European Parliament - EPRS Policy podcasts

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Youth empowerment Apr 05, 2019

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The European Union is engaged in helping Member States address young people's needs and aspirations through a youth strategy. The strategy is backed by a number of funding programmes, most notably the Youth Employment Initiative, Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps and it is best known for the mobility opportunities it has created. Future challenges include reaching a wider spectrum of young people, especially those from disadvantaged and hard-to-reach groups, making the results of the consultative process, known as structured dialogue, more tangible, and improving synergies between policy areas for greater effectiveness.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635544
Source: © European Union - EP

Future financing of EU policies Mar 22, 2019

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EU public finance, including the EU budget and other financial mechanisms, supports policies that are designed to yield European public goods, with benefits that go beyond the national borders of individual EU countries. During the 2014-2019 parliamentary term, EU lawmakers have updated the financial rules governing the use of EU funds, created a European Public Prosecutor's Office to help address the roughly 0.35 % of the EU budget at risk of fraud, carried out a mid-term revision of the multiannual financial framework (MFF), developed proposals for new sources of revenue in time for negotiations on the post-2020 MFF, and introduced new policies in the field of financial engineering.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635545
Source: © European Union - EP

The migration issue Mar 22, 2019

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The unprecedented arrival of refugees and irregular migrants in the EU, which peaked in 2015, exposed a series of deficiencies and gaps in EU policies on asylum, external borders and migration. In response to these challenges, the EU has embarked on a broader process of reform aimed at rebuilding its asylum and migration policies. In order to deliver what the Commission calls an effective, fair and robust future EU migration policy, the EU, based on the Treaties and other legal and financial instruments, has been implementing both immediate and longer-term measures.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635542
Source: © European Union - EP

Security and defence Mar 22, 2019

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Security and defence policy in the European Union is predominantly a competence of the Member States. At the same time, a common security and defence policy, which could progressively lead to a European defence union, is enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty and significant progress has been made in that direction. This briefing discusses the EU's deliveries in the area of security and defence policy and analyses public expectations and perceptions of the EU's actions in this policy field.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635533
Source: © European Union - EP

Agriculture Mar 22, 2019

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Repeated Eurobarometer surveys have provided evidence on how important agriculture and rural areas are to EU citizens. They have recorded high levels of awareness of the common agricultural policy and a recognition of the role it plays in the provision of high quality healthy food.
Significant legislative achievements have been made during the European Parliament's eighth term in respect of animal health (including an animal medicines package), plant health, official controls, organic production and labelling. In exercising Parliament's scrutiny role, its Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development has addressed a wide range of policy topics which have a bearing not only on how the CAP is currently delivered but also on future policy considerations for the post 2020 period. The latter has been a subject of intense debate. In support of the Committee's work, Parliament's Policy Department has commissioned and published forty studies in relation to agriculture and rural development policies. Looking to the future, the remainder of this term is likely to see the adoption of legislation concerning unfair trading practices in the food supply chain.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635524
Source: © European Union - EP

Fisheries Mar 08, 2019

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This briefing provides an overview of the key elements of the EU fisheries policy and outlines its main deliveries during the 2014-2019 parliamentary term.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)633150
Source: © European Union - EP

The fight against tax fraud Mar 08, 2019

Show notes

Fight against tax fraud is under the glare of the spotlight. It appears regularly in the headlines showing the shadowy practices of certain taxpayers. Yet this is not the whole picture because work has been done to tackle the issue. Fight against fraud is large and ongoing task, that public expects the EU to continue addressing. The European Union has done substantial work over the last five year, in spite of the limitation of the powers that it has. Fighting tax fraud was one EU action priority as from 2014 and many measures were taken to reboot the tax policy. Some of them still need time to be implemented but a lot has been done. This is the basis for building adapted and updated remedies to tax fraud.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)633153
Source: © European Union - EP

Digital transformation Mar 08, 2019

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The 2014-2019 parliamentary term has seen a number of initiatives in the areas of digitalisation of industry and public services, investment in digital infrastructure and services, research programmes, cybersecurity, e-commerce, copyright and data protection legislation. The European Union will increase its support for digital transformation in the coming years, as illustrated by the recent proposal for the Digital Europe programme (for 2021-2027) – which would be the first ever funding programme dedicated solely to supporting digital transformation in the EU. Further EU action will doubtless be needed, notably to increase infrastructure investment, boost innovation, foster digital champions and businesses digitalisation, reduce existing digital divides, remove remaining barriers in the digital single market and ensure an adequate legal and regulatory framework in the areas of advanced computing and data, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)633171
Source: © European Union - EP

International trade and globalisation Mar 08, 2019

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What has the EU delivered in the area of international trade and globalisation during the Juncker Commission? This briefing takes stock of EU's achievements in this term: free trade agreement negotiations launched and concluded, developments in investment protection and screening, and key legislative files adopted.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)633176
Source: © European Union - EP

Protecting European consumers Feb 08, 2019

Show notes

One in five consumers in the EU say that they had a reason to complain in the last 12 months, a number which has remained largely unchanged since 2008. Since 2014, efforts have been made in a number of areas, including stronger cross-border cooperation between national authorities in charge of consumer protection and market surveillance. Notably, in April 2018, the Commission proposed a ‘new deal for consumers' to enable representative legal actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers and to modernise the EU consumer protection rules. Sector-specific efforts included eliminating roaming charges across the EU in 2017, legislation aimed at facilitating consumer participation in the digital single market, reforms on the rules on privacy and data protection, enhancing the rights of energy consumers and passengers and efforts to address the dual quality of branded food products.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)633141
Source: © European Union - EP

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