The EU in 2022 : general report on the activities of the European Union.
Date: 2023-03-15
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communication
Subjects: EU activity, European Union, activity report

The EU 

in 2022

G E N E R A L   R E P O R T   O N   T H E   A C T I V I T I E S 
O F   T H E   E U R O P E A N   U N I O N

On the cover

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1.  A man carries a young girl on his 

4.  Citizens taking part in a 

6. 

shoulders and looks out over a 
wind farm. (© Adobe Stock).

2.  Polish firefighters help fight 

forest fires in Hostens, France, 
14 August 2022. 

3.  A young mother speaking about 
the future of Europe while 
holding her baby who was born 
halfway through the conference, 
Strasbourg, France, 30 April 2022. 

demonstration in support of 
Ukraine, Brussels, Belgium, 
8 March 2022. 

5.  Visit of Ursula von der Leyen, 
President of the European 
Commission (left), to Ukraine, 
where she met with Volodymyr 
Zelenskyy, President of 
Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, 
15 September 2022. 

From left to right: Charles 
Michel, President of the 
European Council, Ursula von 
der Leyen, President of the 
European Commission, and Joe 
Biden, President of the United 
States, at the G7 Summit, Krün, 
Germany, 26 June 2022.

7. 

Technical separation of chip 
structures in a semiconductor 
foundry, Dresden, Germany, 
8 February 2022. 

8.  Ursula von der Leyen, President 
of the European Commission 
(left), meeting with Roberta 
Metsola, President of the 
European Parliament (right), 
and Christine Lagarde, President 
of the European Central 
Bank, Strasbourg, France, 
14 February 2022. 

The EU in 2022

GENERAL REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES  
OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Published in accordance with Article 249(2)  
of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

An interactive version of this publication, containing links to online content, is available in PDF 
and HTML format: http://europa.eu/general-report/en

The EU in 2022 — General Report on the Activities of the European Union

European Commission 
Directorate-General for Communication 
Editorial Service & Targeted Outreach 
1049 Brussels 
BELGIUM

The EU in 2022 — General Report on the Activities of the European Union was adopted by the European 
Commission on 21 February 2023 under reference number C(2023) 1112/3.

Print 
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ISBN 978-92-76-61875-1 
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ISSN 1977-3374  doi:10.2775/0687 
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ISSN 1977-3374  doi:10.2775/938056   NA-AD-23-001-EN-Q

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CREDITS 
All photos © European Union unless otherwise stated.

3

Foreword

2022 was a watershed moment for Europe. It was the year 
that Russia brutally invaded Ukraine. But it was also the 
year that Ukrainians fought back the aggressor and inspired 
an entire continent with their bravery. It was the year that 
European citizens welcomed millions of Ukrainian refugees 
of war into their homes, schools and hearts. It was the 
year that our Union stood tall and united for our European 
values: that freedom and human dignity is priceless, and 
that democracy and peace must be defended.

We know that actions speak louder than words. When 
Russian tanks crossed into Ukraine, we acted immediately, 
with unity, strength and resolve. The EU and its partners 
imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia and those 
complicit in its imperialistic war. Our entire Union rose up in 
solidarity with Ukraine, providing humanitarian, financial and 
military support. Neighbouring Member States opened their 
borders to Ukrainians fleeing the war, providing them with 
shelter, medical support and the ability to work, and giving 
their children a desk in our classrooms. The EU took the 
historic decision to grant Ukraine candidate status to join 
our Union. Today, once again, Europe means future.

Ursula von der Leyen
President of the  
European Commission

4

This past year, the EU has shown how great a challenge 
we can overcome when we act together with ambition. 
Russia did not just wage war against Ukraine, but also 
against Europe’s energy and economy. With REPowerEU, 
we aim to end our dependency on Russian fossil fuels in 
record time. We managed to replace over 80 % of Russian 
pipeline gas in the first 8 months of the war; we filled 
our gas storage facilities to record levels (over 95 % in 
November); we cut our gas consumption by 20 % between 
August and November (compared to the previous 5 years); 
and we increased our deployment of renewables by over 
40 %. Even in times of crisis, the EU stood firmly by its 
climate targets. We have doubled down on the promise of 
leaving a better Europe for the next generation.

In 2022, our NextGenerationEU recovery plan also began 
financing green and digital projects on the ground – from 
offshore wind to electric trains, and from digital public 
services to energy-efficient hospitals. To build on this 
momentum, and on the successful European Year of Youth, 
we have made 2023 the European Year of Skills. We are 
bringing workers, industry, social partners, training providers 
and national, regional and local authorities together to 
prioritise education, vocational training, and reskilling and 
upskilling. We need to bring youth unemployment down and 
enable more women to enter the labour market, because we 
have to make the most of Europe’s potential and because it 
is people and their know-how who drive positive change.

THE EU IN 20225

In the year ahead, we will continue to make our 
democracies and economies more resilient, our industries 
more competitive, our societies fairer, and our partnerships 
with the rest of the world stronger. You can read all about 
the progress we have made on this work in 2022 in the 
following pages.

Long live Europe!

Ursula von der Leyen

6

Contents

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The EU’s 
response to 
Russia’s war 
of aggression 
against 
Ukraine

Ensuring 
secure, 
affordable and 
sustainable 
energy

Creating 
a greener, 
climate-
neutral Europe

A Europe fit for 
the digital age

Protecting 
people and 
freedoms

page 8

page 22

page 31

page 46

page 59

THE EU IN 20227

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Strengthening 
the economy

Building a 
fair and social 
Europe

Institutional 
developments

Promoting 
European 
interests and 
values in 
the world

page 69

page 85

page 100

page 116

8

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1. The EU’s 
response to Russia’s 
war of  aggression 
against Ukraine

Ukrainians cross an improvised path along 
a destroyed bridge as residents continue to 
flee the city, Irpin, Ukraine, 8 March 2022. 

THE EU IN 2022 
 
 
9

Introduction

In 2022, just as the global economy was beginning 
to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic, the 
world faced a new geopolitical crisis. On 24 February 
2022, almost 8 years after the illegal annexation of 
Crimea and Sevastopol, Russia launched a war of 
aggression against Ukraine, unleashing devastation 
on its people, with the tragic toll in human lives and 
destruction continuing to mount. As well as creating 
an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, Russia’s 
actions also triggered the worst energy crisis in 
Europe since the 1970s. This also led to a hike in 
food prices across the world, further exacerbating 
global food insecurity.

The European Union’s response was united, 
determined and immediate. The 27 Member States 
and their partners around the world condemned the 
unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression, acting 
swiftly and forcefully to isolate Russia economically 
and thwart its ability to fund the war through hard-
hitting sanctions.

Demonstrating its unwavering support for Ukraine, 
the EU stepped up its provision of political, 
humanitarian and financial support to the country. 

It also took the exceptional measure of activating, for 
the first time ever, the Temporary Protection Directive 
to provide immediate protection to the millions of 
Ukrainians who were forced to flee their homes.

At the same time, the EU mobilised all of its means 
to support Member States in their response to the 
consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against 
Ukraine and the massive inflow of refugees to 
neighbouring countries.

Russia’s war of aggression also triggered changes 
in the European security architecture. In March, the 
EU adopted the Strategic Compass to strengthen the 
EU’s posture in security and defence by 2030 (see 
Chapter 8).

In addition, the European Commission set out 
a groundbreaking plan, REPowerEU, to help end 
the EU’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels (see 
Chapter 2).

Following the historic decision of the European 
Council in June 2022, the EU granted the status of 
candidate country to Ukraine (see Chapter 8).

GENERAL REPORT10

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Solidarity with Ukraine

An immediate and united response

The EU reacted swiftly to Russia’s war of aggression 
against Ukraine. With true solidarity between the EU 
and its Member States, the EU adopted in 2022 more 
than 200 measures in response to the invasion. Its 
response followed three tracks: to isolate Russia and 
hold it to account for the war of aggression, invasion 
and international humanitarian law violations, 
including war crimes; an unprecedented set of 

From left to right: Andrzej Duda, President of Poland, Ursula von 
der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Hugh 
Evans, Co-founder and CEO of Global Citizen, at the ‘Stand Up 
for Ukraine’ global pledging event, Belvedere Palace, Warsaw, 
Poland, 9 April 2022. 

In a ‘Team Europe’ approach, the EU, its Member 
States and financial institutions had by the end 
of 2022 together mobilised close to €50 billion in 
overall support for Ukraine, in a clear expression 
of the EU’s continued solidarity with the people of 
Ukraine. This includes an unprecedented support 
package of up to €18 billion in the form of 
favourable loans, with the Commission – on behalf 
of the EU – borrowing the funds on international 
capital markets and paying them out in regular 
instalments in 2023.

