In our last issue before the summer break, we interview Croatian S&D MEP Predrag Fred Matić. Thrust into the spotlight over his report on sexual and reproductive health and rights, Matić has become a champion for women’s bodily autonomy. He tells Lorna Hutchinson that no amount of conservative backlash on the issue will steer him off course.
In our news and current affairs pages, we look back at the end-of-term ‘Fit for 55’ get together between Frans Timmermans and the European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee. As Andreas Rogal reports, although it had been a long day for both, the Commission VP and ENVI MEPs were in an ebullient mood.
Are landmark new EU rules on regulating the use of artificial intelligence sufficient to allay fears of a ‘Big Brother’ takeover of our lives? That’s the question Martin Banks put to several EU policymakers who have voiced concerns that the potential use of remote biometric identification by governments and law-enforcement agencies could mean the end of anonymity in public spaces.
Martin also opens our feature on Migration and Asylum policy which, following a recent increase in tragic deaths in the Mediterranean, has again rocketed up the EU’s agenda. We have in-depth comment on the EU’s new Pact on Migration and Asylum from MEPs Beata Kempa, Juan Fernando López Aguilar and Tomas Tobé.
We also have exclusive analysis from three Danish MEPs, Morten Petersen, Niels Fuglsang and Pernille Weiss on how best the EU should legislate to successfully tap into the huge potential of offshore renewable energy. We close as always with our regular 5 Questions with… column, which this issue features Austrian Renew Europe deputy Ivan Claudia Gamon.