Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2023)638 - Commission work programme 2024 Delivering today and preparing for tomorrow - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2023)638 - Commission work programme 2024 Delivering today and preparing for tomorrow. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2023)638 |
| date | 17-10-2023 |
‘Together, we have shown that when Europe is bold, it gets things done. And our work is far from over, so let’s stand together. Let’s deliver today and prepare for tomorrow.’ European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, State of the Union speech, 13 September 2023.
Next June, Europeans will take part in the continent’s biggest democratic exercise. Among the more than 400 million people eligible to vote for the new European Parliament will be many young people who are exercising their democratic rights for the first time – including, in five Member States, 16- and 17-year-olds.
The results will set Europe on its path for the subsequent five years and beyond, with the election coming at a crucial juncture in Europe’s history.
We are faced with a number of epoch-making challenges and opportunities. From the climate and biodiversity crises to the digital revolution and artificial intelligence; from Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine to the ensuing energy price and cost of living crises; from migration to ensuring economic growth and competitiveness.
At the start of the mandate, this Commission laid out an ambitious agenda for a stronger and more resilient Union. We committed to bold action to be the first climate-neutral continent and preserve Europe’s natural environment, to lead the way towards a human-centred and innovative digital transition, to boost our economy while ensuring social fairness, inclusion and prosperity, to reinforce our responsible global leadership, to protect our citizens and our values, and to nurture and strengthen our democracy.
The world is a very different place compared to 2019, however. As a Union, we have had to react and adapt in the face of unprecedented challenges, remaining united in our responses and refusing to back away from delivering on our ambitions.
We have accelerated the twin green and digital transitions, put in place the landmark NextGenerationEU, strengthened the EU’s role as a global leader and promoted the values that lie at the heart of our societies, such as democracy and the rule of law. Through our Economic Security Strategy, we seek to reap the benefits of the EU’s economic openness, while minimising risks arising from increased geopolitical tensions and accelerated technological shifts.
The clock is now ticking on our work to finalise the remaining key legislative proposals presented by this Commission to ensure that citizens and businesses can take full advantage of our policy actions. To this end, in the coming months, the Commission will support the European Parliament and the Council in their efforts to reach agreement on pending legislative proposals.
To allow sufficient focus for this task, and with most of the necessary legislative framework promised under this mandate already in place, this work programme contains a limited number of new initiatives that deliver on existing commitments or respond to emerging challenges.
The EU’s economy has continued to show resilience despite the challenges we have faced supported by our efforts to strengthen our energy security, a resilient labour market and the easing of supply constraints.
The European Green Deal, our world-leading effort to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss and Europe’s growth agenda, remains a central part of the Commission’s work. While the main focus is now on implementation, we are coming forward still this year with proposals on the protection of animals during transport, preventing microplastic pollution, improving forest monitoring and a mobility package. We will also maintain our efforts to set the course towards a human-centred, sustainable and more prosperous digital future with the Digital Decade.
NextGenerationEU will remain key to ensuring secure, affordable and clean supplies of energy, the competitiveness of European industry, social and territorial cohesion and the transition to a net-zero, circular and nature-positive economy. The Commission will support all Member States in accelerating the implementation of their recovery and resilience plans, in line with the country-specific recommendations under the European Semester, including their REPowerEU chapters. Early next year we will present an interim evaluation on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
To promote more jobs and investments in Europe we will also continue work to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy while keeping energy prices under control, to ensure supplies of key strategic commodities such as critical raw materials and clean hydrogen, and to reduce administrative burden, in particular in relation to reporting in line with our strategy to boost the EU’s long-term competitiveness.
At the same time, we need to finish building an economic governance framework fit for the challenges ahead. This means finding agreement on the Commission’s proposals on reforming governance rules and strengthening debt sustainability and on promoting sustainable and inclusive growth through reforms and investment.
Together with the Belgian Presidency, the Commission will convene a Social Partner Summit in Val Duchesse to discuss the challenges facing our labour markets, workers and businesses, including from skills and labour shortages, and artificial intelligence.
The challenges over the past years have underlined the strengths and capabilities of our Union. But they have pushed the EU budget to the point of exhaustion despite its in-built flexibilities and extensive reprogramming. To counter this, we tabled a proposal to reinforce the long-term EU budget to be able to address the most imminent needs, which provides for a targeted increase in EU spending to deepen our support for Ukraine, finance our action on migration, bolster the Union’s capacity to respond to heightened economic and geopolitical instabilities, humanitarian crises and natural disasters, and boost investments in strategic technologies to foster long-term competitiveness.