With this financial assistance, Ukraine will be 
able to address its pressing short-term funding 
needs and maintain essential state functions, 
ensure macroeconomic stability and restore 
critical infrastructure destroyed by Russia’s war of 
aggression. This support would need to be matched 
by other international partners to ensure that the 
entirety of Ukraine’s funding gap will be covered.

sanctions designed to impose severe consequences 
on Russia’s economy and thwart its ability to 
continue its war of aggression; and wide-ranging 
support for Ukraine. The EU also stopped engaging 
with Russian authorities, while continuing to provide 
support to civil society, human rights defenders and 
independent media. 

In April, the world came together in solidarity to 
raise €9.1 billion for people fleeing the Russian 
invasion. This included €1 billion from the EU 
budget and another €1 billion from the European 
Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The 
Stand Up for Ukraine pledging event and campaign 
was launched by the European Commission and 
the Canadian government, in partnership with the 
international advocacy organisation Global Citizen, 
in answer to a call from Ukraine’s President 
Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In recognition of the Polish 
people’s generosity towards refugees, the pledging 
event was held in Warsaw (Poland), with the 
participation of Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Overall support for Ukraine 
mobilised in 2022

 ➔ €19.7 billion in financial assistance, budget 

support and humanitarian assistance, from the 
EU budget and directly from EU Member States.

 ➔ €18 billion package to support Ukraine’s 

economy.

 ➔ €3.1 billion in military assistance under the 

European Peace Facility and around €7 billion 
directly from Member States (*).

(*) Support provided by the European Peace Facility or supplied 
directly from Member States is not part of the EU budget.

 
 
 
 
11

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Key measures in 2022 to help Ukrainian businesses and 
people benefit from the EU Single Market

The EU–Ukraine solidarity 
lanes provided new logistics 
routes to connect Ukraine to 
global trading partners via rail, 
road and inland waterways. 
These have become a lifeline 
for the Ukrainian economy, 
bringing back more than 
€15 billion in much-needed 
income to Ukrainian farmers 
and businesses and helping 
Ukraine export its goods, most 
importantly grain, to ensure 
food security in developing 
countries (see Chapter 8). 
They also allowed Ukraine to 
import what it needed, from 
humanitarian aid to animal 
feed and fertilisers.

New rules ensured that all 
Ukrainian imports could 
enter the EU completely 
duty and quota free. Any 
trade restrictions imposed 
on Ukraine before the war, 
such as anti-dumping and 
safeguard measures, were 
suspended.

The Supply Chain Resilience 
platform and the EU-Ukraine 
Solidarity Lanes Business 
Matchmaking platform helped 
Ukrainian and European 
companies deal with 
disruptions in international 
supply chains and find 
solutions to the export of 
agricultural produce from 
Ukraine.

The European transport 
corridors were extended to 
include Moldova and Ukraine 
in order to improve transport 
connections with the EU. Both 
countries will have access to 
the Connecting Europe Facility, 
which can be used to support 
cross-border projects to 
remove bottlenecks.

EU agreements with Moldova 
and Ukraine will also help 
make the cross-border 
transport of goods easier.

Common guidance enabled 
Member State authorities to 
ensure quick, fair and flexible 
recognition of professional 
qualifications for people 
fleeing Ukraine.

New rules allowed Ukrainians 
who have fled to the EU to 
continue using their Ukrainian 
driving licences in the EU 
and eased requirements for 
professional drivers. 

Moldova and Ukraine 
were synchronised with 
the continental European 
electricity grid. Ukraine will 
also benefit from the EU’s joint 
purchasing of gas, liquefied 
natural gas and hydrogen (see 
Chapter 2). 

EU and Ukrainian operators 
provided affordable or free 
calls and internet use to 
refugees, as well as free SIM 
cards with mobile services to 
Ukrainians in Europe.

The EU mobilised €25 million 
to increase Ukraine’s cyber 
and digital resilience as part of 
the €330 million emergency 
package.

 
12

EU Sanctions

Since March 2014, the EU has been progressively 
imposing sanctions against Russia, initially in 
response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and 
Sevastopol and the deliberate destabilisation of 
Ukraine. 

On 23 February 2022, the EU added to the 
sanctions in response to Russia’s formal recognition 
of the non-government-controlled areas of the 
Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine and 
the ordering of Russian armed forces into those 
areas. After 24 February, in response to Russia’s 
war of aggression against Ukraine and its illegal 
annexation of four more Ukrainian territories after 
sham ‘referenda’, the EU issued further sanctions. A 
total of nine packages of restrictive measures were 
adopted by the end of 2022.

In addition to increasing the total number of Russian 
individuals and entities on the sanctions list to over 
1 500, the EU adopted unprecedented measures 
covering a wide range of economic sectors, from 
trade, transport and technology to energy, defence 
and finance. This was done with the aim of imposing 
severe consequences on Russia for its actions 
and degrading its ability over time to continue its 
aggression. For example, the EU restricted the export 
of key technologies and goods to Russia and banned 
the import of goods that generate important revenue 
for Russia.

The EU also cut Russia’s access to the EU’s capital 
markets, for example by imposing asset freezes 
and financing bans on a number of Russian banks, 
excluding certain banks from the SWIFT network, 
and limiting access to crucial financial market 
infrastructure. A ban imposed on transactions with 
the Central Bank of Russia means that it can no 
longer access the assets it has stored in central 
banks and private institutions in the EU.

Citizen support for the EU’s 
response to Russia’s war of 
aggression against Ukraine

Measures taken by the EU as a response to 
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine 
received robust support among citizens. For 
example, Europeans strongly approved of the 
provision of humanitarian support (88 %) and 
welcoming people fleeing the war (82 %). At 
the time of the survey, 7 out of 10 Europeans 
were in favour of imposing economic sanctions 
on the Russian government, as well as on 
companies and individuals (71 %), and sending 
financial support to Ukraine (70 %). 

Source: Flash Eurobarometer 514, December 2022.

The EU also banned state-owned Russian media 
from broadcasting in the EU, to counter the spread 
of misinformation and disinformation. In addition, 
the EU closed its airspace and EU ports to Russian 
aircraft and vessels, respectively, and imposed a ban 
on Russian road transport operators. Other measures 
included a ban on the seaborne import of crude oil 
from Russia, a global price cap on oil agreed with G7 
partners and an import ban on all forms of Russian 
coal.

The sanctions imposed by the EU and countries 
across the world have started to weaken Russia’s 
economic base, depriving Russia of critical 
technologies and markets and curtailing its ability 
to wage war. Russia’s future economic growth is 
expected to be significantly slower than in other 
emerging markets, developing economies and 
advanced economies.

THE EU IN 202213

Financial measures

 ➔ Ban on the provision of financial messaging services (notably SWIFT) 

for 10 Russian banks

 ➔ Restrictions on Russia’s access to the EU’s capital and financial 

markets

 ➔ Ban on transactions with the Russian Central Bank and Russian 

Regional Development Bank 

 ➔ Ban on the supply of euro-denominated banknotes to Russia 

 ➔ Ban on transactions with Russian state-owned entities 

 ➔ Ban on the provision of credit rating services to Russian entities 

 ➔ Ban on the provision of crypto wallets 

Diplomatic 
measures

Suspension of visa 
facilitation provisions 
for Russian diplomats 
and other Russian 
officials and business 
people. 

Restrictions on media

Suspension on broadcasting in the EU for 
state-owned outlets. 

 ➔ Sputnik 

 ➔ Russia Today 

 ➔ RTR Planeta 

 ➔ Russia 24 

 ➔ TV Centre International 

 ➔ NTV / NTV Mir 

 ➔ Pervyi Kanal 

 ➔ Rossiya 1 

 ➔ REN TV

© Adobe Stock

None of the 
sanctions adopted 
by the EU against 
Russia targeted 
trade in agricultural 
and food products 
between Russia 
and non-EU 
countries, nor did 
they prevent the 
supply of medical 
equipment or 
medicines for the 
general population. 

In parallel, the EU 
sanctions regime 
concerning Belarus was expanded in response 
to the country’s involvement in Russia’s war of 
aggression against Ukraine. This consists of an 
array of financial, economic and trade measures. 
The economic sanctions on Belarus covered about 
60 % of all Belarusian exports to the EU. Since the 
sanctions took effect in March and until the end of 
2022, Belarusian exports to the EU decreased by 
65 % compared to the same period the year before. 
Four Belarusian banks were excluded from the 
SWIFT system.

