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Progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals has been insufficient, not least because of shocks such as the COVID 19 pandemic and recent wars. The cost of this lack of progress is borne by 'least developed countries' – low-income countries with low indicators of socio-economic development, as defined by the UN. This study reviews the European Union's role in policies that affect poverty in these contexts. It identifies 12 challenges that could be addressed to some extent by further ...

Global challenges – including climate change, geopolitical conflict, erosion of democratic principles and social inequalities – affect people's daily lives and future prospects. A collective European response over the next 10 years could help to address these challenges – and offer benefits worth up to €3 trillion a year. This represents around 18 % of EU gross domestic product (GDP), equivalent to €6 700 per citizen every year. Referring to the European Parliament's work during the 2019-2024 term ...

This European added value assessment (EAVA) supports the European Parliament's legislative initiative 2023/2051(INL) entitled 'EU framework for the social and professional situation of artists and workers in the cultural and creative sectors'. Reviewing the existing legal framework and identifying the gaps, the study explores possible policy options to tackle the problems and looks at why EU action is needed. It analyses the potential impacts of the policy options, also conducting a qualitative and ...

This study has been drawn up by the European Added Value Unit within the European Parliament's Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services. It is part of a research project to better define the concepts of the cost of non-Europe and of European added value. The study recounts the development of these concepts and specifically how they have been used to support the European Parliament's work in setting the legislative agenda. It also presents their theoretical underpinnings and the main ...

Common foreign and security policy (CFSP) has a particular status in the EU legal framework, part of which is the unanimity rule within the Council. This report analyses decision-making rules in CFSP from a 'cost of non-Europe' perspective. It identifies CFSP challenges and the extent to which they could be attributed to unanimity. This allows us to identify the current 'cost of unanimity'. The report also analyses possible alternatives to unanimity decision-making in CFSP, such as a switch to qualified ...

Although European integration is a key driver of growth, peace, environmental protection and social prosperity, persistent challenges remain and potential crises can be anticipated. Looking forward, a number of possible pathways are open to Europe. The European Parliament favours the path of ambitious, collective EU action, where significant potential gains can be realised, not only for today, but also for various possible future scenarios. This study seeks to support the European Parliament in defining ...

This study examines how contemporary welfare state policies address the issues of inequality and poverty both between and within EU Member States. It combines quantitative and qualitative analysis to show the strong links between inequality and poverty, not only in statistical terms, but also in terms of wealth distribution, intergenerational mobility and labour market dynamics. Welfare states are discussed in a multidimensional way, covering traditional welfare state policies on social protection ...

Care work provided in homes and institutions is a public good that is under-valued by society. Care workers are more likely to have low earnings and precarious working conditions. About 9 in 10 care workers are women. Most unpaid care work within households is carried out by women. The 'unpaid care penalty' for women in the EU, which is equivalent to the earnings they lost because of this unbalanced distribution of care responsibilities, is estimated to reach €242 billion per year. EU action in the ...

This study analyses the potential European Union (EU) added value (or untapped cost of non-Europe) in certain areas of social and labour policy: short-time work schemes, anti-poverty and inequality-reduction measures, and minimum wage regulations. The three areas are closely interlinked, and the study shows the potential relevance of EU action in addressing the main existing challenges. The quantitative analysis uses the 'budgetary waste rate' approach to measure the potential efficiency gains in ...

The present IA supports the proposal for a Regulation on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure. It seems quite robust especially in the connection between problem analysis, specific objectives, and measures proposed, and in the quantitative analysis. Still it is complex and not fully accessible to a non-expert reader and it lacks clarity and exhaustive explanations in some points.