In line with the negotiations on the long-term EU budget for 2021-2027, we put forward an adjusted proposal for new own resources to help finance the repayment of NextGenerationEU borrowing.
The New Pact on Migration and Asylum remains the structural response the EU needs to tackle migration challenges in the future. Its adoption is a key priority as work needs to start already next year to prepare for its swift implementation.
With the brave resistance of the Ukrainian people against the invading Russian forces continuing unabated, the EU will not waver in its solidarity with Ukraine. So far, the Union and its Member States have provided, in a Team Europe approach, EUR 82 billion in total support, including humanitarian aid, military equipment and training, material goods for civilian use, including generators, school buses, medical items and evacuations, rebuilding cities in a high-quality, sustainable and inclusive way, help for children and to rehabilitate damaged schools, and economic support. This support is provided in coordination with our international partners within the Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine launched in January 2023 following a decision of G7 leaders. The Commission hosts the secretariat of the platform that facilitates close coordination among international donors and financial organisations and ensures coherent, transparent, and accountable support.
The EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes have helped Ukraine export over 57 million tonnes of agricultural goods and almost 45 million tonnes of non-agricultural products, and import goods the country needs. Through the Joint Coordination Platform, the Commission will spare no efforts to facilitate the timely and stable delivery of Ukrainian agricultural products to global markets.
The Commission condemns Russia’s decision to terminate the Black Sea grain initiative and will continue to support all efforts to mitigate security and safety risks to shipping in the Black Sea. The Council adopted the Commission’s proposal to extend the temporary protection for people fleeing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine until 3 March 2025. Together with the CARE and FAST-CARE initiatives, this will provide certainty and support for more than 4 million persons enjoying protection across the EU.
The EU also adopted in record time several emergency initiatives during the course of 2022 to mitigate the effects of the energy crisis on industry and households.
Finally, to underscore the EU’s commitment to stand by Ukraine as long as is necessary, we will create a facility to provide support to Ukraine to the tune of up to EUR 50 billion in the period 2024-2027. This funding will cater for Ukraine's immediate needs, as well as bolstering its recovery, and supporting its modernisation on its path towards EU membership.
Together with our international partners, we have taken steps to ensure war crimes committed in Ukraine by Russia are punished and that Russia compensates for the damage it has done. The International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine has started its operations in The Hague and will be key to investigating these horrific acts and facilitating the building of cases for future trials. We will leave no stone unturned to hold those responsible to account. And we are continuing work on the possible use of proceeds from seized Russian assets for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The Union must prepare for its successful enlargement in order to foster long-term peace and stability in Europe. We will work closely with our partners as they prepare for this momentous step, including opening the Commission’s Rule of Law Reports to those accession countries who get up to speed even faster.
The EU also needs to be ready. The Commission will put forward a Communication on pre-enlargement reforms and policy reviews to see how each policy would be affected by a larger Union and how the European institutions would work.
We will continue to engage with countries and regions around the world, in particular in Africa, to address global challenges and strengthen multilateral governance and rules-based international cooperation.
In all our actions we remain committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and its sustainable development goals will remain at the heart of our policies1 and better regulation agenda2.
2. Better Regulation, implementation and enforcement of EU law
1. Better regulation, burden reduction and rationalisation of reporting requirements
Reducing administrative burdens is crucial to maintaining the competitiveness of European businesses. That’s why the Commission’s long-term competitiveness Communication3 set a target of reducing burdens associated with reporting requirements by 25%, without undermining policy objectives. This will rationalise and streamline such requirements, which have a disproportionate impact on businesses, including SMEs and micro-companies, and administrations, and ensure they fulfil their intended purpose.
To achieve this goal, the Commission has adopted legislation, including to reform the Union Customs Code, which will create a single EU interface and facilitate data re-use. Together, these measures will bring about around EUR 2 billion in cost savings. In addition, the proposed revision of the Regulation on European statistics, reducing the number of surveys and increasing the use of automated and simplified processes, will bring cost savings – including for SMEs – of an estimated EUR 450 million. With this work programme, the Commission is putting forward additional rationalisation proposals4 to reduce administrative burden without lowering social, safety, consumer protection, environmental or economic standards. They will streamline reporting requirements that are of limited use, for example by consolidating overlapping obligations, reducing the number of businesses concerned and increasing digitalisation.