The European Commission set up the Freeze 
and Seize Task Force to ensure the efficient 
implementation of EU sanctions against listed 
Belarusian and Russian individuals and companies 
and to explore the possible links between their assets 
and criminal activity. By the end of 2022, the EU had 
frozen over €20 billion in Russian assets.

In November, the Council of the European Union 
agreed to extend the list of ‘EU crimes’ laid down 
under Article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning 
of the European Union to include the violation of EU 
sanctions. Following the decision, the Commission 
proposed a directive on the definition of criminal 
offences and penalties for the violation of EU 
sanctions.

GENERAL REPORT14

Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner 

for Crisis Management (in the centre) 

attending a medical evacuation operation 

at Rzeszów airport, Rzeszów, Poland, 

10 June 2022.

Fighting disinformation 

In 2022, the EU continued its work on developing 
tools to impose political, economic and reputational 
costs on the perpetrators of harmful information 
manipulation and interference, including those 
who target elections and open media 
environments.

The work of the European 
External Action Service 
included monitoring, analysing 
and exposing the Russian 
government’s information 
manipulation and disinformation 
via strengthened communication 
and the EUvsDisinfo website.

The EU extended direct support to 
Ukraine’s strategic communication 
efforts and worked closely with 
international and like-minded partners, in particular 
the G7 and NATO, to push back on war propaganda.
The Commission’s network against disinformation 
monitored and analysed false narratives and 

recommended actions and counter-narratives in 
weekly reports prepared by the Commission.

The EU works closely with online platforms and other 

relevant stakeholders to combat the spread 
of disinformation. Since 2018, the 

Code of Practice on Disinformation 
has served as a tool for relevant 
industry players to agree on 
self-regulatory standards to 
fight disinformation. In June 
2022, 34 signatories (major 
online platforms, emerging and 
specialised ones, stakeholders 
in the advertising industry, fact 
checkers, and research and civil-

society organisations) signed a 
strengthened version of the code. The 
revised code aims to cut financial incentives 

for those that spread disinformation, ensure political 
advertising transparency and empower the fact-
checking community.

Dealing with the humanitarian crisis

Since the start of Russia’s war of aggression, 
the humanitarian needs in Ukraine have risen 
to unprecedented levels. By the end of 2022, 
more than 13 million people in the country had 
received humanitarian assistance. Out of the total 
amount of financial assistance provided to Ukraine, 
humanitarian support included €485 million 
allocated for humanitarian aid programmes 
supporting civilians affected by the armed conflict 
in Ukraine and €38 million for Moldova, which was 
also hit hard by the war. EU humanitarian funding 
provided vital support, including access to basic 
goods and services, such as education, healthcare 
and food. A further €200 million was provided to 
support displaced people in Ukraine.

The EU’s first priority was to protect Ukrainian 
civilians. Working with Ukrainian civil protection 
authorities, the Commission began the biggest and 
most complex operation under the EU Civil Protection 
Mechanism in its history to ensure the delivery of 
the most urgent non-monetary assistance to Ukraine 
and neighbouring countries, and the safe evacuation 
of those fleeing the armed conflict. By the end of 
the year, the value of the almost 78 000 tonnes of 
assistance provided by the EU Member States and 
non-EU countries contributing to the mechanism, 
combined with assistance coming from rescEU 
reserves, amounted to around half a billion euro. 

The first rescEU medical evacuation 

plane enters into service to help transfer 

Ukrainian patients, Rzeszów, Poland, 

22 March 2022.

The Commission, along with Member States and the 

World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, 

set up triage hubs at the Ukrainian border and in the 

most affected Member States to speed up relocation 

and medical transfers. European transport operators 

stepped in at the beginning of the war to offer 

refugees from Ukraine free transport to European 

countries.

The EU Civil Protection Mechanism coordinated 

medical evacuations of Ukrainian civilians and 

military patients in need of continued treatment 

or urgent medical assistance to countries in the 

EU and Norway. The Commission set up logistical 

hubs to channel European assistance and support 

humanitarian partners on the ground. Among these 

were medical hubs set up in Jasionka (Poland), Iaşi 

(Romania) and Košice (Slovakia) to ensure the safe 

THE EU IN 2022 
 
Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner 
for Crisis Management (in the centre) 
attending a medical evacuation operation 
at Rzeszów airport, Rzeszów, Poland, 
10 June 2022.

15

The first rescEU medical evacuation 
plane enters into service to help transfer 
Ukrainian patients, Rzeszów, Poland, 
22 March 2022.

The Commission, along with Member States and the 
World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, 
set up triage hubs at the Ukrainian border and in the 
most affected Member States to speed up relocation 
and medical transfers. European transport operators 
stepped in at the beginning of the war to offer 
refugees from Ukraine free transport to European 
countries.

The EU Civil Protection Mechanism coordinated 
medical evacuations of Ukrainian civilians and 
military patients in need of continued treatment 
or urgent medical assistance to countries in the 
EU and Norway. The Commission set up logistical 
hubs to channel European assistance and support 
humanitarian partners on the ground. Among these 
were medical hubs set up in Jasionka (Poland), Iaşi 
(Romania) and Košice (Slovakia) to ensure the safe 

evacuation of patients and prepare for the reception 
of a large influx of patients in countries bordering the 
EU. The evacuation operations were supported by the 
new rescEU medical evacuation plane, financed by 
the EU and hosted by Norway. By the end of the year, 
more than 1 670 patients had been transferred to 
hospitals in 19 European countries.

In an exemplary demonstration of European 
solidarity with Ukraine and its people, all 27 Member 
States, along with North Macedonia, Norway and 
Türkiye, offered help to Ukraine under the EU Civil 
Protection Mechanism throughout the year. An 
additional stockpile of urgently needed items, such 
as medical equipment and temporary shelters, was 
established to centralise items donated by private 
companies.

Life-saving assistance for Ukraine

 • 30 countries offered their assistance

 • 1 260 power generators

 •

Over 77 500 tonnes of non-
monetary assistance was donated

 • 1 105 transformers

 • 185 ambulances

 • 125 fire engines

 • 129 heavy machinery vehicles

 • 33 pontoon and bailey bridges

GENERAL REPORT 
 
16

Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for 
Energy (left), and Herman Haluschenko, 
Ukraine’s Energy Minister, in the centre of 
Kyiv, Ukraine, 1 November 2022. 

Russia’s war of aggression against 
Ukraine also put pressure on 
Member States’ health systems, 
which provided healthcare to 
those displaced to the EU. Under 
an agreement with the EU, the 
International Federation of Red 
Cross and Red Crescent Societies 
was able to provide mental health and emotional 
support to people displaced in Ukraine, and in the EU 
and countries in the European Economic Area.

The European Medicines Agency and the 
Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness 
and Response Authority closely monitored supplies 
of important medicines and medical equipment, 
including paediatric vaccines and vaccines for other 
infectious diseases, to prevent possible supply chain 
issues. Additional support, in the form of wastewater 
surveillance for different pathogens, was also given 
to Member States hosting refugees. The Commission 
coordinated these actions with international partners 
such as the World Health Organization.

Russia’s persistent and deliberate targeting of 
Ukraine’s energy infrastructure seriously affected the 

country’s energy system. The EU, together with its 
Member States and private companies, delivered 
several million euro worth of emergency energy 
equipment to Ukraine. In addition, €32 million was 
collected to cover the most urgent needs via the 
Ukraine Energy Support Fund established by the 
Energy Community at the request of the Commission. 
In December, President von der Leyen announced 
that the EU would mobilise around €30 million to 
purchase up to 30 million energy-saving light bulbs 
for Ukraine.

The EU also delivered more than €40 million of 
chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threat 
countermeasures and equipment from rescEU 
reserves and allocated €13 million for the restoration 
of laboratories damaged by Russian occupiers at 
Chernobyl.

Welcoming those fleeing the armed conflict

In a historical first and with unprecedented speed, on 
4 March the EU activated the Temporary Protection 
Directive to offer quick and effective help. Along with 
offering protection to those fleeing Russia’s war of 
aggression, including giving them a clear legal status 
and a residence permit in an EU Member State, the 
EU also provided access to schooling, social welfare, 
jobs, medical care and housing.

The Commission set up the EU Solidarity platform 
as a central hub to monitor needs and coordinate 
the operational response. The platform, which is 
also available in Russian and Ukrainian, enabled EU 

Member States to exchange essential information 
relating to the ensuing arrival of millions of 
displaced people in European countries. In March, the 
Commission presented a 10-point plan to strengthen 
European coordination on welcoming refugees.

The Commission also launched a communication 
campaign to inform refugees about their rights and 
about trustworthy sources of information when 
travelling to the EU. By the end of 2022, around 
4.5 million people had officially been registered for 
temporary protection in EU Member States.

