsp;outlined their expectations for the 23-24 March European Council.

President of the European Council Charles Michel acknowledged Ukraine’s urgent need for more weapons and ammunition and confirmed that EU leaders will work on a proposal by High Representative Borrell to offer Kyiv assistance.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reported back from her meeting with US President Joe Biden, saying there is “a striking symmetry between the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the European Green Deal,” since both aim to fight climate change and boost investment and growth.

European Council, 23-24 March 2023

Have a look at the 2021 and 2022&nbsp;stockshots with illustrative pre-edited broadcast quality video footage. These editable stockshots are clean (raw), with natural sound (no voice-over), produced to illustrate priority EU dossiers and parliamentary work. They are intended to help audiovisual media produce their own programs, for example, editing of news reports or documentaries.

Infoclips - Illustrative footage

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.

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

Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to Europe and the world. Therefore, on 11 December 2019 the Commission presented a communication on a European Green Deal that sets out a detailed vision to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, safeguard biodiversity, establish a circular economy and eliminate pollution, while boosting the competitiveness of European industry and ensuring a just transition for the regions and workers affected.

Parliament has played an important role in pushing for more ambitious EU climate legislation and declared a climate emergency on 28 November 2019.&nbsp;

The European Climate Law writes&nbsp;into law the goal to become climate neutral by 2050 and attain the intermediate target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels).&nbsp;After 2050 the EU will aim for negative emissions.

On 14 July 2021 the European Commission presented its “Fit for 55 in 2030” package-the legislative tool to deliver on the targets agreed in the European Climate law.&nbsp;

On March 2023, Parliament adopted draft measures to the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The proposals&nbsp;&nbsp;aim to substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption in the EU building sector by 2030, and make it climate neutral by 2050. They also aim to increase the rate of renovations of energy-inefficient buildings and improve information-sharing on energy performance.

European Green Deal

On 24 February 2022,&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;began a&nbsp;military invasion&nbsp;of Ukraine, in a major escalation of the conflict that had begun in 2014. Shortly before, on 21 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent.&nbsp;

Since then, the EU and its international allies have rallied firmly behind the Kyiv government. This support has resulted in unprecedented levels of financial aid, assistance, weapons deliveries to Ukraine, sweeping sanctions against Moscow, and the granting of EU candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.

On 1&nbsp;March&nbsp;the European Parliament held an extraordinary plenary session in Brussels to assess Russia’s military assault on Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky&nbsp;and the Speaker of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) Ruslan Stefanchuk spoke live from Kiev.&nbsp;The European Parliament President Roberta Metsola was in Kyiv on 1 April&nbsp;to express the European Union´s support of&nbsp;the Ukrainian people and to condemn the Russian attack. On&nbsp;8 June&nbsp;Stefanchuk adressed Parliament in the Strasbourg hemicycle.

Following the atrocities carried out by Vladimir Putin’s regime against Ukrainian civilians, the European Parliament has&nbsp;recognised Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism in a resolution on November 2022.

On 9th February 2023, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy&nbsp;addressed the European Parliament during an extraordinary plenary session in Brussels.

Russian aggression against Ukraine

Kofi ANNAN was a former UN Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize winner. In 2003, the United Nations staff and Secretary General Kofi Annan were honoured with the Sakharov Prize.

Kofi Annan

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the EC, comes to Parliament on 13 September to review the year and announce new initiatives in a debate with MEPs.

The State of the European Union debate - SOTEU - is an annual event that kicks off the new political season after the summer break. Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, addresses Parliament to give an account of what the Commission has done in the past 12 months and also announce its plans for the coming year. The speech and the discussion with MEPs that follows provide an opportunity to reflect on the challenges facing Europe, including Brexit negotiations, security concerns and prospects for a closer economic union.

State of the Union 2017

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, comes to Parliament on 14 September to review the year and announce new initiatives in a debate with MEPs.

The State of the European Union - SOTEU - is an annual speech and debate during which MEPs review what the European Commission has done over the past year as well as to assess its objectives for the year to come.

State of the Union 2016

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the EC, delivers his State of the Union Address on 9 September 2015.

It is his first State of the European Union speech since Parliament elected him to the post following the EU elections in May 2014.

State of the Union 2015

A propososal for a regulation adopted by the Commission on 19 December 2017 aims to strenghten controls by nationals market surveillance and customs authorities to ensure that products are safe and comply with the Union rules.

The legislation covers a large proportion of products marketed in the EU in more than 20 industrial sectors, including electro-technical products, machinery, radio/telecoms equipment, toys, medical devices, construction products and high speed rail systems.

The package consists of two regulations and a decision designed to remove barriers to the free movement of goods while improving consumer safety.

Goods package and safer products

José Manuel Barroso, President of the EC, presents his flagship plans to Parliament in his annual State of the Union speech on 12 September.

He outlines how the Commission envisages fighting the economic crisis by boosting growth, reducing unemployment and winning democratic support. A banking union, revamping the single market, and ideas for treaty changes are expected to feature prominently in this strategy.

State of the Union 2012

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, delivers his State of the Union Address to the European Parliament on 28 September.

He sets out the European Commission's strategic priorities in his annual State of the Union address to Parliament, which is followed by a debate in which MEPs set out their thoughts on and requests for the future work of the Union.

State of the Union 2011

José Manuel Barroso, President of the EC, delivers his first State of the Union Address to the European Parliament.

The State of the Union is an annual speech and debate during which the members of Parliament review the European Commission’s achievements over the past year as well as assess its objectives for the year to come.

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