To allow stakeholders time to adapt to new requirements, we will postpone the deadline for adoption of the sector-specific European sustainability reporting standards. The Commission will adjust the thresholds of the accounting Directive so that more than a million companies are expected to benefit from reduced reporting requirements, and review the benchmark Regulation, including to exempt administrators of smaller benchmarks, which account for 90% of the population, while still ensuring a high degree of consumer and investor protection. The Commission also proposes to facilitate data sharing between autorities overseeing the financial sector and avoid duplicative reporting. The Commission is promoting the timely agreement and widespread implementation of a common form of electronic format for posted worker declarations. Complemented by work to make available a multilingual portal, the Commission aims to allow companies to submit posting declarations digitally in their own language, for all Member States who decide to make use of this tool.
Under the second notice on taxonomy reporting, which guides the interpretation of disclosures regarding taxonomy, we will clarify that no assessment is needed from undertakings for activities that are not material to their business and where they lack evidence or data to prove compliance with the technical screening criteria of the EU Taxonomy. The removal of certain disclosure obligations related to alternative dispute resolution cases and replacing the online dispute resolution platform will bring overall benefits for businesses of around EUR 630 million per year.
Proposals will also cover marketing standards for fishery products, plant health, transport, agriculture and spatial infrastructure monitoring. The Commission will work with the co-legislators to preserve the leanness of reporting requirements, as long as the objectives and the purpose of the legislation are not put at risk. For example, for the proposed Directive on corporate sustainability due diligence, the Commission will support the proportionate application of the requirements, in particular in areas such as the role of groups, with a view to ensuring efficiency and avoiding unnecessary burden.
For the industrial emissions portal Regulation, the Commission is committed to accelerating digitalisation and further streamlining reporting requirements. With the revision of the coordination of social security framework, the Commission will continue to support the co-legislators to find effective and workable solutions that protect workers and facilitate cross-border activities in the internal market. Moreover, the digital Europe programme is available to fund initiatives by Member States to provide simple technical reporting means, such as a single-entry point for the reporting of cybersecurity incidents in the framework of the Directive on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (NIS2 Directive).
The streamlining of reporting requirements is a long-term effort that will require focus for the foreseeable future. Establishing a baseline of reporting requirements, while complex given the breadth of EU legislation and its interaction with national and regional laws, will be crucial to measuring progress. Stakeholders can help in shaping a better understanding of how the reporting requirement landscape affects them. For this reason, we have launched a call for evidence5 to gather feedback on burdensome reporting requirements. Further consultations with companies, including with the SME envoys network, Member States’ experts and other stakeholders, will be carried out to identify particularly problematic issues and areas to prioritise. The Commission will also appoint an EU SME envoy who will participate in Regulatory Scrutiny Board hearings on initiatives that have a high impact on SMEs. Additionally, the Commission will tackle the burdensome reporting requirements that its Directorates-General have identified with targeted rationalisation plans for 2024 and beyond. We will report on progress made towards the 25% goal in the annual burden surveys, starting with the 2023 edition, to be published next year.
The Commission will put the development of artificial intelligence tools and large language models at the core of this exercise. This will help to identify reporting requirements in EU legislation, based on standardised means, and support in analysing their effect in a certain sector. It will also work on the expansion of the use of e-platforms for collecting and sharing data, such as the Single Digital Gateway, the e-platform established under the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action Regulation and the Digital Finance Platform. In addition, the Commission will carry out evaluations and fitness checks to assess how legislation can be simplified and made less burdensome, with an emphasis on identifying further opportunities for rationalising reporting requirements6. The evaluations of programmes and funds of the multiannual financial framework, due in 2024, offers another opportunity to assess how to reduce burdens linked to the EU’s financial programmes.
The rationalisation of reporting requirements complements the Commission’s tools for burden reduction. Under the Commission’s regulatory fitness and performance programme (REFIT), all evaluations and revisions look for opportunities to reduce burden, and for all significant proposals, impact assessments are carried out to ensure that benefits outweigh costs. For example, establishing a Head Office Taxation system will simplify rules and cut tax compliance costs for SMEs expanding their operations across borders. The proposal on business in Europe: framework for income taxation (BEFIT) could reduce tax compliance costs for businesses operating in the EU by up to 65%.
In addition, since January 2022, with its ‘one in, one out’ approach, the Commission has presented proposals that are set to provide EUR 7.3 billion more administrative savings than costs7. The Fit for Future Platform also advises the Commission on how to reduce burdens in EU law.
