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The public policy ideal should be to provide high-quality healthcare to all EU citizens and residents in each Member State, also through cross-border cooperation, that, in turn, incentivises improvements in national healthcare systems. Difficulties in accessing cross-border healthcare become apparent when the coordination of public healthcare systems intersects with the free movement of market (private) healthcare services and goods. Inter alia, this paper presents the current challenges and possible ...

This briefing explores the potential of a European Senior/Pensioner Card from a human rights perspective. It assesses different design options, particularly regarding eligibility. While such a card could support mobility, participation and access to services, it would need to be embedded in a broader policy approach addressing age discrimination and promoting age-friendly environments across the EU.

This briefing paper analyses the protection offered by the Sale of Goods Directive, the Digital Content Directive, the Ecodesign Regulation, the Unfair Contract Terms Directive and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive against abandonware. Abandonware pertains to the situation where consumers’ use of goods with digital elements, digital content or digital services depends on their interaction with a trader’s network or services, and such interaction is discontinued or changed by the trader or ...

Consumer offerings made available on the market for ‘sale’ often look very differently from what they used to look a few decades ago. Many of them are no longer tangible, but in digital format, and if they are still primarily tangible, they often come with digital elements. Examples of digital items offered for ‘sale’ include software (such as apps), audio and video files, images, and videogames. Examples of tangible items with digital elements include connected products (such as connected vehicles ...

In the EU, 20 % of farms get 80 % of hectare-based direct payments under the common agricultural policy (CAP). This has been an issue since the introduction of these payments, and successive European Commissions have tried to solve it by capping these payments, but this measure has so far been optional for Member States. As part of the ongoing CAP reform, the European Commission has proposed a mandatory annual cap of €100 000 per farm, with a progressive reduction of the hectare-based payments starting ...

The 10 March 2025 agreement between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian interim authorities aimed to integrate the security and civilian institutions established in northeastern Syria into the state structures by the end of the year. Its failure prompted a rapid government offensive in January 2026, which led to the SDF losing a vast majority of territory. The resulting violence displaced over 170 000 people and raised serious concerns about the SDF-guarded detention centres ...

The reform of social security rules, proposed in 2016, was provisionally agreed by the EU co-legislators in April 2026. After adoption by Parliament in plenary in July, the file awaits final adoption by the Council, envisaged for September. The revised rules seek to coordinate access to social security for those who live or work in another EU country. They also distribute the financial burden more equitably among EU countries and reinforce measures to identify and tackle fraud. Provisions on unemployment ...

This briefing reviews the first three years of implementation of the European Chips Act and identifies how lessons learnt from its evaluation have been integrated into the legislative proposal to review the Act. Available evidence suggests the Chips Act delivered significant outputs, including the establishment of competence centres and five pilot lines, the foundation of a design platform, substantial public and private investment commitments in production facilities, and a coordination and crisis-response ...

The European Commission wants to improve the quality of jobs in the EU. Building on its communication on the quality jobs roadmap, it is now preparing a new legislative proposal, the quality jobs act. Taking as a starting point the existing EU rules, it has consulted European social partners on possible further action in five areas: algorithmic management and artificial intelligence (AI) at work; health and safety at work; subcontracting; just transitions; and enforcement and role of social partners ...

Corporate actors are central to the European automotive sector: they purchase 58 % of new cars and 90 % of new vans, use these vehicles two to three times more intensively than private owners, and typically sell them on the second-hand market after three to four years, a segment where over 80 % of European citizens purchase their vehicles. Given these dynamics, corporate fleets have a pivotal role to play in accelerating the transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to zero-emission vehicles ...