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Several simultaneous crises have put renewed pressure on the European Union to revise decision-making procedures and economic policies. Russia’s war on Ukraine, growing protectionism worldwide, technological rivalry with China and the US, problems with the rule of law in some Member States, post-pandemic issues and migration woes pose many challenges on the political side. On the economic front, many economists and politicians are calling for fiscal reforms, energy system overhaul and new EU funds ...

The Conference on the Future of Europe is an opportunity to reflect on the Union's democratic foundations, including the legislative role of the Council of the European Union (EU) and its relations with the European Parliament. Is it pertinent to reform the Council, either by reinforcing its parliamentary features or by transforming it into a Senate or a Second Chamber? Would such a change enhance the democratic legitimacy of the EU decision-making process? To answer these questions, this study looks ...

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee, aims to provide background information on the current legal framework of Europol and a legal assessment of the European Commission’s proposal of 9 December 2020 to strengthen Europol’s mandate, divided in thematic blocks. The legal assessment is accompanied by policy recommendations.

The European Commission adopted the proposal on the establishment of the Reform Support Programme on 31 May 2018, as part of the package for the upcoming multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027. The programme will provide financial and technical support for Member States to implement reforms aimed at increasing the resilience of their economies and modernising them, including priority reforms identified in the European Semester. The overall budget for the programme is €25 billion. It comprises ...

United Nations reform

Briefing 13-02-2019

At the 72nd United Nations (UN) General Assembly on 18 September 2017, 120 countries expressed their commitment to the reforms proposed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Since 1946, the UN has undergone a number of reforms either in whole or in part. The term 'reform' has proved troublesome for UN member states on account of its lack of clarity and the lack of consensus as to execution. This is particularly apparent in the scepticism expressed by the United States (US) in 2018 regarding the ...

This study commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the AFCO Committee discusses the parliamentary nature of the Council. It analyses how the Council is in between a pure parliamentary institution and a non-parliamentary one from a wide range of perspectives, for example its structure, procedure and transparency. The study recommends incremental reforms towards further parliamentarisation rather than radical ones ...

The European Commission has proposed a revision of the founding regulations of three decentralised agencies (Cedefop, Eurofound and EU-OSHA) in order to update their objectives and tasks, and to define more precisely their roles in supporting the EU institutions and bodies, the Member States, and the social partners, as well as those involved in shaping and implementing policies at European and national levels in their respective policy areas. The agreed texts of the proposals, reached after extensive ...

Based on a large range of newly accessible archival sources, this study explores the European Parliament’s policies on the institutional reform of the European Communities between 1979 and 1989. It demonstrates how the Parliament fulfilled key functions in the process of constitutionalisation of the present-day European Union. These functions included defining a set of criteria for effective and democratic governance, developing legal concepts such as subsidiarity, and pressurising the Member States ...

Reform Support Programme

Briefing 23-10-2018

Among the legislative proposals for the spending programmes of the MFF 2021-2027, the European Commission has proposed to establish a Reform Support Programme for structural reforms. The IA accompanying the proposal provides a good review of the baseline scenario, the problem to tackle and the objectives to achieve. However, it concentrates on the expected positive effects of the programme, rather than assessing thoroughly the impacts of alternative options against the baseline scenario like a standard ...

In recent years the EU concluded Association Agreements, including the creation of a Comprehensive Free Trade Areas with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. These are amongst the most complex and comprehensive legal treaties concluded by the EU with third countries. The treaties place a profound obligation on the partner countries of legal approximation, that is, to undertake extensive, binding commitments to adopt vast swathes of the acquis in order to stimulate political and economic development and ...