2. Implementation and enforcement of EU law
For people and businesses in the EU to enjoy the full benefits of our commonly agreed rules, EU law must be implemented and applied in a full, timely and correct manner across the Union. That is why the enforcement of EU law is a priority for this Commission. At this stage in the mandate, we will ensure that even greater attention is given to implementation and enforcement tasks, to make sure that the rules agreed deliver for people and businesses. Addressing implementation challenges when proposals are being developed and offering guidance to Member States are ways to prevent problems at an early stage. To deliver more efficient EU laws, we will thus work together with Member States to avoid placing unnecessary burdens on business and citizens when transposing EU directives into national law. When breaches do occur, the Commission will continue to engage with Member States to remedy the problems swiftly and to act decisively on infringements which obstruct the implementation of important EU policy objectives, or which risk undermining the EU’s values and fundamental freedoms.
To ensure that the enforcement tools at its disposal remain effective, the Commission conducted a stocktaking exercise with Member States in 2022. We are now implementing its findings and recommendations to improve the way the Commission and the Member States ensure enforcement of EU law. We will work closely with the Member States to facilitate the implementation of new legislation through increased support at national level, especially in areas where more efforts may be needed to ensure the timely and correct transposition of directives, and through a more systematic monitoring of the implementation of regulations. We will also continue reinforcing the transparency of the Commission's enforcement actions, with more information and data published in a more user-friendly way. This will help members of the public engage in this process and promote faster compliance by Member States, by highlighting positive achievements and giving credit to best practices, creating at the same time peer pressure concerning unresolved breaches of EU law.
3. Delivery on the six headline ambitions
As mentioned in the State of the Union address, the Commission has delivered on over 90% of the commitments made in the 2019 Political Guidelines of President von der Leyen. In 2024, a dedicated effort by the co-legislators is needed to find agreement on outstanding proposals to bring benefits for Europe’s citizens and businesses.
1. A European Green Deal
Born out of the urgency to take action to protect and preserve our planet, the European Green Deal is our growth agenda, proving to the world that modernisation and decarbonisation can go hand in hand. The EU has the world’s most ambitious green transformation plan, with the goals of achieving climate-neutrality, circular economy and a net-zero economy by 2050, as well as preventing environmental degradation, preserving biodiversity and creating a zero pollution environment. In the face of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the Commission acted swiftly to ensure the security of energy supply while strengthening the Union’s commitment to the European Green Deal and increasing our industrial base in clean tech sectors. Fundamental structural changes have been proposed for the electricity and gas markets, as well as new initiatives to spearhead the emergence of green hydrogen markets.
We will continue our efforts to ensure that the green transition is done in a just, smart and inclusive way, leaving nobody and nowhere behind, while also engaging actively with our third country partners including to strengthen green growth. To this end, the Commission will initiate a series of green dialogues in order to fully and directly engage with citizens, as well as clean transition dialogues with industry and social partners. In parallel, the Commission is continuing its preparatory work for the implementation of the future Social Climate Fund, which together with the Just Transition Fund, will support vulnerable citizens, businesses and regions in the transition. The Commission will launch a strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in the EU, further engaging with farmers, stakeholders in the food chain and citizens, working together on the transition towards sustainable food systems.
Faced with new global threats, the Commission has laid out plans to safeguard food security and reinforce the resilience of food systems in the short and medium term. Through its farm to fork and strategy, it has been delivering on the vision of making the EU food system fair, healthy and environmentally friendly. The strategy also included action to achieve sustainable and resilient fisheries and aquaculture. In parallel, the Commission adopted further measures to build the circular economy, tabled flagship initiatives on protecting biodiversity and restoring damaged ecosystems and presented key proposals under the zero pollution action plan. The EU has also worked on strengthening its disaster resilience, including by doubling the rescEU aerial firefighting fleet and boosting our Civil Protection Mechanism.
The majority of initiatives set out in the 2019 Communication on the European Green Deal have been delivered, and many already agreed into law. It is imperative to swiftly reach agreement on the remaining proposals in order to keep the Union firmly on track towards climate neutrality. This includes the proposals on carbon removals, methane emissions reduction in the energy sector, industrial emissions, the energy performance of buildings, CO₂ emission performance standards for new heavy-duty vehicles, type-approval of motor vehicles and engines, revision of the rules on the circularity of vehicles, revision of the TEN-T regulation and the greening of freight package, as well as electricity market design, renewable and natural gases and hydrogen. To foster sustainable farming and food security, the proposals on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and the sustainable use of plant protection products should also be agreed. To bring us closer to a true circular economy we need swift agreement on the ecodesign requirements for sustainable products, waste and packaging, shipment of waste, and the repair of goods. To advance towards zero pollution and to protect and restore our nature, we will need to bring into law the proposals on nature restoration, classification, labelling and packaging of chemicals, air quality, urban wastewater treatment, and surface and groundwater protection.
