MIL European Union Publishing Engine
Source: European Parliament
During the May I plenary session, as part of the discharge procedure for the 2023 financial year, the European Parliament is due to vote on discharge for 33 EU decentralised agencies and 11 joint undertakings (JUs). The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) recommends granting discharge to all decentralised agencies, bodies and JUs, except for the European Union Asylum Agency (EUAA), for which it proposes that the decision on discharge be postponed.
Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-001588/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Sergio Berlato (ECR)
In 2001, a study by the European Parliament’s Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) team, on health damage caused by electrosmog, recommended that scientists, governments, industry and the general public have access to decision-making processes and that an effective public information system be established with a view to preventing public mistrust and fear of new EMC technologies. A number of years later, on 31 May 2011, the World Health Organization reported in a press release that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) had ‘[classified] radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B)’.
In recent years, the exponential growth in artificial electromagnetic sources, such as the use of electric public and private transport, the spread of 5G and Wi-Fi in every home and public area, has effectively increased and generated new ‘electromagnetic pollution’.
In the light of the above:
Submitted: 22.4.2025
Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-001611/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Pierre-Romain Thionnet (PfE)
Through the ASAP programme, the Commission has committed to increasing annual ammunition shell production capacity to 2 million by the end of 2025, in particular by ramping up the production of powders and explosives.
However, the Seveso III Directive imposes especially burdensome environmental and administrative constraints on industrial defence sites, which hinder the rapid creation or expansion of industrial capacities, as shown by the difficulties encountered by the French company Eurenco[1].
Meanwhile, the REACH Regulation significantly stalls the production of chemicals essential for powder manufacturing, because of the lengthy and costly registration procedures and lack of exemption mechanisms, both for defence manufacturers and their civil suppliers[2].
At a time when the Member States urgently need to be rearmed:
Submitted: 23.4.2025
Source: European Parliament
Türkiye has long been a strategic partner of the EU on migration, security, and trade. However, following the attempted coup in 2016, Türkiye’s democratic backsliding led the Council to freeze its accession negotiations in 2018. Although relations have since thawed, the EU is exploring a more realistic framework for bilateral relations. Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) adopted its report on the 2023 and 2024 Commission reports on Türkiye on 9 April 2025. A debate and vote on the report are due to be held in plenary in May 2025.
Source: European Parliament
The European Parliament is due to adopt its vision for the European Union’s post-2027 long-term budget during the May plenary session. Ahead of the European Commission’s proposal, expected in July, the report adopted by the Committee on Budgets insists that the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) must be significantly above 1 % of the EU’s gross national income (GNI). The report rejects the ‘one national plan per Member State’ approach, as envisaged by the European Commission, as a basis for shared management of post-2027 spending.
Source: European Parliament
During the May I plenary session, the European Parliament is to decide on granting discharge for the 2023 financial year to the different EU institutions and bodies. Accounting for more than 95 % of the overall EU budget, the European Commission’s budget is at the centre of the discharge procedure. The discharge of the Commission includes its six executive agencies and the grant component of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). Separate discharge is granted to the Commission concerning the management of the European Development Funds (EDFs). The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) recommends that Parliament grant discharge to the Commission, all executive agencies and the EDFs for the 2023 budget.
Source: European Parliament
Indispensable to life and human activity, water is under multiple and severe pressures. During its May session, the Parliament is expected to adopt its recommendations on a strategy to address Europe’s most pressing water challenges, which the European Commission has pledged to table in the second quarter of the year.
Source: European Parliament
During its May plenary session, the European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the discharge for the implementation of the 2023 EU budget. The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) recommends granting discharge for eight administrative sections, alongside the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. It recommends postponing the decision on granting discharge to the European Council and the Council of the EU.
Source: European Parliament
The European Parliament played a fundamental role in reshaping the political landscape of central and eastern Europe during and after the end of the Cold War, setting out an agenda for European enlargement and substantiating European integration. Amid an atmosphere that signalled the triumph of democratic state-building in Europe, Members of the European Parliament also saw an opportunity to advance their own agenda of further democratising and legitimising the governance structures of the European Community. The study examines how the European Parliament strengthened its presence throughout this period in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia (now Czechia and Slovakia), Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the former Yugoslavia. Based on archival research and relevant literature review, the study illustrates the European Parliament’s involvement in these states’ path to full European Union membership, the motivations behind its policies, and the points of tension that arose during this transformative period.
Source: European Parliament
The Digital Services Act (DSA )[1] requires providers of very large online platforms (VLOPs), including Meta as provider of Facebook and Instagram , to have mechanisms in place to mitigate the risks posed by the dissemination of illegal content, including illegal hate speech and unlawful discriminatory content.
The DSA does not impose general monitoring obligations, nor does it regulate online content. It defers to EU or national laws to define what is illegal content, based on which judicial or administrative authorities may issue orders to act against it.
The DSA sets clear rules for transparency, accountability and user protection, and respects freedom of expression. It requires hosting services to set up notice and action mechanisms for users to report illegal content, including illegal hate speech.
The DSA also requires providers of VLOPs like Meta to assess systemic risks stemming from their services and put in place effective measures to mitigate such risks related to the dissemination of illegal content, gender-based violence, fundamental rights including the right to freedom of expression and information and to non-discrimination, and civic discourse and electoral processes.
The Commission opened formal proceedings[2] in relation to Meta’s services Facebook and Instagram to assess whether Meta may have breached the DSA.
The current proceedings focus on deceptive advertising and disinformation, the over-suppression of political content, the non-availability of an effective real-time election monitoring tool and the notice and action mechanisms.
The European Media Freedom Act[3] will further strengthen media pluralism and independence in the EU.
The Commission remains fully committed to upholding freedom of expression.