At a glance: the latest Eurobarometer survey shows growing support for the EU’s common agricultural policy; a public hearing explores how tax policies affect gender equality; the new Commissioner for Enlargement is set to address MEPs.

Blúiríní Nuachta – 13/01/2025 - Gaeilge

At a glance: NATO chief Mark Rutte meets Parliament committees to discuss NATO-EU cooperation, Ukraine and global security threats; Parliament President Metsola in Egypt for regional dialogue; EU aims for climate neutrality by 2050.

Blúiríní Nuachta – 10/01/2025 - Gaeilge

At a glance: Poland takes over EU Council Presidency; Germany’s Chemnitz and Slovenia’s Nova Gorica celebrate European cultural heritage and diversity as Capitals of Culture; 30 years of EU membership for Austria, Finland and Sweden.

Blúiríní Nuachta – 09/01/2025 - Gaeilge

At a glance: MEPs visit India to boost digital and consumer ties; tax policies and gender equality under scrutiny; and improving the enforcement of EU laws to benefit citizens.

Blúiríní Nuachta – 08/01/2025 - Gaeilge

At a glance: Poland takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union; MEPs visit India to boost digital and consumer ties; Parliament calls for leadership on women’s rights.

Blúiríní Nuachta – 07/01/2025 - Gaeilge

At a glance: President Metsola at the EU-Western Balkans summit: ‘It is time to grow’; Parliament sets up new committees on defence, health, democracy and housing; on 1 January, Poland will take over the EU Council presidency from Hungary.

Blúiríní Nuachta – 20/12/2024 - Gaeilge

At a glance: Georgian President Salomé Zourabichvili warns MEPs of high stakes for EU if Georgia falls under Russian influence; Parliament approves faster disaster recovery funding; MEPs elect Teresa Anjinho from Portugal as European Ombudsman.

Blúiríní Nuachta – 19/12/2024 - Gaeilge

At a glance: Romania and Bulgaria will officially join the Schengen free-movement area on 1 January 2025; the geopolitical implications of the toppling of the Assad regime in Syria; the European Parliament awarded the 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia from Venezuela.

Blúiríní Nuachta – 18/12/2024 - Gaeilge

Hungary officially joined the EU on 1 March 2004 and the Schengen Area in December 2007.

The Hungarian EU accession negotiations started on 31 March 1998. Hungary had successfully concluded negotiations on its accession at the Copenhagen European Council in December 2002. Hungary has 22 MEPs, 12 votes in the Council and has chaired the Council of the European Union from January to June 2011.

EU - Hungary

Austria has been an EU Member since 1st January 1995. Austria is a federal parliamentary republic with a head of government - the chancellor - and a head of state - the president.

Austria ihas also been a member of the Euro area since 1 January 1999 and a member of Schengen since December 1997.

There are 19 members of the European Parliament from Austria. The country held the EU Presidency in 1998, 2006 and 2018.

Austria consists of 9 states (Bundesländer). Both regional and federal governments exercise executive power. The federal Parliament consists of 2 chambers: the Lower House (Nationalrat) - directly elected - and the Upper House (Bundesrat) - elected by regional parliaments.

EU - Austria

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 EP’s Press Service holds a press briefing with the Parliament’s political group spokespersons at 11.00 on Friday

Pre-session briefing

EP President Roberta Metsola, meets the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Mustafa

EP President meets with Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Mustafa

The Committee on International Trade meets with Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič to discuss the trade aspects of the EU-Mercosur deal on which a political agreement was reached on 6 December 2024.

INTA- Debate with Maros SEFCOVIC, Commissioner for EU-Mercorsur Agreement

MEPs in the Foreign Affairs Committee meet Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos. The discussion is expected to focus on the state of play and the progress made by the ten enlargement countries.