The Commission will launch the process to establish a 2040 climate target, to keep the EU on course towards climate neutrality by 2050. It will present the European wind power package to accelerate the deployment of wind turbines, improve access to finance and support the international competitiveness of European industry. We will table an initiative on industrial carbon management setting out a strategy for environmentally sustainable carbon capture, utilisation and storage deployment in the EU, considering its importance for reaching carbon neutrality. We will adopt an initiative on water resilience to ensure access to water for citizens, nature and the economy, while also tackling catastrophic flooding and water shortages, as well as an initiative to identify and assess how best to manage climate risks across EU policy areas.
2. A Europe fit for the digital age
By making the 2020s the Digital Decade with clear digital targets, the EU and its Member States have set a course to improve digital skills, digitalise administration and businesses, boost research and innovation, close the digital gap and upgrade our digital infrastructure. At the same time, the EU is leading the way in managing the risks of our digital future. With the digital markets act and the digital services act, we have laid strong foundations for making our single market fair, competitive, consumer friendly and safe in the digital realm, especially for children.
Although much has been achieved, efforts are still needed to agree pending key initiatives that will further the digital agenda and strengthen Europe’s resilience. The critical raw materials act will allow Europe to bolster domestic supplies, including through boosting refining and recycling capacities, diversify imports of these crucial materials, and incentivise our industry to better manage supply risks, while remaining competitive. The provisions will build on the strengths of the single market to boost more sustainable and circular practices and will also allow for joint purchasing of raw materials through a dedicated platform. Many of our partners around the world want to work together and develop local industries for processing and refining to strengthen global supply chains of raw materials. This is why the first meeting of the new Critical Raw Materials Club will be convened later this year. We will also adopt a plan on advanced materials for industrial leadership that, together with the Member States, aims to accelerate the development of safe, sustainable and circular advanced materials, and their industrial uptake for the benefit of the green and digital transition.
The net-zero industry act will support Europe’s industry in developing and taking up the innovative and strategic technologies needed in an economy with net-zero emissions, such as wind turbines, heat pumps, solar panels, electrolysers, nuclear technologies as well as CO2 storage. Demand is growing, both in Europe and globally, and we are acting now to ensure European supplies can meet more of this demand.
We also need to make progress on the single market emergency instrument, to help preserve the free movement of goods, services and persons and the availability of vital goods and services in case of future unforeseen disruptions.
The SME relief package, with its revision of the late payments Directive and the tax simplification establishing a head office taxation system, is designed to further support Europe’s small and medium businesses, which are the backbone of our economy.
The pending proposals on artificial intelligence (AI) are key to the safe and beneficial application of a technology that has been evolving at tremendous speed in recent years. The window of opportunity is narrowing for us to guide this technology responsibly.
Alongside concerted efforts with our international partners to strengthen global AI governance, we will open up our high-performance computers to AI start-ups to facilitate European innovation. Europe’s Copernicus, EGNOS, and Galileo satellite programmes already bring countless benefits to our economy and societies and play a pivotal role in understanding, preparing for and fighting climate change. Additionally, IRIS2 will set up critical infrastructure for secured connectivity, with important defence applications.
Major investments in digital networks are needed to meet our Digital Decade targets for 2030. Following the recent exploratory consultation, we will prepare the ground for possible policy and regulatory actions regarding Digital Networks and infrastructure, notably to facilitate cross-border infrastructure operators in the Single Market, accelerate deployment of technologies and attract more capital into networks.
The space industry is gaining in importance for Earth observation and modern connected products and services, as well as for defence and security. The 2023 space strategy for security and defence8 aims to improve the resilience of the EU’s space infrastructure and space capabilities in support of security and defence, and to promote partnerships for responsible behaviour in outer space. In 2024, we will propose a European space law that will set rules, for example for space traffic management, but also on how we will keep our critical space infrastructure safe. It will be complemented by a strategy on the space data economy to increase the use of space data across economic sectors.
3. An economy that works for people
The EU economy has demonstrated resilience in the face of an unprecedented array of crises. It has coped with the socio-economic impacts of both the global COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. However, it faces important challenges to its competitiveness, which will be the subject of the upcoming report by Mario Draghi. By tabling reforms to secure the EU’s long-term economic prosperity and competitiveness while ensuring the full implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, we have strengthened the EU’s unique social market economy.
It is imperative that agreement is reached on pending proposals to deepen our single market, the foundation of the EU’s sustainable competitiveness. In this respect, we need to further advance the Capital Markets Union by agreeing the proposals on insolvency, clearing, the simplification of companies’ access to public capital markets and scaling up insurance companies’ long term investment capacity, as well as take further steps towards a Banking Union with the completion of the crisis management and deposit insurance review. Moreover, we need to agree on the new rules on withholding tax procedures, the proposal to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes and a series of measures to modernise the EU’s Value-Added Tax (VAT) system and make it more resilient to fraud by embracing digitalisation.
Furthermore, we need to advance on the proposal to improve business taxation (BEFIT and transfer pricing) and the comprehensive reform of the EU Customs Union. In the area of digital finance, we need to move forward on the proposals for enhancing rules for payment services and introducing a framework on financial data access (“open finance”), and advance the negotiations on the proposal establishing the legal framework for a digital Euro.
Significant progress has been made in implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights through its action plan and 2030 headline targets. Rules to improve conditions in platform work and a framework for adequate minimum wages have been put forward, while the European Year of Skills has stimulated a broad range of activities to address the urgent skills gaps afflicting several sectors, such as the Cybersecurity Skills Academy, and the Pact for Skills has been set up. Young people’s access to the labour market has been facilitated with the reinforced Youth Guarantee and the upcoming initiative to update our quality framework for traineeships. The European Child Guarantee helps to combat and prevent social exclusion by guaranteeing children effective access to a set of key services, including free education, free healthcare, healthy nutrition and adequate housing.The Commission will continue to support the co-legislators in finding an agreement on the coordination of social security systems.
In response to a legislative own-initiative report by the European Parliament, the Commission will present an initiative on European works councils in 2024.
Following up to the Val Duchesse Summit, we will work with businesses and trade unions to make our labour market more future proof in the light of deep-rooted shifts in technology, society and demography. We will build on the demography toolbox to help activate the entirety of our human capital.
An upcoming initiative will help realise the full benefits of biotechnologies and biomanufacturing, key to the competitiveness and modernisation of EU industry due to their high growth potential and labour productivity.
The Commission will also publish its ninth cohesion report outlining the state of social, economic and territorial cohesion in the EU, taking stock of the actions undertaken in the last years.
4. A stronger Europe in the world
On the global stage, we continue to see growing tensions and geopolitical upheaval. The indiscriminate and brutal terrorist attacks against Israel and its people by Hamas directly threaten peace and security in the region and underline the need for renewed efforts to reinvigorate the Middle East Peace Process. Russia, with its war of aggression against Ukraine and its actions within the international fora, continues challenging the foundations of multilateralism and the rules-based international order.
The EU’s military support to Ukraine has opened up critical gaps in the defence stockpiles of Member States. In response, we have supported Member States in strengthening the European defence industry through an instrument for joint procurement (EDIRPA)9 and a Task Force for Joint Defence Procurement. In addition, we ramped up ammunition production capacity through the act in support of ammunition production (ASAP)10. The third Joint Declaration on EU-NATO cooperation11 expanded our cooperation to new areas critical for security – resilience, emerging and disruptive technologies, defence and space.
We will continue to strengthen and build more resilient connections with the world through our Global Gateway12 by applying our Team Europe approach. We are implementing sectoral strategies and action plans including the strategy on international energy engagement13, the Joint Communication on international ocean governance14, the space strategy for security and defence15, the update of the EU maritime security strategy16, the Joint Communication on a partnership with the Gulf17 and the new agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean18.
We will continue working with the Western Balkans, along with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, in view of their future accession to the Union. We will also maintain our support for the Eastern Partnership and Southern Neighbourhood.
The Union will continue to work on building partnerships with countries and organisations across the globe. In particular, we need to continue our efforts to strengthen our mutually beneficial partnership with Africa, and we will further develop our strategic approach to take it forward with the African Union at the next EU-AU Summit.
The European defence industrial strategy will give further impulse to developing Member States’ defence capabilities, underpinned by a modern and resilient European defence technological and industrial base. We will, in this framework, continue to consolidate the actions for the continuity of the European defence industrial base reinforcement after 2025. In 2024, we will also continue efforts to implement the Strategic Compass19 to strengthen our defence readiness and make the EU a stronger and more capable security provider. The EU will continue to develop further the toolbox to counter foreign information manipulation and interference, to effectively address malign actions from abroad.
We will continue to defend and promote democracy, human rights, the rule of law and effective multilateralism. We will continue our efforts to protect children affected by armed conflict, notably through presenting the revised EU guidelines. EU solidarity through both humanitarian aid and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism will keep delivering. We will engage constructively with all partners and continue to support the UN Secretary General’s reform agenda, including in preparations for the Summit of the Future in September 2024.
As a global leader and standard setter, we need to accelerate an open and fair trade agenda geared towards competitiveness, resilience and sustainability. We will continue our work to enhance cooperation and trade relations with partners, and will drive global efforts to reform the World Trade Organization. The reviewed trade strategy of the EU promotes an open, sustainable and assertive policy, which supports the green and digital transformations.
We have successfully concluded negotiations on trade agreements with Chile, New Zealand and Kenya. We are also seeking to finalise agreements with Australia, Mexico and Mercosur. The Commission will also continue to push forward negotiations with India and Indonesia, as well as the digital trade agreements with Signapore and the Republic of Korea. EU-US relations have also been strengthened through our work in the Trade and Technology Council. Inspired by this, an EU-India Trade and Technology Council has been launched this year.At the same time, we have strengthened our tools against unfair trade practices, and will act to ensure global competition remains fair. The Commission has therefore launched an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles coming from China.
5. Promoting our European way of life
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission started laying the foundations for a European Health Union. This comprises a reinforced health security framework, including the new Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, as well as the pioneering Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and proposals to build the European Health Data Space and reform the pharmaceutical legislation. The EU also adopted the new EU global health strategy20 to guide its efforts to strengthen healthcare worldwide.
The Commission will continue to support the work on both the legislative and operational strands of managing migration. It is essential that the co-legislators finalise the New Pact on Migration and Asylum21 by the end of this legislative mandate. In parallel, it is indispensable to continue taking operational action to advance the EU’s collective response to migration challenges, in cooperation with our key partners.
The Commission has also acted to strengthen the four pillars of the EU Security Union Strategy22: addressing vulnerabilities, augmenting cybersecurity, fostering law enforcement cooperation and supporting resilience against hybrid threats. This includes initiatives to remove terrorist content online, strengthen the Union’s maritime security, including in the context of the resilience of critical infrastructure and protect the Union’s space assets such as satellites and deter hostile activities in space.
The upcoming Cyber Resilience Act and Cyber Solidarity Act proposal will play a key role in reinforcing cybersecurity, by boosting supply chain security and strengthening solidarity at Union level to better detect, prepare and respond to cybersecurity threats and incidents.
As outlined in the sixth Progress Report on the Security Union, agreement is also needed on proposals that will enhance the security of our citizens and effectively fight crime together while upholding our shared fundamental values. This includes the proposals on cyber resilience, the Union Code on governing the movement of persons across borders, automated data exchange for police cooperation (Prüm II), the collection and transfer of advance passenger information, anti-trafficking in human beings, combating child sexual abuse, asset recovery and confiscation, and the definition of criminal offences and penalties.
The action plan on anti-drug trafficking and organised crime, including the European ports alliance, prepares the ground for more effective joint efforts in the fight against organised crime and illegal drug trafficking. The Commission will also propose to modernise the legal framework to fight the smuggling of migrants, to ensure that we have the necessary legal and operational tools to respond to the new modus operandi of smugglers. In addition, the Commission will organise an international conference on fighting people smuggling, considering the need for international cooperation and a strong global alliance in this area.
In higher education, the Commission will propose a blueprint for the future joint European degree, which will contribute to achieving a European Education Area. It will be supported by recommendations on quality assurance in higher education and on attractive academic careers.
6. A new push for European democracy
During this mandate, the Commission has attached particular importance to strengthening and revitalising our European democracy. The European democracy action plan has guided our work with its goal to empower citizens and build more resilient democracies across the EU by promoting free and fair elections, strengthening media freedom and countering disinformation. The Conference on the future of Europe was an unprecedented exercise of participatory democracy and allowed us to listen to the views of citizens from across the EU on the future of our Union. With the new generation of citizen panels that we piloted for three key initiatives in 202323, and with more to come next year, we have embedded citizens’ participation even more concretely into our policy-making toolbox. Particular emphasis was placed on engaging with the younger generation who have a crucial role in shaping the future, with one third of the panellists aged between 16 and 25.
