As part of the European Union's budget for the 2028-2034 period, the European Commission presented a short proposal for a regulation establishing the European Fund for Regional Development (ERDF), including territorial cooperation (Interreg) and the Cohesion Fund (CF), and establishing conditions for the implementation of Union support to regional development from 2028 to 2034. However, support for regional and cohesion policy would be integrated into a larger fund (the 'Fund') that also covers areas such as fisheries and agriculture. The 'Fund' is covered by a separate regulation. Consequently, rather than launching separate, fully fledged legislative proposals on the ERDF and CF, as happened in the 2021-2027 programming period, the Commission published a much shorter ERDF/CF sectoral proposal which briefly includes these two funds but also outlines some basic conditions for funding in regional policy. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The creation of the single aviation market in the late 1990s has profoundly transformed the air transport industry in the EU and has greatly contributed to the strong growth in air transport in Europe over the past 20 years. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Transport policy has been one of the EU’s common policies for more than 30 years. Alongside the opening up of transport markets and the creation of the Trans-European Transport Network, the ‘sustainable mobility’ model will take on even greater importance – particularly in view of the constant rise in greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, which threatens to jeopardise the European Union’s efforts to achieve its climate goals. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The EU budget is financed in large part from own resources, and supplemented by other revenue. Annual revenue must completely cover annual expenditure, as a budget deficit is not allowed. The system of own resources is decided by the Council on the basis of unanimity, having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament, and needs to be ratified by each Member State. A reform of the own resources system was proposed by the Commission together with the proposal for the multiannual financial framework 2028-2034. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The EU’s energy efficiency measures aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower energy bills and improve energy security while reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels. The Energy Efficiency Directive requires EU countries to cut their energy use by 11.7% by 2030 compared to 2020 projections. The directive sets annual energy savings targets that increase over time, requires public buildings to reduce energy consumption and undergo renovations, and introduces measures to tackle energy poverty. Separate rules aim to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption in the building sector. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This European implementation assessment of the 2020 Council Recommendation on A Bridge to Jobs – Reinforcing the Youth Guarantee and replacing the Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013 on establishing a Youth Guarantee (the 'reinforced Youth Guarantee' or 'RYG') aims to inform the ongoing work of the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) on an own-initiative implementation report on the RYG (2025/2184(INI)). The assessment is composed of two parts. The first part is an introduction by the European Parliamentary Research Service that provides the essential historical background, including an overview of selected evaluations, Parliament's position and a complementary analysis on young people not in education, employment or training. The second part is an evaluation study undertaken by a team of external experts that aims to provide an updated assessment of the RYG's implementation. It is guided by three core objectives: (i) to assess current trends in implementation at Member State level; (ii) to analyse the impact of the 2020 reinforcement in addressing previously identified challenges; and (iii) to examine the role of EU funding and governance mechanisms. Based on interviews, a survey, desk research, and extended national research in 10 selected Member States, the study provides key findings and policy recommendations to tackle the implementation gaps identified. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

On 16 July 2025, the European Commission published a set of proposals outlining the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for the 2028-2034 programming period. Among them is the proposal for a regulation establishing the European Social Fund, the main EU tool to support social and employment policies. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

