What has the European Commission planned?

The new college around Commission President Ursula von der Leyen started work on 1 December. The coming months, and in particular the first 100 days, will show which priorities are set in the new legislative period. Some initiatives are already known from the political guidelines, the mission letters and the hearings of the Commissioners.

Focus on competitiveness

Looking at the announced initiatives, the already known focus on competitiveness becomes clear. For example, von der Leyen announced that her first official act would be to present a Competitiveness Compass to guide the work of the European Commission. This should build on the Draghi report and aim to close the innovation gap with the USA and China, make industry green and competitive and reduce dependencies that jeopardise security.

The first 100 days

Apart from that, von der Leyen has announced seven initiatives for the first 100 days: a new Clean Industry Deal, a White Paper on the future of European defence, reviews of certain policy areas ahead of enlargement, a vision for agriculture and food with the aim of a competitive and sustainable agricultural sector, the organisation of the first of the annual Youth Policy Dialogues, an initiative for AI factories to ensure access to new high-performance computing capacities, and a European action plan on the cybersecurity of hospitals and healthcare providers.

European cybersecurity action plan

The European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhelyi, is responsible for the Cybersecurity Action Plan, with the participation of the Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen. According to von der Leyen, European healthcare systems are increasingly the target of cyber and ransomware attacks and must therefore be better protected. The action plan is intended to improve threat detection, preparedness and crisis response in this area. A proposal is expected that calls on Member States and stakeholders in the healthcare sector and law enforcement to take appropriate protective measures.

Initiatives in the area of social policy

Even without the clear timeframe of the first 100 days, a number of initiatives can be expected soon, which the new Commission would like to present as quickly as possible. In the area of employment and social affairs, for example, this includes a quality job roadmap, which Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu would like to develop together with the social partners in the first few months of her term of office. According to the statements made at her hearing, the centrepiece of this roadmap should be the free movement of workers. The right to disconnect and rules on teleworking and algorithmic management in the workplace will also be central. In addition, a European social dialogue pact is to be presented at the beginning of 2025 following discussions with the social partners.

Further measures

In other areas, so-called omnibus legislation to reduce bureaucracy is planned, which will bundle changes to several laws. On the subject of affordable housing, the responsible Commissioner Dan Jørgensen wants to initiate a dialogue with all relevant interest groups as quickly as possible, on which a corresponding action plan will later be based.