european parliament

GeoPolicy: All about the European Parliament Intergroup on ‘Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development’

Chloe Hill June 17, 2022

This month’s GeoPolicy blog features an interview with Ilias Grampas, Manager of the European Parliament Intergroup (EP) on ‘Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development’ and Deputy Director of the European Bureau for Conservation and Development (EBCD). Ilias was kind enough to answer some of my burning questions about the role of the EP Intergroup in connecting Members of the Europea ...[Read More]

GeoPolicy: My experience with the EGU’s science-policy pairing scheme

Solmaz Mohadjer January 28, 2020

Solmaz Mohadjer and MEP Miapetra Kumpula-Natri

“Thanks for coming, but no time for celebratory drinks,” I told my colleagues. I arrived in Brussels right after defending my doctoral thesis to brief the Finnish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Miapetra Kumpula-Natri and her team about the impact of sea-level rise and climate change on the coastal communities of the Baltic Sea. Climate science? Baltic Sea? EU Parliament? I was soon bombar ...[Read More]

GeoPolicy: getting ready for the European Parliament Election

Chloe Hill January 25, 2019

You are the children of a modern, democratic and open Europe. Credit: Ministry of Environment - European Parliament (distributed via Flickr).

The European Parliament currently has 751 members who belong to one of the eight political groups, at least one of the 20 different committees and represent approximately 500 million people from the 28 EU Member States. The EU Parliament plays an extremely important role in the EU. It oversees the EU budget, launches investigations into specific issues and shares legislative powers with the Counci ...[Read More]

GeoPolicy: How do Members of European Parliament learn about science?

Sarah Connors August 17, 2016

The European Parliament in Strasbourg, Alsace. Credit: Thomas Hassel (distributed via flickr.com)

Only ~5% of Members of European Parliament, or MEPs, have a background in the physical sciences1, yet many political challenges require an understanding of the science surrounding these issues. Issues such as locating and extracting mineral resources, understanding climate change impacts, and developing new low-carbon technology. The European Commission (EC) and the European Parliament (EP) have s ...[Read More]