THE EU IN 2022 
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Anastasiia Konovalova fled from Odesa, 
Ukraine, to Bucharest, Romania, where 
she now teaches primary school classes to 
Ukrainian children. 

500 000 Ukrainian children started the 
2022/2023 school year in the EU.

Education in times of conflict

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has 
taken a severe toll on its education system, affecting 
students, teachers and administration, and education 
facilities, thousands of which sustained damage. 
With support from the European Union, UNICEF 
provided education supplies and organised training 
for teachers on life-skills education and emotional 
support.

According to EU estimates, around one third of the 
refugees from Ukraine were school-age children. 
These children received the same rights and 
protection as children who are EU citizens. Around 
half a million Ukrainian children were integrated into 
school systems in 20 Member States at the start of 
the new school year in September.

The Commission supported national education 
systems with a practical manual for the 2022/2023 
school year, guidelines on the fast-track recognition 
of Ukrainian academic qualifications, peer learning, 
online platforms and flexible funding arrangements 
under the Erasmus+ programme, which supports 
education, training, youth and sport in Europe.

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In June, the Commission invited Member States to 
review their requests for aid for the 2022/2023 
school year under the EU school scheme to cater for 
displaced Ukrainian children. The scheme supports 
the distribution of fruit, vegetables, milk and certain 
milk products to schoolchildren from nursery to 
secondary school. As a result, a total of €2.9 million 
was redistributed to these countries.

The Commission also launched MSCA4Ukraine, 
funded under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, 
with a €25 million budget to support researchers 
fleeing the war. This enabled them to continue their 
work at academic and non-academic organisations 
in EU Member States and Horizon Europe-associated 
countries, while maintaining their connections to 
research and innovation communities in Ukraine.

In 2022, the EU allocated €100 million for the rehabilitation 
of damaged Ukrainian schools and donated €14 million for 
the purchase and transport of school buses for children in 
Ukraine. The Commission also organised a solidarity campaign 
calling on public and private entities to donate school buses 
for Ukraine. By December, 240 buses were on their way to 
Ukraine, channelled from the EU Member States via the EU 
Civil Protection Mechanism.

V I D E O  Driving Ukraine’s future.

GENERAL REPORT 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
18

Supporting EU Member States

The EU also acted with speed and solidarity to 
support Member States as they welcomed and 
found accommodation for those fleeing Ukraine, 
making €3.5 billion immediately available from the 
pandemic crisis instrument Recovery Assistance for 
Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU). 
Member States and their regions were also able to 
redirect existing funding to provide basic material 
assistance, such as food and clothing, through the 
Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) 
initiative. To further extend this support, in June the 
Commission presented the Flexible Assistance to 
Territories (FAST–CARE) proposal to help Member 
States in their provision of support to refugees. In 
total, up to €17 billion is potentially available under 
CARE for 2014–2020 (including REACT-EU mentioned 
above) and up to €17 billion under FAST-CARE for 
2021–2027. 

The 2014–2020 and 2021–2027 home affairs funds 
were also available to support EU Member States 
in welcoming those fleeing Ukraine. Furthermore, 
an additional €400 million was made available to 
frontline Member States to help cover the costs of 

shelter, food and healthcare, and to support border 
management. 

Nine Member States requested support through the 
EU’s Technical Support Instrument to implement 
the Temporary Protection Directive. This included 
helping people fleeing Ukraine find jobs in the EU and 
adapting school curricula to the needs of Ukrainian 
pupils. 

After suspending cooperation programmes with 
Russia and its ally Belarus, the EU transferred 
€26.2 million, initially envisaged for projects with 
these two countries, to strengthen the cooperation of 
Member States with Moldova and Ukraine. 

The EU also introduced changes to the legal 
framework of 15 cross-border and transnational 
cooperation programmes disrupted by the Russian 
war of aggression. These changes were made to 
ensure that projects supporting Member States and 
benefiting Moldovans and Ukrainians could continue 
to be implemented. This included projects to support 
refugees. 

FAST–CARE: cohesion policy support for territories 
and partners receiving Ukrainian refugees 

 •

 •

 •

 •

 •

Full flexibility and simplification of all cohesion funds.

30 % of funding to go to local authorities and civil-society 
organisations. 

Flexibility to implement projects delayed by shortage of raw 
materials and workforce. 

Simplified support of €100 per refugee per week for 26 weeks. 

Additional €3.5 billion cohesion pre-financing.

THE EU IN 202219

Helping farmers and fishers 

Actions to support EU farmers most affected by 
the war included an exceptional aid package of 
€500 million. EU farmers received increased support 
through rural development funds, which allowed 
Member States to pay affected farmers and agri-
food businesses a one-off lump sum. In addition, 
the temporary relaxation of crop rotation rules for 
2022/2023, which aims to maximise the production 
of cereals, is expected to put an estimated 
1.5 million hectares back into production.

Russia’s weaponisation of its energy exports 
worsened an already challenging situation for the 
fertiliser market, on the heels of the COVID-19 
pandemic. The peak in gas prices led to an increase 
of around 149 % in the cost of nitrogen fertilisers 
in September 2022, compared with the year before. 
In response to this, the Commission presented a 
wide range of initiatives to ensure the availability 
and affordability of fertilisers in the EU and globally. 

Measures to support farmers included targeted 
financial help, such as specific support under the 
Temporary Crisis Framework for State-aid, support 
for alternative fertiliser solutions and the launch of a 
market observatory for fertilisers to enhance market 
transparency.

EU fishery and aquaculture operators were also 
severely affected due to the rising prices of energy 
and raw materials. To help the struggling sector, 
the EU activated the European Maritime, Fisheries 
and Aquaculture Fund to support operators and 
introduce specific crisis measures. These initiatives 
complement those available under the State-aid 
Temporary Crisis Framework, which was adopted to 
help EU companies deal with high energy prices and 
other consequences of Russia’s war of aggression 
against Ukraine (see Chapter 2 for more information).

© Adobe Stock

GENERAL REPORT20

Support in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes

The EU took a number of measures to make Russian 
decision-makers accountable for the gross violations 
of international human rights law and international 
humanitarian law in Ukraine.

In March, all EU Member States, together with other 
partner countries, decided to collectively refer the 
situation in Ukraine to the International Criminal 
Court. While continuing to support the work of the 
Court, the EU expressed readiness to work with 
the international community on setting up an ad 
hoc international tribunal or a ‘hybrid’ tribunal 
to investigate and prosecute Russia’s crimes of 
aggression.

By the end of 2022, Ukraine and 14 EU Member 
States had launched investigations into the 
international crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine. 
Some of these Member States are already working 
directly with Ukraine and the European Union 
Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) 
through the Joint Investigation Team, set up to 
collect evidence and investigate war crimes and 
crimes against humanity. Eurojust’s mandate was 
strengthened in June 2022, giving it the ability to 
preserve, analyse and store evidence relating to 
international crimes.

A mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine, 8 April 2022.

Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign 
Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European 
Commission in charge of ‘A Stronger Europe in the World’ (right), 
and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission 
(second from right), paying tribute to the victims of the war in 
Ukraine, 8 April 2022.

Andriy Kostin, Ukrainian Prosecutor 
General (left), with Didier Reynders, 
European Commissioner for Justice, in 
Borodyanka, Ukraine, 9 October 2022.

THE EU IN 2022 
 
 
21

The EU also amended the mandate of the EU 
Advisory Mission for Civilian Security Sector Reform 
in Ukraine to enable it to also provide support to 
the Ukrainian authorities in the investigation and 
prosecution of any international crimes committed 
in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against 
Ukraine.

The European Agency for Law Enforcement 
Cooperation (Europol) developed a dedicated 
taskforce to collect and analyse publicly available 
information in order to assist Ukraine and the 
International Criminal Court in monitoring online 
content.

Reconstruction of Ukraine

Russia’s war of aggression has already caused 
massive destruction to towns and communities in 
Ukraine, with the cost of reconstruction estimated by 
the World Bank to be up to €600 billion. A collective 
international effort will be required to support 
Ukraine as it rebuilds its country and its economy.

In November 2022, the Commission presented 
different options to Member States to make sure 
that Russia pays for the atrocities committed during 
its unprovoked aggression against Ukraine. In the 
short term, the Commission proposed to create 
a new financial structure to manage frozen and 
immobilised public Russian assets, invest them and 
use the proceeds for Ukraine. In the longer term, 
once the sanctions are lifted, these funds could be 
used to ensure Russia’s full compensation for the 
damages caused to Ukraine.

