Ukraine and Moldova are now officially candidates for joining the European Union. This is the conclusion reached by EU leaders at the European Council summit on Thursday, 23 June.
Category: Institutional Affairs
EU Parliament: start treaty change now
Laws as envisioned by the European Parliament, no more Hungary blocking sanctions against Russia because of their de facto veto power. This is what Members of the European Parliament want for the future of the EU.
Eurojust authorised to preserve evidence of war crimes
The Council and European Parliament will sign off new rules for Eurojust, the EU’s agency for Criminal Justice and Cooperation, on 30 May, allowing it to store and preserve evidence related to war crimes and process and share it with relevant authorities.
Member States oppose Parliament’s proposed treaty change
Almost half of the Member States are not happy with the treaty change proposed by the European Parliament as an outcome of the Conference on the future of Europe. In a non-paper, thirteen of the 27 Member States declare their dismay at the proposals that would strengthen the European Parliament’s powers as a legislator and would strengthen the role of citizens in electing their representatives, also in the Commission.
EU Parliament set to trigger treaty change
During one of the last Conference on the Future of Europe meetings in Strasbourg, Renew MEP Guy Verhofstadt said the European Parliament would next week call for a revision of the EU Treaties.
Parliament wants direct right to propose laws
European Parliament members in the Constitutional Affairs Committee want the Parliament to get a ‘general and direct’ right to initiative after the next time the Treaties are revised.
An EU constituency for the European Parliament?
The European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee wants to transform the EU’s electoral law by replacing the current European Electoral Act from 1976. Their main transformative idea: electing some of the MEPs in the EU Parliament through transnational lists.
Want to join the EU club? Well, wait in the queue
A few days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen claimed ‘Ukraine is one of us and we want them in the European Union’ during an interview with Euronews on Sunday, 27 February.
Special birthday present: Roberta Metsola becomes new EP President
Roberta Metsola from the conservative EPP group is the new President of the European Parliament. The Maltese MEP won the race on Tuesday, 18 January, in the first round of voting, reaching an absolute majority of 458 out of 690 votes cast. She succeeded against two other candidates, Alice Bah Kuhnke from the Greens/EFA and Sira Rego running for the Left.
Europeans mourn the death of EP President Sassoli
The President of the European Parliament David Sassoli, aged 65, died early Tuesday morning on 11 January 2022 after hospitalisation over a lung infection. Sassoli had been admitted to hospital on 26 December 2021 following a series of illnesses and hospitalisations in the previous months.