European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and political group leaders will visit Nicosia on 1-2 December ahead of the upcoming Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the European Union. EP leaders will meet with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr Nikos Christodoulides, and with members of the Council of Ministers at the Presidential Palace.

They will also hold discussions with the President of the House of Representatives, Ms Annita Demetriou, and with the leaders/representatives of the political parties in parliament.

On 1 January 2026, Cyprus assumes the Presidency of the Council of the EU, taking on a central role in shaping the direction of the Union. In preparation for this task, Nicosia will welcome the European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents – President Roberta Metsola and political group leaders – to discuss priorities for the six-month Presidency with government officials and members of the House of Representatives.

Cypriot Presidency

Parliament will debate on Tuesday 25 November, and vote on Wednesday, a report calling for accelerating the enforcement of the EU&nbsp;Digital Services Act&nbsp;and the&nbsp;AI Act, while closing legal gaps to ensure online services are safe for minors to use. Sounding the alarm over the mental health risks and rising social media addiction among children and adolescents, MEPs want to ban the most harmful addictive practices for minors and for the EU to take action against persuasive technologies and practices such as targeted ads, influencer marketing, addictive design, loot boxes and dark patterns. The text proposes a common EU-wide minimum age threshold of 16 years for accessing social media platforms and the development of privacy preserving age assurance systems.

The rights of the child are part of human rights: rights that the EU and its Member States must respect, protect and fulfil. The Treaty on European Union establishes the objective for the EU to promote protection of the rights of the child. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU guarantees the protection of the rights of the child by the EU institutions and by EU countries when they implement EU law. Over the years the European Parliament has been instrumental in pushing children's rights to the core of European policies, particularly through its Intergroup on Children's Rights.

fight against child sex crimes (T)

rights of the child (T)

children's rights (T)

international child abduction (T)

Children’s rights

The EP President Roberta Metsola was&nbsp;in Ukraine in September&nbsp;to express Europe´s continued&nbsp;support to the country. In her meetings with Ukraininan representatives she&nbsp;expressed support to permanent, just and real peace, strenghtened parliamentary cooperation, continued efforts to weaken Russia&nbsp;through coordinated and strong sanctions and the need to advance on Ukraine´s membership bid.

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.

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.



Using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction is the subject of a debate with Commission and Council representatives. MEPs, the Commission, and the Danish Council Presidency discuss ending all energy imports from Russia and closing loopholes that enable imports via non-EU countries.

Solidarity with Ukraine

The EU is debating its own protection against the&nbsp;incursions into European airspace,&nbsp;following the&nbsp;incidents in which Russian drones and aircraft violated&nbsp;European countries&nbsp;airspace in recent months. It also comes after drones of unidentified origin caused disturbances at and around civilian airports and military bases in Denmark – events that the Danish authorities have referred to as “concerted hybrid attacks”.

​​​At a critical time for Ukraine and European security, the EU is committed to becoming more responsible for its own defence and better equipped to act and deal autonomously with immediate and future challenges and threats, including Russia’s war and its repercussions on European security, which constitute an existential challenge for the EU.

The common security and defence policy (CSDP) is an integral part of the EU’s common foreign and security policy (CFSP). The CSDP is the main policy framework through which Member States can develop a European strategic culture of security and defence, address conflicts and crises together, protect the Union and its citizens, and strengthen international peace and security. As a result of the tense geopolitical context, the CSDP has been one of the fastest developing policies over the last 10 years.

European security and defence

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

Since October 2020, the EU has&nbsp;progressively imposed restrictive measures&nbsp;against Belarus in response to the fraudulent nature&nbsp; presidential elections in&nbsp;2020, and the&nbsp;intimidation and violent repression&nbsp;of peaceful protesters, opposition members and journalists.&nbsp;

The democratic opposition, including the opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was awarded the&nbsp;2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

The Belarusian regime has became an ally&nbsp;with Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine. This includes the so-called referendum reinstating the country’s nuclear status, but also that Belarus has allowed Russian troops and weapons to move through its territory, use its airspace, refuel and store military ammunition.

Therefore, the EU has extended the sanctios package against Russia to Belarus. The EP has recently called that "all EU sanctions issued against Russia must be strictly mirrored for Belarus and implemented appropriately".

EU - Belarus

The policies of the EU on climate and energy are described, as well as the challenges that must be faced in order to achieve the Paris Agreement target of keeping the increase in global temperature well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to achieve 1.5°C.

The EU faces major challenges from the increased threats of climate change, with serious consequences in the energy sector, where urgent issues are arising concerning the national production mix of each Member State. The renewable energy share needs to be increased, and energy efficiency needs to be improved.

Climate change (2019-2020)

Climate change remains a key challenge. The EU and the European Parliament are working to ensure a more sustainable society and economy through ambitious policies at home and close cooperation with international partners. It is already on track to meet its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2020, and has put forward a plan to further cut emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

By 2050, Europe aims to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent. Alongside reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the EU is also taking action to adapt to the impacts of climate change. By 2050, Europe aims to be a climate-resilient society. Climate action is at the heart of the European Green Deal – an ambitious package of measures ranging from drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions, to investing in cutting-edge research and innovation, to preserving Europe’s natural environment.

Climate change

The 30th UN climate conference took place from 10 to 21 November 2025 in Belém, Brazil. A Parliament delegation led by Chair Lídia Pereira (EPP, PT) and Vice-Chair Mohammed Chahim (S&amp;D, NL)&nbsp;attended COP30 from 17 to 21 November.

MEPs&nbsp;stressed that all sectors must play a part in reducing emissions and achieving climate neutrality, and pushed for all countries to contribute their fair share towards providing adequate climate finance. MEPs also advocated in favour of ending fossil fuel dependence, phasing out related subsidies and accelerating the energy transition.

COP30 focused on the efforts needed to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C, the presentation of new national action plans (through “nationally determined contributions” or NDCs) and the progress on the finance pledges made at COP29.

COP 30

Finland joined the EU on 1st January 1995. 

Finland is one of the most sparsely-populated countries in the EU and is bordered by Sweden to the west, Norway to the north and Russia to the east. Finland has 13 seats in the European Parliament.

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