On 3 December 2025, the European Commission unveiled a package of five legislative proposals underpinning two possible options for funding Ukraine in 2026 and 2027: a reparations loan, borrowing cash balances from banks and other financial companies holding immobilised Russian Central Bank assets; or joint EU borrowing, guaranteed by the 'headroom' in the EU budget. These proposals form the basis for discussions at the 18-19 December European Council meeting. Without new additional financial support from the EU and other international donors, Ukraine is expected to run out of funds early in 2026. The value of Russian assets immobilised worldwide is estimated at around €300 billion. The European Parliament has repeatedly demanded those assets be used to support Ukraine's defence against Russia's occupation forces. At the same time, Russian assets have become a major point in discussions towards a peace plan, escalating the pressure on the EU to take a decision. Belgium continues to resist use of the immobilised assets and recently received support from other Member States, such as Italy and Bulgaria, on that issue. Hungary has voiced opposition to any further support for Ukraine, blocking the option to use the 'headroom' of the EU budget, which would necessitate a unanimous amendment. If both options proposed by the Commission are blocked, a 'coalition of the willing' could be the option of last resort. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This study examines housing needs across the EU, focusing on inequalities in affordability, accessibility, and quality. It provides a mapping of the current housing needs in the EU across territories, including across Member States, rural and urban areas, outermost regions, and islands and across population groups. The study analyses key factors affecting housing demand and supply challenges, and the impacts of housing scarcity on health, education and employment. It also reviews how EU legislation and funding shape and support national policies in the area of decent, sustainable and affordable housing. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Commission adopted its proposal for a regulation establishing Union support for internal security for 2028 to 2034 on 16 July 2025. Funding for the policy would come from the proposed European fund for economic, social and territorial cohesion, agriculture and rural, fisheries and maritime, prosperity and security. The proposal should therefore fall under the same funding framework as those for a regulation establishing Union support for asylum, migration and integration; and for a regulation establishing Union support for the Schengen area for European integrated border management and the common policy on visas. The regulation aims at strengthening European Union and Member State capabilities to prevent and combat organised and serious crime, enhance the resilience of critical entities against hostile acts and manage security-related incidents, risks and crises. It would also seek to improve and enhance the exchange of information and improve law enforcement cooperation. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The action of the European Union (EU) in the field of budgetary control is based on two principles: on the one hand, ensuring that the EU’s budget is properly spent and, on the other, protecting the Union’s financial interests and combating fraud. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has the power to investigate fraud against the EU budget, corruption and serious misconduct and develops anti-fraud policy. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) investigates, prosecutes and brings to justice crimes against the EU budget. Even if their primary focus is not strictly on protecting the Union’s financial interests, EUROPOL and Eurojust provide additional support. Finally, the anti-fraud landscape was marked by the establishment of a further decentralised EU agency, the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA), in June 2024. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

EU directives and regulations have, over the years, greatly improved safety standards in sea transport. The majority of these improvements were brought about by the three legislative packages adopted in the wake of the Erika and Prestige oil tanker disasters. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Moves towards closer European integration have altered the role of the national parliaments (NPs). A number of instruments for cooperation between the European Parliament and the NPs have been introduced with a view to guaranteeing effective democratic scrutiny of EU legislation at all levels. This trend has been reinforced by provisions introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

EU rail transport policy is geared towards the creation of a single European railway area. Three packages and a recast were adopted in the space of 10 years following the opening-up of the railway sector to competition in 2001. A fourth package, designed to complete the single European railway area, was adopted in 2016. In 2020 the European sustainable and smart mobility strategy launched, emphasising the importance of rail within the EU Green Deal targets. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Over the past decade, the EU has experienced major macroeconomic imbalances and serious divergences in competitiveness. These have both exacerbated the negative effects of the financial crisis that began in 2008 and prevented the effective use of common monetary policy measures to resolve them. In 2011, the EU set up the macroeconomic imbalance procedure to identify and correct such imbalances at national level, particularly those with the potential to spill over and affect other EU countries. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Europe’s digital ecosystem remains heavily dependent on non-EU software and cloud providers. This study maps these dependencies, as well the geopolitical and economic risks they raise. It finds that US firms dominate all major software layers, exposing Europe to strategic vulnerabilities. The report also outlines policy options and areas of action to strengthen Europe’s technological autonomy and resilience. This report was prepared for the Policy Department for Transformation, Innovation and Health at the request of the ITRE Committee. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The last European Council meeting of the year usually has a heavy agenda, and the December 2025 meeting will be no exception. This meeting will clearly be decisive for Ukraine. Amid diplomatic efforts to achieve a 'just and lasting peace', the European Council – as its President, António Costa, stated – 'will deliver' on its commitment and set the framework for financing Ukraine over the next few years. The other central topic is the next multiannual financial framework, with Costa hoping to get EU leaders to commit to a timetable, governance provisions and the Danish 'negotiating box' as a starting point. Other agenda points are enlargement, migration, the Middle East, competitiveness and defence. Other topics - the new US National Security Strategy, Mercosur, the Pact for the Mediterranean, and the fight against intolerance - could be raised by EU leaders during their discussions. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This study examines housing needs across the EU, focusing on inequalities in affordability, accessibility, and quality. It provides a mapping of the current housing needs in the EU across territories, including across Member States, rural and urban areas, outermost regions, and islands and across population groups. The study analyses key factors affecting housing demand and supply challenges, and the impacts of housing scarcity on health, education and employment. It also reviews how EU legislation and funding shape and support national policies in the area of decent, sustainable and affordable housing. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The deployment of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites is rapidly transforming global communications, providing low-latency and high-speed internet from altitudes generally below 2 000 km. However, this vital infrastructure is vulnerable to sophisticated cyber threats such as jamming and hijacking. In response, existing EU frameworks on cybersecurity and physical resilience are being complemented with the proposed EU space act. This new regime is set to reinforce binding cybersecurity and resilience measures – including encryption, secure authentication and comprehensive supply-chain risk management – to strengthen the security of space assets and operations. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The global digital information sphere has become a contested geostrategic and ideological battleground. In this online 'marketplace of ideas', democracy is increasingly under pressure not only from traditional authoritarian governments, but also corporate actors who seek to further their interests. In democratic open information spaces, citizens would ideally be free to express and inform themselves. Authoritarian actors, on the other hand, continue to fine-tune techniques to manipulate public opinion abroad, to undermine democratic societies and processes, all the while tightening control of the information sphere at home to further their own agenda. At the same time, a corporate scramble to lead the development and rollout of new technologies – with artificial intelligence (AI) positioned as a game changer in this quest – is increasingly visible in the geostrategic technology arena. Potential opportunities for tech industrialists, however, come with challenges for citizens and open democracies. Whereas generative AI (Gen AI) tools are already widely used to find, consume and share information, they can also accelerate and transform information manipulation, challenging information integrity in new ways. As pressures on the information space continue to grow, mirrored in public concern, regulators are pushed to act fast. In a changing geostrategic landscape, upholding universal values in the digital realm is particularly pertinent for the EU. Legislation relevant to Gen AI-enabled information manipulation includes the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Services Act (DSA), including the Code of Conduct on Disinformation, the European Media Freedom Act and the Directive on Combating Violence against Women. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Drawing attention to migrants' human rights and highlighting their contribution to society, International Migrants Day is observed every year on 18 December. The day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly on 4 December 2000 in response to growing migration numbers around the world. This updates a 2024 'At a glance' note by Anita Orav. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