It will be co-chaired by the EU, Ukraine and the 
United States and will be assisted in its work by the 
technical Secretariat, with a Brussels (Belgium) office 
hosted by the Commission and a Kyiv (Ukraine) office 
hosted by the Government of Ukraine.

Regarding long-term reconstruction, on 25 October 
the Commission and the G7 presidency 
jointly organised an International 
Expert Conference on the Recovery, 
Reconstruction and Modernisation of 
Ukraine in Berlin (Germany). Building 
on the discussions held in Lugano 
(Switzerland), on 4 and 5 July at the 
Ukraine Recovery Conference, the 
Berlin conference provided additional 
expert advice on the recovery process. 
The outcome of the conference will 
contribute to the development of an 
international coordination platform, as 
proposed by the Commission in May. 
In December, G7 leaders agreed to 
establish such a multi-agency Donor 
Coordination platform, together with 
Ukraine and international partners 
and in close coordination with relevant 
international organisations and 
international financial institutions. The 
platform will be key to help match 
needs and resources for Ukraine’s repair, 
recovery and reconstruction efforts. 

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European 
Commission, at the International Expert Conference on the 
Recovery, Reconstruction and Modernisation of Ukraine, 
Berlin, Germany, 25 October 2022. 

GENERAL REPORT 
22

2. Ensuring secure, 
affordable and 
sustainable energy

Introduction

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its 
use of energy exports as a weapon threatened the 
security and affordability of the EU’s energy supplies. 
The EU responded with initiatives aimed at phasing 
out its dependence on Russian fossil fuels, supporting 
citizens facing high energy bills and accelerating the 
EU’s clean-energy transition.

Shortly after the invasion, the EU presented 
REPowerEU, a groundbreaking plan for saving energy, 
boosting renewable energy and diversifying Europe’s 
energy supplies. The plan builds on the ambitious 
measures proposed in 2021 to help the EU meet its 
climate and environmental goals (see Chapter 3). 
It also complements earlier initiatives relating to 
energy security, supply and storage.

REPowerEU is partially backed by financial support 
from the NextGenerationEU instrument and the 
necessary legal measures to advance the transition 
to the new energy infrastructure and system that 
Europe needs. This will require massive scaling-up 
of renewables, along with faster electrification and 
the replacement of fossil-based heat and power in 
industry, buildings and the transport sector.

Over the course of 2022, the EU took a range of 
emergency measures to address the energy crisis 
and, for the first time in the field of energy, used 
the emergency intervention under Article 122 of the 
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. 
This was done to ensure gas savings, speed up 
permit-granting procedures for renewable energy 
projects and trigger solidarity among Member States 
in the event of severe difficulties in energy supply.

THE EU IN 202223

Energy security

Ending the EU’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels

The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has 
massively disrupted the world’s energy system, 
causing hardship as a result of high energy prices 
and heightening energy security concerns. It also 
brought to the fore the EU’s overdependence on 
fossil fuel imports from Russia, which accounted for 
44 % of gas imports, 46 % of coal imports and 27 % 
of oil imports in 2021.

To find alternative energy supplies and avoid 
overdependence on a single supplier, the EU reached 
out to reliable international partners, securing record 
levels of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and 
alternative deliveries of pipeline gas. To this end, the 
EU signed a landmark deal with the United States in 
March, and further arrangements followed with 
Azerbaijan, Egypt and Israel.

Within weeks of the invasion, the EU came forward 
with the REPowerEU Plan to end its dependency on 
Russian fossil fuels by accelerating the roll-out of 
renewables, improving energy efficiency and energy 
savings and diversifying energy supplies.

Diversifying the EU’s energy 
supplies

V I D E O  REPowerEU: the European Commission’s plan to 
phase out Russian fossil fuels.

The EU policy efforts in 2022 have paid off. By 
the end of 2022, the EU had reduced its pipeline 
gas imports from Russia to 9 % and Norway had 
overtaken Russia as the EU’s leading gas supplier.

GENERAL REPORT 
24

Several energy infrastructure projects, known as 
projects of common interest, facilitated the switch to 
LNG and its transport across Europe. Other projects 
that came online in 2022, such as the Baltic Pipe and 
the Interconnector Greece–Bulgaria, were crucial in 
providing several Member States with an alternative 
to Russian gas. This was possible thanks to 
considerable EU investment in energy infrastructure 
in the past decade. 

The Interconnector Greece–Bulgaria is a 
crucial project for the diversification of 
gas supply in south-eastern Europe. 
Inaugurated on 1 October 2022 in Sofia 
(Bulgaria), it is a key route to carry gas 
from the trans-Adriatic pipeline and 
Greece to Bulgaria and neighbouring 
countries. The project received 
€45 million from the European Energy 
Programme for Recovery and €39 million 
from structural funds under the 
Innovation and Competitiveness 
Operational Programme. 

The EU also entered into cooperation with Egypt, 
Japan, Kazakhstan and Namibia to accelerate the 
production of renewable hydrogen, which will play a 
key role in decarbonising sectors (e.g. long-distance 
transport) where the switch to alternative fuels 
might be unfeasible or more expensive. It also offers 
a potential future use for parts of the existing gas 
pipeline infrastructure to avoid lock-in effects.

Celebrating the inauguration of the 
Interconnector Greece–Bulgaria, Sofia, 
Bulgaria, 1 October 2022. From left 
to right: Teodora Georgieva, Executive 
Officer for ICGB AD, Stevo Pendarovski, 
President of North Macedonia, Ilham 
Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, Ursula 
von der Leyen, President of the European 
Commission, Roumen Radev, President 
of Bulgaria, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime 
Minister of Greece, Galab Donev, Prime 
Minister of Bulgaria, Aleksandar Vučić, 
President of Serbia, Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă, 
Prime Minister of Romania, and George 
Satlas, Executive Officer for ICGB AD.

THE EU IN 2022 
25

Securing storage and tackling 
high costs

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and 
its weaponisation of energy resources worsened 
an already tight supply situation on the energy 
market following the COVID-19 pandemic. The 
communication on energy prices adopted in October 
2021 provided the Member States with a ‛toolbox’ 
on how to deploy measures at the national level to 
tackle the impact of rising energy prices in line with 
Single Market rules. The toolbox was expanded in 
2022 with the communication on short-term energy 
market interventions and long-term improvements 
to the electricity market design and the REPowerEU 
Plan.

The EU also took immediate action to ensure that 
Europe could stay warm over the winter. This 
involved saving energy so more gas could be stored 
for the winter months. Member States agreed 
to reduce their gas demand by 15 % between 
1 August 2022 and 31 March 2023, compared to 
their average consumption in the previous 5 years, 
through their own choice of measures. While 
the energy systems in each Member State differ 
greatly, requiring a variety of measures to be taken, 
coordinated moves at the EU level proved vital in 
reducing overall consumption across the EU in 2022.

Gas storage plays an important role in guaranteeing 
the EU’s security of supply, covering 25–30 % of 
gas consumed across the EU in a normal winter. The 
EU adopted new legislation in record time in June, 
requiring the EU’s underground gas storage to be 
filled to at least 80 % of capacity by 1 November 
2022 – and to 90 % at the same date in future years 
– to ensure supply for the coming winter. Thanks to 
a concerted effort by Member States, storage rates 
surpassed this to reach 95.5 % in November 2022.

A further emergency measure was to define a 
default solidarity agreement between neighbouring 
Member States in the event of supply shortages. This 
will ensure that European citizens can have 
continuous access to gas even during a crisis. At the 
same time, lowering energy demand remains 
important in the context of reducing greenhouse gas 
emissions and preserving Europe’s gas reserves for 
the years to come.

EU gas storage

Over

95 % 

Share of total EU capacity

EU goal

100 %

80 %

60 %

40 %

20 %

0 %

February

September

October

November

The EU also established an EU Energy Purchase 
Platform to facilitate the voluntary joint purchase 
of gas, LNG and hydrogen by Member States. The 
platform will also be open to Energy Community 
countries, such as Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, and 
the Western Balkan countries.

To respond to the energy crisis, cohesion policy 
rules were amended to support affordable energy 
measures, allowing Member States the possibility 
to provide direct support to vulnerable families and 
small and medium-sized businesses particularly 
affected by the increase in energy prices.

The introduction of a State-aid Temporary Crisis 
Framework enabled Member States to use the 
flexibility provided under State-aid rules to support 
their economies without undermining the Single 
Market. This particularly concerns categories of aid 
to support Member States’ efforts to address the 
issue of high energy prices, ensure the security of 
energy supply and facilitate the phasing out of fossil 
fuels. In 2022, the European Commission approved 
182 national measures to help the Member States 
deal with the consequences of Russia’s war of 
aggression against Ukraine, totalling an estimated 
€671.78 billion.