AFET debate with Marta KOS, Commissioner  for Enlargement

Roberta METSOLA, EP President, meets with Alexander SCHALLENBERG, Austrian Chancellor

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

Euroscola

Official visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President, to Cairo (Egypt) - Meeting with Badr Ahmed Mohamed ABDELATTY, Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs

Official visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President, to Cairo (Egypt) - Meeting with Abdel Fattah AL-SISSI, President of Egypt

Official visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President, to Cairo (Egypt) - Meeting with Abdel-Wahab ABDEL-RAZEG, President of the Senate

Official visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President, to Cairo (Egypt) - Meeting with Hanafy EL GEBALY, Speaker of the House of Representatives

European, German, French and Croatian flags at half-mast in Brussels and in Strasbourg, as a sign of European solidarity and out of respect for the victims of the Christmas market attack in Magdeburg, Germany, the Chido Cyclone in Mayotte, France and the knife attack at an elementary school in Zagreb, Croatia

Visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President to Victoria Gozo ( Malta ) - Meeting with the Gozo Business Chamber

EP Plenary session - Commission’s plans to include the revision of the outstanding proposals on animal welfare in its work plan for 2025

EP Plenary session - Voting session

Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, meets with Alexander SCHALLENBERG, Austrian Federal Chancellor, in Brussels. This news item shows extracts from the arrival, meeting and roundtable at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Roberta METSOLA, EP President, meets with Alexander SCHALLENBERG, Austrian Federal Chancellor: arrival, meeting and roundtable

D’fhéadfadh go mbeadh sé ina ábhar shuaimhnis dúinn faisnéis a fháil a dhearbhaíonn na creidimh atá againn cheana féin. Ach, seans gurb í ár laige í. 
  
D’fhéadfadh lucht leata bréagaisnéise ábhar a úsáid a luíonn leis na creidimh agus na luachanna atá againn cheana féin chun tionchar a imirt orainn. 
  
Cabhróidh an físeán seo leat an cleas ionramhála seo a úsáidtear go forleathan a shainaithint agus tú féin a chosaint ina aghaidh.

Conas a oibríonn bréagaisnéis | Eipeasóid 4: Creidimh atá ann cheana a dhearbhú

Conas a oibríonn bréagaisnéis | Eipeasóid 4: Creidimh atá ann cheana a dhearbhú 9:16

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola travels to Egypt on 8-9 January 2025, the visit takes place against the background of strengthening relations between the European Union and Egypt, ongoing discussions on EU macro-financial assistance and the geopolitical situation in the Middle East and the neighbouring region. This video shows the meeting between Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament and Abdel Fattah AL-SISSI, President of Egypt

Official visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President to Cairo (Egypt): meeting with Abdel Fattah AL-SISSI, President of Egypt

EP President Roberta METSOLA meets with Badr Abdelatty, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt.

Official visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President to Cairo (Egypt): Badr Ahmed Mohamed ABDELATTY, Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola meets with the President of the Senate, Mr Abdel-Whab Abdel-Razeq in Cairo. The visit takes place against the background of strengthening relations between the European Union and Egypt, ongoing discussions on EU macro-financial assistance and the geopolitical situation in the Middle East and the neighbouring region.

Official visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President to Cairo (Egypt): meeting with Abdel-Wahab ABDEL-RAZEG, President of the Senate

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, travels to Egypt and meets with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hanafy El Gebaly. The meeting provides an opportunity to discuss interparliamentary relations, including the organisation of the next EU-Egypt Inter-Parliamentary Meeting (IPM) in Cairo, the EU'smacro-financial assistance to Egypt, currently under discussion in the European Parliament, migration flows and asylum.

Official visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President to Cairo (Egypt): meeting with Hanafy EL GEBALY, Speaker of the House of Representatives

This infoclip shows skyline views of Cairo and people in the streets. The shooting took place on the 08/01/2025.

Infoclip: General views of Cairo (Egypt)

2024 was a year of elections and change, a year where we found hope in the darkness of war, a year of standing together and finding ways forward. Watch President Roberta Metsola’s New Year’s address: "Europe will continue to be a light in the world and we will continue to work to make people’s lives a little bit easier, safer and more prosperous."

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