In the 10 years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the Parties to the agreement have achieved a lot of progress in response to climate change. A Loss and Damage Fund was established in 2022. Rules for international carbon trading have been established under Article 6 of the agreement. A new goal for climate finance was agreed in 2024. The COP30 climate conference in November 2025 adopted indicators for climate adaptation and agreed to triple adaptation finance. The first global stocktake under the Paris Agreement in 2023 called for accelerating climate action, tripling renewable energy capacity, doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvements and transitioning away from fossil fuels. Building on the global stocktake, Parties submitted their third round of climate pledges in 2025, ahead of COP30. Full implementation of the pledges would lead to a global temperature increase of around 2.4°C, a large improvement compared to the 3.5°C increase projected before the Paris Agreement but still falling short of the agreement's target to keep global warming well below 2°C and ideally 1.5°C. With global carbon emissions still rising, the 1.5°C target will only be achievable after a temporary overshoot. As every fraction of a degree of global warming will result in increasing damages, additional efforts will be needed to keep the overshoot as short and as close to 1.5°C as possible. The current geopolitical situation hinders swift progress on collective climate action. The United States has decided to leave the Paris Agreement, a third of the Paris Agreement Parties failed to update their climate pledge, and a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels was blocked at COP30. The EU, traditionally a leader in international climate policy, struggled to build strong coalitions to drive an ambitious outcome at COP30. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

This briefing reviews the initial implementation of the National Escape Clause (NEC), operationalised for defence purposes in 2025 to help accommodate higher defence spending within the EU fiscal framework. Using the evidence released in the European Semester Autumn package, it assesses how Member States responded to the new instrument, both in terms of activation and actual use of the additional fiscal room. These early developments offer preliminary insights into how such clauses operate in practice, and into their effectiveness in encouraging higher spending in specific policy areas within clearly defined rules and over relatively short implementation periods. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

EU growth continues to build momentum, driven mainly by domestic demand. Fiscal deficits are edging up, and debt remains elevated. Inflation is revolving around the 2 % target, prompting the ECB to keep rates unchanged. Labour markets remain tight, with unemployment stable at record-low levels and employment at historic highs. US tariffs are expected to weigh only modestly on EU growth, affecting exports, with limited and short-lived effects on GDP, prices and the trade balance. Regarding EU funding, the delivery of the national recovery plans is advancing, but more than half of all milestones and targets are still outstanding. Thus, it is crucial for Member States to accelerate implementation in 2026 to secure the full economic impact of investment and reform measures. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The rules for electing the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are set both by EU laws, which apply to all Member States, and national laws, which differ from country to country. The common rules establish the principle of proportional representation, define electoral thresholds and specify activities that are incompatible with serving as an MEP. Other important details, such as the specific voting system and the number of constituencies, are decided by national laws. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