GENERAL REPORT26

The EU aims to reduce 
electricity consumption to 
tackle high prices

The Council regulation on an emergency intervention 
to address high energy prices introduced further 
urgent measures, such as targets to reduce 
electricity consumption. The Commission also 
put forward additional proposals, including the 
development of a price benchmark to ensure stable 
and predictable pricing for LNG transactions. Member 
States also agreed to collect the windfall profits of 
energy companies (fossil fuel and inframarginal 
technologies producers) to fund additional support 
for households and companies.

In addition, the EU adopted a Market Correction 
Mechanism to protect businesses and households 
from episodes of excessively high gas prices, which 
diverge from prices on other international markets.

 •

 •

 •

€10 billion  

Finnish loan guarantee scheme to support 
energy producers

 €1.5 billion  

Belgian guarantee scheme to support gas and 
electricity suppliers

€3.4 billion  

Danish subsidised loan scheme to support 
companies

 •

 •

 •

€125 million  

Estonian scheme to support the liquidity needs of 
companies across sectors

€220 million  

Spanish measure to support the production of 
renewable hydrogen

€10 billion  

Polish scheme to partially compensate energy-
intensive companies for higher electricity prices 
resulting from indirect emission costs

THE EU IN 2022 
 
 
27

Fit for 55 refers to the EU’s target 
of reducing net greenhouse gas 
emissions by at least 55 % by 2030. 

As one of the measures to achieve 
this, the EU needs to reduce its 
energy consumption. In 2021, the 
Commission proposed a new target 
of 9 % savings (relative to 2020 
consumption) by the end of the 
decade. As part of the REPowerEU 
Plan, the proposed target was raised 
to at least 13 % savings by 2030. 

more resilient and accelerating the EU’s clean-energy 
transition. Linked to this energy efficiency drive are 
the ongoing revision of the Energy Performance 
of Buildings Directive and the emphasis given to 
building renovation in Member States’ recovery and 
resilience plans, for example through insulation and 
the installation of heat pumps.

Efficient use of energy

Saving energy

Saving energy is the quickest and easiest way to 
address the energy crisis and reduce bills. In addition 
to an immediate reduction in the consumption of gas 
and electricity, the Commission proposed to boost 
medium-term energy efficiency measures. This 
included an increase from 9 % to 13 % of the 
binding 2030 target for energy efficiency under the 
Fit for 55 package.  

Together with energy efficiency policies, initiatives 
from citizens and businesses to save energy have 
had a positive impact on prices, making the economy 

Spreading the word on 
energy savings

In 2022, the Commission renewed its long-
standing partnership with the Union of European 
Football Associations, charting a roadmap for 
joint efforts until 2025 to harness football as a 
force for positive change in priority areas, such 
as climate action, equality for all and social 
inclusion. 

The joint venture is part of the Union of 
European Football Associations’ commitment 
to the European Climate Pact – an EU-wide 
initiative inviting people, communities and 
organisations to participate in climate action 
and build a greener Europe. 

V I D E O  The TV ad ‘Become a fan of 
saving energy too’ aired during the 
men’s and women’s Union of European 
Football Associations Champions League, 
the Europa League and other major 
competitions, potentially reaching over 35 
million viewers per match in the EU alone.

GENERAL REPORT 
28

How can citizens and businesses 
save energy? 

 •

 •

By reducing heating 
temperatures / using less 
air conditioning

Turning down the 
heating by 1°C can save 
10 billion cubic metres 
of gas within a year.

 •

 •

By switching off 
the lights

By using household 
appliances more 
efficiently 

 •

 •

By driving more 
economically 

By shifting to more 
public transport and 
active mobility

Digitalisation of the energy sector 

The digitalisation of the energy sector will help the 
EU achieve its goal of climate neutrality by 2050, as 
set out in the European Green Deal (see Chapter 3). 
In 2022, the Commission presented an action plan 
for the system-wide digitalisation of the energy 
sector. It aims to make the market for digital energy 
services more sustainable, cybersecure, transparent 
and competitive. It will also ensure data privacy and 
sovereignty, and support investment in digital energy 
infrastructure.

Digitalisation will improve: 

The plan highlights how new technologies can 
help improve the efficient use of energy resources, 
facilitate the integration of renewables into the 
grid, and save costs for EU consumers and energy 
companies. It further aims to ensure that the 
digitalisation of the energy sector is fully part of 
the clean-energy transition, in addition to being 
consistent with the digital targets for 2030.

 •

affordability, 
helping consumers 
increase control over 
energy use and bills;

 •

sustainability, 
making the green and 
digital transitions work 
hand in hand;

 •

resilience, 
strengthening the 
cybersecurity of energy 
networks.

THE EU IN 2022Accelerating the production 
of green energy

Renewables

Renewables are at the heart of the EU’s plans 
to phase out Russian fossil fuels and tackle the 
climate crisis. They are the cheapest and cleanest 
energy available, and can be produced domestically, 
reducing the need for energy imports. In 2022, as 
part of the REPowerEU package, the Commission 
proposed to increase the EU’s 2030 target for 
renewables to 45 % of total energy consumption, 
compared to the target of 40 % envisaged under the 
Fit for 55 proposals. 

In precise terms, the aim is to bring the total 
renewable energy generation capacities to 1 236 
gigawatts by 2030. This includes ambitions to 
stimulate the EU’s production capacity of solar 
energy, wind energy, biomethane and renewable 
hydrogen.

The newly adopted EU Solar Energy Strategy will 
boost the roll-out of photovoltaic energy, bringing 
over 320 gigawatts of additional solar photovoltaic 
capacity online by 2025 (over twice today’s level), 
and almost 600 gigawatts by 2030. These additional 
solar panels could replace 9 billion cubic metres of 
natural gas annually by 2027. 

Citizens and installers can use the  
Photovoltaic Geographical Information System 
tool to see the solar-energy generating 
potential of their roofs. Meanwhile, Member 
States and regional authorities are actively 
using the Energy and Industry Geography Lab, 
a new online platform that helps identify 
suitable land and sea locations for new 
renewable energy plants while avoiding 
environmentally valuable areas. This 
contributes to the rapid deployment of energy 
from wind and solar sources.

29

Citizen support for the 
EU’s response to the 
energy crisis

A large majority of EU citizens are 
positive about recent EU initiatives to 
tackle the energy crisis. In particular, 
more than 8 in 10 EU citizens 
(82 %) agree that the EU should 
continue to take action to reduce 
its dependency on Russian fossil 
fuels. An overwhelming majority 
of respondents (83 %) think that 
Russia’s war of aggression against 
Ukraine has made investing in 
renewable energy a more urgent 
need. 

Source: Flash Eurobarometer 514, December 2022.

Frans Timmermans, Executive 
Vice-President of the European 
Commission in charge of the 
European Green Deal (second 
from left), visiting a pilot plant 
which produces steel with fossil-
free technology, Luleå, Sweden, 
31 March 2022.

GENERAL REPORT 
30

REPowerEU builds on the 2020 EU Strategy on 
Hydrogen, which explores the potential for using 
renewable hydrogen to replace fossil-based 
hydrogen for transport and industrial processes, 
and to launch new industrial products, such as 
green fertilisers and steel. In 2022, the EU further 
increased the ambitions for renewable hydrogen by 
doubling the 2030 target to 20 million tonnes of 
renewable hydrogen. This includes 10 million tonnes 
of domestic production and another 10 million 
tonnes of imports.

It also set the target for biomethane production 
to 35 billion cubic metres by 2030. To achieve 
this ambitious target, a Biomethane Industrial 

Partnership was launched, which will promote 
collaboration between the Commission, EU Member 
States, industry representatives, feedstock producers, 
academia and non-governmental organisations.

To accelerate the roll-out of renewables and 
encourage more investments, the Commission 
adopted a recommendation on speeding up permit-
granting procedures for renewable energy projects 
and a proposal to amend the Renewable Energy 
Directive. To address the energy crisis, a temporary 
emergency measure adopted in December will 
facilitate the granting of permits for some energy 
projects as of early 2023. 

Financing REPowerEU

Thanks to the NextGenerationEU recovery plan, 
Member States are already implementing reforms 
and investments in their respective recovery and 
resilience plans to improve 
energy efficiency and boost the 
use of renewables. By financing 
energy-saving renovations, new 
wind turbines and solar parks 
and electric trains, for example, 
NextGenerationEU is helping to 
accelerate the recovery and the 
green and digital transitions. In 
December, political agreement 
was reached to include 
dedicated chapters in the 
Member States’ existing 
recovery and resilience plans to 
channel investments to 
REPowerEU priorities and make 
the necessary reforms (see 
Chapter 6).

