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The EU has joined the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, following approval from the Council of the EU. The EU’s accession to the Convention is a boost for EU efforts to realise equality between women and men.

The European Parliament is calling for a coordinated strategy to increase the EU’s resilience to foreign interference and disinformation, to safeguard the 2024 European elections. The warning comes in a report by the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the EU.

The European Commission's nearly €100 billion SURE instrument designed to protect jobs and incomes affected by the COVID-19 pandemic supported about 31.5 million employees and self-employed people and over 2.5 million businesses. SURE helped facilitate the EU’s swift economic rebound in 2021.

The European Council has reached an agreement with the European Parliament to update the rules against overfishing. The new rules modernise the way fishing activities are controlled to ensure EU vessels and those fishing in EU waters follow the regulations set out in the Common Fisheries Policy.

The European Commission is proposing new rules that aim to ensure the protection of adults is maintained in cross-border cases. The proposals cover adults who, by reason of an impairment or insufficiency of their personal faculties, are not in a position to protect their own interests.

The European Commission today registered a European Citizens' Initiative calling for a new EU law on mutual recognition of final judgments within the EU. If it receives one million signatures within one year from at least seven Member States, the Commission will have to react.

The European Commission announced today the doubling of the rescEU aerial firefighting fleet for this year's wildfire season, including 24 airplanes and 4 helicopters from 10 Member States. In addition, a new assessment tool was also announced today as part of the Wildfire Prevention Action Plan.

MEPs voted in favour of new rules that would speed up the freezing and confiscation of criminal assets across the EU and see quicker compensation for victims. The rules also cover nuclear material trafficking and crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and UNICEF signed an agreement to support regional and local authorities around the EU in their work on child protection, with a focus on children from Ukraine. They will look at programmes for these children and at their long-term integration into the EU.

Following the 10th summit between the EU and the Republic of Korea in Seoul on 22 May, EU leaders issued a joint statement with Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol calling for greater cooperation between the two sides in the areas of peace and stability, sustainable development, and mutual prosperity.

Farmers in Poland who are facing liquidity shortages as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will benefit from a €1 billion EU state aid scheme. The scheme will consist in limited amounts of aid in the form of direct grants.

Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (Meta IE) has been fined 1.2 billion euro following an inquiry into its Facebook service, by the Irish Data Protection Authority (IE DPA). The fine is the largest GDPR fine ever and was imposed for Meta’s transfers of users’ personal data to the US.

The Commission proposed the most ambitious and comprehensive reform of the EU Customs Union since its establishment. The proposals massively simplify customs processes for business, and empower authorities with the resources needed to properly assess and stop imports that pose a risk to the EU.

One year ago the EU presented REPowerEU, in response to the energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It's helped to prevent energy shortages in the EU, to diversify away from Russia to reliable partners, and accelerate the transition to clean energy.

EU Finance Ministers have agreed on their approach to new tax transparency rules for all service providers facilitating transactions in crypto-assets for customers resident in the EU. The rules also concern the reporting of information on advance tax rulings for the wealthiest individuals.

In a better-than-expected start to the year, the growth outlook for the EU economy has risen to 1.0% in 2023 and 1.7% in 2024. Lower energy prices, abating supply constraints and a strong labour market contributed to this moderate growth that dispel fears of a recession.

The European Parliament moved a step closer to approving the world’s first rules on Artificial Intelligence by endorsing new transparency and risk-management rules for AI systems. Once approved in June, the rules could see bans on biometric surveillance, emotion recognition and predictive policing.

The European Parliament has approved the EU's accession to the Istanbul Convention, the first legally binding international instrument on combating violence against women and girls. The accession was proposed in 2016 but ratification stalled due to some EU countries’ reticence.

The European Year of Skills, launched on 9 May 2023, aims to address existing skills gaps by helping people get the right skills for the jobs of today and tomorrow. The year kicks off with a festival, one of many events scheduled throughout the year.