European territorial cooperation (ETC) is one of cohesion policy’s goals and aims to solve problems across borders and to jointly develop the potential of diverse territories. Cooperation actions are supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through three key components: cross-border cooperation, transnational cooperation and interregional cooperation. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

European Union employment strategy, dating back to 1997, has established common objectives for employment policy and contributed to ‘soft coordination’ among the Member States. Creating more and better jobs was one of the main goals of the Europe 2020 strategy. In the March 2021 European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the Commission proposed new and more ambitious targets in employment policy as well as concrete actions for a fair, equitable and well-functioning labour market. EU law is relevant in certain areas, even if the responsibility for employment policy lies primarily with national governments. Employment policy is monitored and assessed in the European Semester. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Improving health and safety at work has been an important concern for the EU since the 1980s. Legislation at European level sets minimum standards for the protection of workers, while allowing Member States to maintain or introduce more stringent measures. Health and safety at work is a key component of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The Cohesion Fund was set up in 1994 and provides funding for environmental and trans-European network projects in the Member States whose gross national income per capita is less than 90% of the EU average. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

On 17 July 2025, the Commission released its proposal for the MFF for the 2028-2034 period.The European Parliament’s Committee for Environment, Climate and Food Safety (ENVI Committee) has requested this briefing to analyse how the proposed 2028-2034 MFF would provide funding for climate and environment objectives. The proposed MFF introduce a horizontal 35% spending target for climate and environment, and streamlined 'do no significant harm' principle.The proposed NRP Fund and European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) would replace the LIFE programme as the principal source of funding for climate and environmental initiatives. Horizon Europe would support the ECF regarding collaborative research activities. The Connecting Euroope Facility would continue to support the transition to decarbonised transportation networks and renewable energy supply. Global Europe would remain the main instrument to support EU external action in the fields of climate, environment and sustainable development. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

International Anti-Corruption Day is marked every year on 9 December, to raise awareness of the negative effects of corruption on all areas of life. While difficult to measure, corruption entails not only economic but also social and political costs. International and EU anti-corruption efforts have translated into a multi-layered policy and legal framework. The European Parliament has called repeatedly for strengthened EU anti-corruption rules. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Data centres are key to innovation in artificial intelligence (AI). Data centres are needed to access on-demand and scalable computational power and to deploy centralised digital services. Both are key in the lifecycle of large AI models, as their training and execution are intensive and centralised. Increased EU data centre capacity would benefit AI innovation, as would research and innovation to achieve resource optimisation and the decentralisation of computational tasks. Weak EU AI development could further hurt EU competitiveness across industries by slowing digitalisation. Data centre capacity in the European Union is insufficient. The lack of capacity negatively impacts EU innovation, hindering economic growth. Studies suggest that despite comparable GDP, the United States has twice Europe's share of global data centre capabilities, and just three US-based companies account for 65 % of the EU cloud services market, which relies on data centres. Excessive dependence on non-EU capacity threatens the competitiveness of EU companies. EU data centre capacity-building is also hindered by legal and financial obstacles, as well as a lack of resources. EU-based secure cloud and AI computing services are lacking for highly critical use cases. The EU's need for a sovereign digital transition is increasingly salient in the face of geopolitical shifts and growing global competition for innovation. Providers and customers lack legal clarity however, hindering enhanced availability and the use of EU-based highly secure cloud and AI offers. Member States did not manage to reach agreement in recent efforts to define the requirements for a sovereign cloud through a proposed European cybersecurity certification scheme for cloud services (EUCS). Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Citizens' Initiative, 'My voice, my choice: for safe and accessible abortion', seeks an EU-level financial solidarity mechanism to support access to abortion care for women who cannot obtain safe and legal abortion in their home Member State, without harmonising national abortion laws. In November 2025, the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) adopted a motion for a resolution and an oral question supporting the ECI's aims. A debate is scheduled for the December plenary session. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Amid rising geopolitical pressure, the EU seeks to reallocate current budget resources towards defence by enabling investment through five amended regulations on funding programmes, all part of a legislative package. In December, Parliament is due to vote on the provisional agreement reached with the Council on this package. Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP