Cuardaigh

In November 2022, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation laying down measures for a high level of public sector interoperability across the Union (the interoperable Europe act). The initiative seeks to ensure a consistent, human-centric EU approach to interoperability, create an interoperability governance structure that helps public administrations and the private sector to work together, and establish an ecosystem of interoperability solutions for the EU's public sector. ...

The initiative's general objective is to address interoperability issues Member States and the EU institutions face when delivering digital public services across EU borders. The impact assessment (IA) identifies the problem clearly as the limited interoperability of network and information systems supporting digital public services in the EU. However, the IA's efforts to identify the scale of the problem are limited, and it could have explained better how the problem would evolve in the future. ...

DG IPOL Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies published the following documents to assist the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA) in its parliamentary work.

Public employment services are the main agencies executing employment policies that facilitate labour market integration of jobseekers. The European Commission proposed to extend and improve the European network of such services, through, inter alia, cooperation with other labour market stakeholders and adaptation to the challenges related to digitalisation, technological developments in the world of work and to demographic changes. The European Parliament is due to vote at first reading during the ...

This study evaluates the objectives of legislative actions in the area of public procurement during the 7th and 8th legislature and assesses the contribution of current initiatives to the achievement of EU objectives. This document provides for a critical analysis of the legal framework of the public procurement regime and identifies the future potential of European public procurement.. This document was prepared by Policy Department A: Economic and Scientific Policy, at the request of the Committee ...

Social enterprises combine entrepreneurial activity with a positive social, environmental or community impact. However, they also struggle with regulatory obstacles, access to funding and visibility. No consensus exists on a definition of 'social enterprise', which makes their regulation and funding problematic across various systems. The European Parliament is expected to vote in July 2018 on an own-initiative report, which calls on the European Commission to improve the regulatory framework by ...

Articles 101 to 109 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) contain rules on competition in the internal market, prohibiting anti-competitive agreements between undertakings. Businesses with a dominant market position must not abuse their position in a way which adversely affects trade between Member States. Mergers and takeovers with an EU dimension are monitored by the European Commission (‘the Commission’) and may be prevented in certain cases. State aid to given undertakings ...

Media freedom, a core EU value and a cornerstone of democracy, is a priority reform area in the Western Balkans' EU accession agenda. Yet, despite a certain level of preparedness and a broadly developed legal framework, aspirant countries keep facing systemic shortcomings that require long-term sustained efforts. These efforts have stalled in recent years, resulting in a 'no progress' situation.

EU-Canada negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) began in May 2009 and concluded in September 2014. Signed in October 2016, the agreement's overall aim is to increase flows of goods, services and investment. This publication analyses the extent to which public services are protected in CETA. The trade agreement takes the public sector into account by means of a (general) public sector carve-out and specific reservations introduced by the EU and the Member States in the ...

For the past four decades, and even more so since the crisis of 2008, integrated social services have been considered an efficient tool for helping all people, but particularly vulnerable ones, to participate successfully in society. What are these services, what can they really achieve and what are their limitations? Due to their complex nature, resulting from combining several services from employment, through health, social protection and education, they have only partly been mapped systematically ...