Diversify 
energy 
sources 

Accelerate the 
clean-energy 
transition

REPowerEU
Phase out dependency 
on Russian fossil fuels.

Save 
energy 

Smart investment
National and EU plans: reforms 
and investments, faster permitting 
and innovation. 

THE EU IN 202231

3. Creating a 
greener, climate-
neutral Europe

Introduction

The triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss 
and pollution is a pressing challenge that requires 
immediate action. The European Green Deal 
remains the EU’s roadmap to tackle these pressing 
challenges.

On top of this, two historic world events – the 
COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression 
against Ukraine – have only served to strengthen the 
EU’s commitment to stay the course on the green 
transition and accelerate the pace of change.

The increasing intensity of extreme weather events 
in 2022 highlighted the need for further EU and 
international action to combat climate change, 
increase drought resilience and restore ecosystems. 
Other initiatives included stronger rules on pollutants, 
reducing the use of chemical pesticides, tackling 
packaging waste and building a more sustainable 
future.

A child playing during the UN 
Climate Change Conference (COP27), 
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 2022.

GENERAL REPORT 
32

Delivering on the European Green Deal

The EU’s long-term growth strategy is to ensure 
Europe’s climate neutrality by 2050. This target is 
enshrined in the European Climate Law, together 
with the legally binding commitment to reduce net 
greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 % by 2030, 
compared to 1990 levels. The European Green Deal 
is the EU’s plan to make this happen. In 2022, the EU 
continued its bold action to achieve its climate goals.

EU ETS was agreed by the European Parliament 
and the Council of the European Union. There was 
also political agreement on proposals concerning 
emissions and carbon removals from land use, land-
use change and forestry, the creation of a social 
climate fund and strengthened emissions standards 
for cars and vans.

The EU is also working on increasing its transparency 

A cornerstone of the 
EU’s policy to combat 
climate change and its 
key tool for reducing 
greenhouse gas emissions 
cost-effectively is the EU 
Emissions Trading System 
(ETS) – a marketplace 
for participants to 
trade capped emissions 
allowances between 
themselves for maximum 
efficiency. In 2022, the 
Commission’s proposal 
on the revision of the 

The EU’s net domestic 
emissions in 2022 were 30 % 
lower than 1990 levels, and 
the EU remains on track 
to achieve the target of 
– 55 % by 2030. 

Source: 2022 climate 
action progress report.

regarding the social and 
environmental impact of 
the activities of companies. 
The Corporate Sustainability 
Reporting Directive adopted 
in December will modernise 
and strengthen the rules 
concerning the type of 
information companies 
must report and imposed 
a reporting obligation on 
a broader set of large 
companies and listed 
small and medium-sized 
enterprises.

Acting globally for the planet

In 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
Change, the leading international body for 
assessment of climate change, released three 
reports confirming that the world is warming rapidly 
due to human influence, and set out trajectories 
for adaptation and mitigation. The EU continued 
to engage with international partners on how to 
increase ambitions by reinforcing sectoral targets, 
achieving economy-wide goals and submitting net-
zero strategies.

EU diplomacy secured support for a legally binding 
global agreement to combat plastic pollution at 
the UN Environment Assembly in March. The plan 
is to conclude negotiations by 2024. The future 
agreement will aim to strengthen existing initiatives 
and agreements, especially at the design and 
production phases of the plastics life cycle. It must 
bring together efforts from all stakeholders to 
achieve the overall goal of eliminating the leakage of 
plastic into the environment.

THE EU IN 202233

UN climate change and environmental conferences

In June 2022, at the conferences of the parties 
(COPs) to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm UN 
conventions – environmental agreements that share 
the common objective of protecting human health 
and the environment from hazardous chemicals 
and wastes – progress was made on the sound 
management of chemicals and waste. This included 
a milestone decision to control the global trade 
of electronic waste and prevent its uncontrolled 
dumping. The EU also proposed the development 
of global standards on the management of used 
tyres, a major source of microplastics. Renewed calls 
were made to eliminate the use of polychlorinated 
biphenyls, chemicals widely present in old electrical 
equipment and oils, by 2025.

Ahead of the annual UN Climate Change Conference, 
COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the EU engaged in 
constructive negotiations to spur global climate action 
in line with the Paris Agreement temperature goal of 
maximum 1.5 °C global warming.

In Egypt, under the leadership of Executive Vice-
President Frans Timmermans, the EU led the call at 
COP27 for all parties to take urgent action on cutting 
greenhouse gas emissions, but also on adapting to 
the inevitable consequences of climate change in the 
coming decades.

The conference adopted a Mitigation Work 
Programme to scale up ambition and 
implementation. Recognising the urgent need 
to ramp up global action and support the most 
vulnerable developing countries affected by climate 
change, the EU supported the establishment of 

Alikhan Smailov, Prime 
Minister of Kazakhstan (left), 
and Ursula von der Leyen, 
President of the European 
Commission, signing the 
EU–Kazakhstan Memorandum 
of Understanding on raw 
materials, batteries and 
renewable hydrogen, Sharm 
el-Sheikh, Egypt, 7 November 
2022. See Chapter 2 for more 
information on renewable 
energy. 

a new fund to help avert, minimise and address 
loss and damage. This lays the foundations for 
greater solidarity between those in need and those 
in a position to help. The EU and the African Union 
announced an initiative with a ‘Team Europe’ 
approach to climate change adaptation and 
resilience in Africa, under the Global Gateway (see 
Chapter 8), mobilising €1 billion. 

The event also saw the EU launch a Forest 
Partnership with five partner countries (Guyana, 
Mongolia, the Republic of Congo, Uganda and 
Zambia), and the announcement of an ambitious, 
long-term Just Energy Transition Investment Plan 
for South Africa. The EU concluded two important 
strategic partnerships on sustainable raw materials 
and renewable hydrogen, one with Namibia and the 
other with Kazakhstan, and stepped up cooperation 
with Egypt on the clean-energy transition, which 
included a strategic partnership on renewable 
hydrogen.

View of the lectern at the 
Global Methane Pledge 
Ministerial Meeting, Sharm 
el-Sheikh, Egypt, 17 November 
2022. From left to right: 
Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian 
Minister for Foreign Affairs 
and COP27 President, Frans 
Timmermans, Executive Vice-
President of the European 
Commission in charge of the 
European Green Deal, and 
John Kerry, US Special Envoy 
for Climate. 

GENERAL REPORT 
 
34

#ForOurPlanet is a new EU campaign 
launched in 2022 in the context of 
COP27 and COP15, which will return 
annually to rally global support for 
nature and climate action in the 
years to come.

nature’, adopting the Kunming Declaration. During 
the second part of the conference, which took place 
in Montreal (Canada) from 7 to 19 December 2022, 
196 countries met to reach a global agreement 
on the protection of nature and the planet, setting 
long-term goals for 2050 and milestones for 2030. 
The EU, under the leadership of Commissioner 
Sinkevičius, worked with all parties to conclude an 
ambitious global agreement to protect, restore, 
sustainably use and invest in biodiversity and 
ecosystems. 

At the 19th meeting of the Conference of the 
Parties to the Convention on International Trade in 
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (the 
World Wildlife Conference), which took place in 
Panama City (Panama), from 14 to 25 November 
2022, the EU actively contributed to achieving key 
outcomes allowing for sustainable trade in more 
than 500 newly listed species. This is crucial for 
tackling global biodiversity loss, which threatens our 
health, food security and livelihoods. 

© United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification 

The 15th session of the UN Convention to Combat 
Desertification, held in May, led to the adoption of 38 
decisions that highlight the role of sustainable land 
management in addressing multiple crises. The main 
outcome was a global pledge to boost drought 
resilience and invest in land restoration for future 
prosperity.

The EU strongly advocated for the importance of 
restoring ecosystems, reforestation and nature-
based solutions in the protection of land and soils 
and highlighted the critical link between protecting 
nature and addressing the impacts of droughts and 
climate change.

In 2022, the world also came together at the 
biggest biodiversity conference in a decade to 
agree on a new global biodiversity framework. 
The UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15), originally 
scheduled for 2020, took place in two parts due to 
the COVID-19 pandemic. The first part took place 
virtually in Kunming (China), from 11 to 15 October 
2021, where parties reaffirmed their commitment to 
achieving the 2050 vision of ‘Living in harmony with 

Facts about biodiversity loss

 •

1 million 
species are 
at risk of 
extinction.

 •

Humans have 
radically 
changed three 
quarters of 
the earth’s land 
surface.

 •

75 % of the 
world’s crops 
depend on 
pollinators.