In line with the commitments of President von der Leyen’s Political Guidelines, the Commission has followed up on legislative own-initiative reports of the European Parliament.
A precondition for the democratic functioning of the EU and its Member States is an independent judiciary and respect for the rule of law. Both the annual Rule of Law cycle as well as the Conditionality Mechanism help to ensure this and to safeguard the EU’s financial interests. Significant progress has been made in other crucial areas for our democratic societies. We have come forward with key proposals on the transparency and fairness of the electoral process to the strengthening and safeguarding of rights of different groups in society, and guaranteeing the freedom and independence of journalists in the EU. We continue to work on building our democratic resilience from within and protecting against undue external influences. We now also have a solid legal framework for cross-border judicial cooperation, including on court proceedings and digital communication.
An open and inclusive society needs to guarantee equal rights and protection to all groups in society. That is why the Commission adopted dedicated strategies on children’s rights, gender equality, anti-racism, Roma equality, LGBTIQ equality, the rights of persons with disabilities and victims’ rights. Agreed after 10 years of negotiations, the women on boards Directive will oblige companies to meet clear targets for director positions by mid-2026. This year, we adopted new rules on pay transparency between men and women, strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work, an important step towards gender equality and closing the gender pay gap. With the recent accession to the Council of Europe’s 2016 Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, the EU has sent a strong signal that it is determined to prevent, condemn and fight violence against women and girls in all its forms.
To have the right framework for the European Parliament elections, the Commission will aim to facilitate agreements on the statute and funding of European political parties and the transparency of targeted political advertising. Together with the European Parliament, the Commission has also launched a communication campaign intended to increase the number of mobile EU citizens voting in the 2024 European Parliament elections.
A thriving civil society and free and critical media landscape is the backbone of democratic society, and agreement is needed on the Directive on strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) and the media freedom act.
We also call on co-legislators to find agreement on the proposals for the Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, the victims’ rights Directive, the proposed standards for national equality bodies and the Directive establishing the European disability card and the Next year, we will adopt a Commission Recommendation on the development and strengthening of child protection systems in the Member States and will ensure better use of existing EU tools (legislation, policy measures and funding).
As the digital information space is increasingly influencing the public debate and political decision-making, it is essential to continue the work on fighting disinformation to ensure free and fair exchange of opinions, especially ahead of the European elections.
4. Conclusion
Over the past four years, the Union has shown its indivisibility and determination to tackle the challenges of our generation, for the generations of tomorrow. We acted together in responding decisively in support of a Europe of freedom, prosperity and peace. We must continue this work and lay down solid foundations for strengthening our Union and preparing for the future.
This Commission will work until the last day of its mandate to address our common challenges. We will provide strong support to the European Parliament and Council to facilitate agreements on remaining key proposals, while tabling the few new initiatives still needed to deliver on our promises and preparing the Union for tomorrow.
A detailed overview of the Commission’s planned work for 2024 is provided in the annexes to this work programme.
1 EU Voluntary Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
2 The sustainable development goals and the ‘do no significant harm' principle have been mainstreamed into the Better Regulation toolbox and the Commission’s policy development to ensure that all legislative proposals contribute to the 2030 sustainable development agenda.
3 COM(2023) 168.
4 For a detailed overview of initiatives taken since 16 March 2023, taken forward with this work programme or for adoption afterwards, see Annex II.
5 https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/13990-Administrative-burden-rationalisation-of-reporting-requirements_en
6 See Annex II for a detailed overview of initiatives and proposals.
7 2022 Annual Burden survey; https://commission.europa.eu/publications/2022-annual-burden-survey_en
8 JOIN(2023) 9.
9 COM(2022) 349.
10 Regulation (EU) 2023/1525 of 20 July 2023.
11 www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_210549">https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_210549
12 JOIN(2021) 30.
13 JOIN(2022) 23.
14 JOIN(2022) 28.
15 JOIN(2023) 9.
16 JOIN(2023) 8.
17 JOIN(2022) 13.
18 JOIN(2023)17.
19 www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas">https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas
20 COM(2022) 675.
21 COM(2020)609
22 COM(2020) 605.
23 Food waste, virtual worlds and learning mobility.
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