Mario&nbsp;Draghi, formerly the President of the European Central Bank and Prime Minister of Italy, was tasked by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with presenting ideas on the future of European competitiveness. The report calls the challenge facing policy makers an “existential” one and warns that procrastination will lead to hard choices having to be made. It proposes far-reaching changes to numerous areas such as an “unprecedented” boost to public investment, including through the issuance of new EU common debt, a reform of the EU’s cohesion policy, an overhaul of competition policy, and a new industrial policy with at its core a strategy for reducing Europe’s high energy prices.

European competitiveness

As established in&nbsp;rule 129 of the Rules of Procedure, together with the Commission President-elect, the Council appoints the Commissioners-designate. Each Commissioner-designate is assigned responsibility for a specific policy area (portfolio) by the Commission President-elect in accordance with the political guidelines she/he has outlined. The relevant EP committees assess each of the Commissioners-designate, before a plenary vote on the appointment of the College as a whole.

The Commissioner-designate is invited to a three-hour hearing, streamed live, in front of the EP committees responsible for their portfolio. The candidate makes an opening speech of maximum 15 minutes and will then reply to MEPs’ questions.

Taking into account the results of the hearings, as well as consultations with Parliament’s political groups, the Commission President-elect presents the whole College of Commissioners-designate and their programme at a sitting of Parliament. After a debate, MEPs decide, by a majority of the votes cast, whether to invest the new College of Commissioners for a mandate of five years. It may defer the vote until the following sitting.

Confirmation hearings

Ever since Russia launched an illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24&nbsp;February 2022, the EU and the Parliament have supported the country by condemning Russia’s aggression, sanctioning those responsible and providing financial and material aid. Parliament has also been supportive of Ukraine’s efforts to become an EU candidate country and has been calling on EU countries to launch accession talks.&nbsp;

The European Parliament President Roberta Metsola was in Kyiv on 1 April 2022 to express the European Union´s support to the Ukrainian people and to condemn the unjustified Russian attack.&nbsp; On 9 February 2023, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the European Parliament during an extraordinary plenary session in Brussels.

In Joint Statement&nbsp;the Presidents of the European Union Institutions on the occasion of the 2 year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine&nbsp; declared: "The European Union will continue its strong and unwavering political, military, financial, economic, diplomatic and humanitarian support to help Ukraine defend itself, protect its people, its cities and its critical infrastructure, restore its territorial integrity, bring back the thousands of deported children, and bring the war to an end. The European Union has decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and will help it on its path towards EU membership. The future of Ukraine lies in the European Union. The European Union will continue to provide Ukraine with regular and predictable financial support. The 50 billion euro financial assistance package for 2024-2027 will help Ukraine meet its immediate needs, rebuild its economy and society, modernise its institutions and consolidate democracy and the rule of law."

The&nbsp; new EP reconfirmed in July 2024&nbsp; its view that the EU must continue to support Kyiv for as long as it takes until victory. The resolution, which sets out the newly-elected European Parliament’s first official position on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, restates the continued support of MEPs for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. It calls on the EU to maintain and extend its sanctions policy against Russia and Belarus, monitor and review its effectiveness and impact, and systematically tackle the issue of sanctions circumvention by EU-based companies, third parties, and third countries.

Solidarity with Ukraine

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

With 401 votes in favour, the European Parliament elected Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission in a secret ballot on 18 July.

This will be Ursula von der Leyen’s second term as Commission President. She was first elected by MEPs in July 2019.

Parliament is currently composed of 719 MEPs, so the necessary majority was 360 votes. The vote was held by secret paper ballot. 401 MEPs voted in favour, 284 against, and 22 cast blank or invalid votes.

Ursula von der Leyen outlined her priorities ahead of the vote.&nbsp;Ursula von der Leyen put forward her vision for a stronger and more prosperous Europe. Key initiatives include a new Clean Industrial Deal to drive decarbonisation and industrial growth, and a European Competitiveness Fund to boost innovation.

She announced that she would boost security by doubling Europol’s staff and tripling the number of European Border and Coast Guards to 30 000. She proposed a European Democracy Shield for countering foreign information manipulation and interference, and a European Affordable Housing Plan.

Ms von der Leyen also suggested a plan for agriculture to address the need to adapt to climate change and a Roadmap for Women’s Rights. Saying that “we must enable young people to make the most of Europe’s freedoms”, she highlighted the importance of the Erasmus+ programme, mental health, and tackling issues related to screen time and social media, including addictive practices. She put significant focus on defence, proposing to create a new post of Commissioner for Defence to drive the European Defence Union and calling for a comprehensive aerial defence system – a European Air Shield – to protect EU airspace and “as a strong symbol of European unity in defence matters”.

Election of the 2024-2029 European Commission President

Have a look at stockshots (from 2021 onwards) 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.

Stockshots are clean (raw), with natural sound (no voice-over), pre-edited videos

9th parliamentary term

Infoclips (T)

Infoclips - Illustrative footage

The constitutive meetings of the European Parliament's standing committees and subcommittees take place in Brussels on 10 July 2019, following the appointment of their members in the plenary sitting of 3-4 July. During the meetings, each committee and subcommittee will elect its respective bureau, made up of a Chair and Vice-Chairs, for a two-and-a-half year mandate. The newly set up committees will then start holding their regular meetings during the week of 22 July.

JURI - Committee on Legal Affairs

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

Hungary holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from the 1st of July to 31st of December 2024.&nbsp;Priorities of the Hungarian&nbsp;presidency include: new European Competitiveness Deal ,The reinforcement of European defence policy ,&nbsp;&nbsp;a&nbsp;consistent and merit-based enlargement policy ,&nbsp;stemming illegal migration, shaping the future of cohesion policy, a&nbsp;farmer-oriented EU agricultural policy, addressing demographic challenges.

&nbsp;Make Europe Great Again”&nbsp;will be the motto of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which refers to both an active and proactive Presidency and to the fact that member states are stronger together than apart. It also symbolises the perception that Europe can become an independent global player.

The Rubik’s cube, the main element of the Hungarian presidency logo, refers to Hungarian ingenuity and problem-solving skills, as well as the complexity of European affairs.

Hungarian Presidency

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.

Méid is mó

European competitiveness

Confirmation hearings

Solidarity with Ukraine

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament 2024-2027

Election of the 2024-2029 European Commission President

Infoclips - Illustrative footage

Nuachtáin is déanaí

JURI - Committee on Legal Affairs

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament 2022-2024

Hungarian Presidency

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament 2024-2027

Confirmation hearings

EU - Hungary

Cuardaigh ábhair