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The European Council consists of the 27 Heads of State or Government of the EU Member States, who are voting members, together with the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission, who have no vote (Article 15(2) Treaty on European Union). The chart shows the current members, the national office they hold, their most recent European political affiliation, and the year their membership began.

On 1 March 2023, as part of the road safety package, the European Commission published a legislative proposal to help ensure EU-wide application of driving disqualifications. The proposal calls for increased cooperation, harmonisation of legislation, simplification of information exchange, capacity-building, and improved public awareness efforts. In order to prevent impunity due to a lack of legislation, the proposal sets out rules to allow better EU-wide enforcement of driver disqualification decisions ...

Women continue to be under-represented in EU countries at all levels of political decision-making as well as in political parties. The origins of this situation are complex, but one reason stands out: violence against women active in politics discourages many women from entering the political arena. Female politicians are exposed to two severe and intersecting forms of violence: political violence and gender-based violence. Violence against people active in politics, whether men or women, is a major ...

Child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse are among the worst forms of violence against children and know no borders. The rise in these crimes is exacerbated by the use of digital technology. Harmonised national laws and international cooperation are essential to improve prevention and protect victims. This is a further update of a publication originally drafted by Ingeborg Odink in November 2024.

Based on practices from the EU Member States and beyond, academics highlighted practical solutions for improving legal clarity, structure and usability without requiring major legislative reform. The event further demonstrated the value of structural innovation and linguistic adaptation in closing the gap between legislation and citizens.

Increased political polarisation has led to a proliferation of attacks against elected representatives, political candidates and party members. Verbal abuse and insults, harassment, threats and intimidation, as well as smear campaigns against politicians, occur regularly both online and offline, marking a serious degradation in the quality of political debate in the EU. During the 2024 European elections campaign, there were serious incidents in several countries. Nevertheless, acts of physical violence ...

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted both the need for a resilient healthcare system and for quick access to inventions and technologies in challenging situations. Following this experience, EU lawmakers negotiated a compulsory licensing scheme intended to facilitate rapid use of patents while preserving strong patent protection as an incentive to innovate. Views on the original European Commission proposal diverged. Civil society organisations supported broad application of the compulsory licensing ...

For more than four decades, Iran has faced various international sanctions designed to modify its regime's conduct across multiple areas of concern. These areas include nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and proliferation, support for terrorism, regional destabilisation and human rights abuses. Since 1979, the United States' (US) sanctions on Iran have evolved into a complex and comprehensive regime. Between 2006 and 2010, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) imposed multilateral sanctions ...

The European defence industry is highly fragmented, with limited collaborative investment and procurement, divergent national regulations, and protectionist tendencies that undermine efficiency, interoperability and competitiveness. The Letta report makes the case for a concerted effort to advance towards the development of a 'Common Market for the Security and Defence Industry', which focuses on regulatory simplification, pooled procurement, and cross-border industrial integration. While the Draghi ...

The gender pay gap persists globally and in the European Union, and progress in reducing it is slow. To accelerate the realisation of the principle of 'equal pay for work of equal value', the United Nations marked the first International Day for Equal Pay on 18 September 2020. This year marks its sixth edition. This is an update of an 'At a glance' note from September 2022.