 •

 •

•Half of global 
gross domestic 
product depends on 
nature. 

70 % of cancer 
drugs are natural 
or inspired by 
nature.

THE EU IN 2022On the Green Track

35

As part of the European Year of Youth 
2022, the Green Track campaign, in 
the run-up to the COP15 Biodiversity 
Conference, has empowered young 
people across Europe to voice their 
hopes and concerns about nature, 
biodiversity and Europe’s sustainable 
future.  

Protecting and restoring Europe’s nature

These extreme weather events can be avoided in 
the future by reducing greenhouse gas emissions 
and tackling the climate crisis. The EU’s Fit for 55 
package of proposals will increase ambitions and 
targets in this area. Moreover, the EU Climate 
Adaptation Strategy will help European citizens, 
farmers and companies cope with extreme weather.

Extreme weather

Europe experienced record levels of drought in 2022. 
As predicted by the European Drought Observatory, 
crop yields across the continent reduced significantly, 
and energy production dropped due to reduced 
hydropower generation.

Aquatic life and barge transport suffered too, due to 
historically low water levels in large rivers. During 
the summer, high levels of drought resulting in the 
loss of crops and infrastructure to wildfires were 
registered in 60 % of the EU’s territory. Together 
with civil protection measures, this cost the EU over 
€2.4 billion.

High temperatures and a severe lack of rainfall 
affected almost all rivers across Europe, hampering 
energy production and river transport.

The Rhine River with historically 
low levels of water, Cologne, 
Germany, 12 September 2022. 

GENERAL REPORT 
 
According to the September 2022 map 
of the Combined Drought Indicator, 
35 % of EU territory was at Warning 
level and 25 % at Alert level. 

Watch: rainfall deﬁcit

Warning: soil moisture 
deﬁcit

Alert: vegetation stress 
following soil moisture 
and vegetation deﬁcit

Full recovery to normal 
conditions

Temporary soil moisture 
recovery

Temporary vegetation 
recovery

36

2
2
0
2

N

I

U
E

E
H
T

The European Drought Observatory 
registered high levels of drought in 
more than 60 % of the EU’s territory. 

Protecting forests and wildlife

Forest fires were also a serious problem, with a 
record of over 800 000 hectares burnt in Europe in 
2022. Rescue teams used Copernicus’ emergency 
mapping service, which uses satellite imagery and 
other geospatial data, to help countries including 
Greece, Spain, France and Portugal, along with some 
non-EU countries, fight fires over the summer.

The European Forest Fire Information System 
observed that the fire season stretched beyond the 
usual months of July, August and September, with 
many critical events happening later in the year. 
Even areas usually unaffected in the past – such as 
central and northern Europe – faced wildfires more 
regularly. Moreover, with 38 % of the burnt area 
in 2022 happening within Natura 2000 protected 
areas, intangible biodiversity losses left ecosystems 
more fragile. The EU Solidarity Fund, originally set up 

in 2002 to provide financial support to reconstruct 
areas affected by natural disasters, was mobilised 
again in 2022 in response to the damage left in the 
wake of wildfires across Europe.

Forests play a key role in protecting European 
ecosystems and biodiversity. They are also central 
in trapping carbon which would otherwise be 
released into the atmosphere and aggravate 
climate change. In a single year, wildfires led to 
estimated economic losses of over €2 billion, with 
more than 25 million tonnes of CO2 emitted into the 
atmosphere. In September, in her State of the Union 
speech, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen 
announced a doubling of the EU’s aerial firefighting 
capacities, to be made available for the next forest 
fire season.

 
 
 
 
37

A Polish firefighter is dispatched as part of the EU Civil Protection 
Mechanism to fight forest fires, Hostens, France, 14 August 2022. 
In total, more than 400 firefighters with more than 100 vehicles 
from Germany, Austria, Poland and Romania supported French 
first responders in answer to France’s request for assistance. 

In November, the European Commission proposed 
the first EU-wide voluntary framework to reliably 
certify high-quality carbon removals. If adopted, 
this tool will help in the fight against climate 
change and contribute to reaching the EU’s climate, 
environmental and zero-pollution goals.

By the end of 2022, almost 9.5 million trees were 
planted in the EU as part of the 3 Billion Trees 
Pledge. The pledge is part of the EU Biodiversity 
Strategy for 2030 and the EU Forest Strategy for 
2030, which committed the European Union to 

planting at least 3 billion additional trees in the EU 
by 2030, while respecting ecological principles.

The revised EU Action Plan against Wildlife 
Trafficking, which is also part of the Biodiversity 
Strategy, aims to ensure that EU action against 
wildlife trafficking comprehensively responds to 
the current challenges. It builds on four priorities: 
addressing the drivers of wildlife trafficking, 
exploring new legal and policy tools, strengthening 
enforcement and fostering global cooperation.

EU certification of  carbon removal

To reach the goal of being climate neutral by 2050, the EU needs to reduce its emissions to a minimum, but 
it is not possible to reduce them to zero. To balance out remaining emissions, the EU will have to remove 
several hundred million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every year. 
Types of carbon removal that could be certified under the proposed framework include the following.

 •

Carbon farming, 
such as restoring 
forests and 
soils and the 
management of 
wetlands and 
peatlands. 

 •

Permanent storage, 
such as bioenergy 
with carbon capture 
and storage, or direct 
air carbon capture and 
storage. 

 •

Carbon storage 
in long-lasting 
products and 
materials, 
such as wood-based 
construction. 

Thanks to the EU certification framework, more businesses, farmers, foresters and other stakeholders can 
access these new opportunities, as they will be able to apply for harmonised and reliable certification.

GENERAL REPORT 
38

Nature restoration

Restoring Europe’s nature – from wetlands, rivers 
and forests to marine and urban environments and 
species – is a crucial and cost-effective investment in 
our economy, and in food security, combating climate 
change and increasing resilience. It also helps boost 
the health and well-being of EU citizens.

In June 2022, the Commission adopted a package of 
proposals to restore degraded ecosystems, as a key 
step in avoiding ecosystem collapse and preventing 
the worst impacts of climate change and biodiversity 
loss. The Commission is also in the process of 
modernising legislation to ensure the availability 
of quality and diverse seeds and plant reproductive 
material to meet the objectives of sustainability, 
climate adaptation and biodiversity.

 • 81 % of habitats are in poor status.

 • Every €1 invested in nature restoration 

adds €8 to €38 in benefits.

 • 1 in 3 bee and butterfly species are 

in decline.

The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding 
instrument for the environment and climate 
action. It has been running since 1992 and has co-
financed more than 5 500 projects across the EU 
and beyond. After joining the programme in June 
2022, Ukraine can also benefit from this funding. 
This means Ukraine can receive support to help 
restore its environment after the severe damage 
brought about by Russia’s war of aggression – 
from pollution and the destruction of ecosystems 
to other long-term effects. In the short term, 
the LIFE programme can underpin Ukraine’s 
reconstruction efforts through needs analysis and 
help to tackle soil and water decontamination, 
including through nature-based solutions. Ukraine 
is the second non-EU country to join the LIFE 
programme, after Iceland.

V I D E O  Participants at the 2022 EU 
Green Week speaking about the Nature 
Restoration Law, June 2022. 

From left to right: Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner 
for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Yulia Svyrydenko, First 
Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, and Ruslan Strilets, Ukraine’s 
Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, jointly signed an 
agreement on Ukraine’s association to the LIFE programme for 
environment and climate, Kyiv, Ukraine, 24 June 2022.

THE EU IN 2022 
 
39

Towards zero pollution

In line with the ambition to be free of harm from 
pollution by 2050, in October the Commission 
proposed stronger rules on ambient air, surface and 
groundwater pollutants, and the treatment of urban 
wastewater. Ultimately, these rules will improve 
public health, reducing premature deaths and long-
term health costs. 

Air quality 

Water quality

The proposed new rules will: 

The new proposals set: 

 •

 •

 •

 •

set interim 2030 air quality standards for 
the EU that are more closely aligned with 
World Health Organization guidelines; 

reduce deaths resulting from levels of 
the main pollutant PM2.5 that exceed 
World Health Organization guidelines by 
more than 75 % in 10 years; 

ensure that people suffering health 
damage from air pollution have the 
right to be compensated in the event 
of a violation of EU air quality rules 
and the right to be represented by 
a non-governmental organisation 
through collective action for damage 
compensation; 

cost less than 0.1 % of gross domestic 
product, at least seven times less than 
the potential benefits to the economy 
and to society. 

 •

 •

new and tightened standards for a series 
of harmful substances found in surface 
water and groundwater; 

an obligation for Member States to take 
measures to reduce the presence of 
these pollutants; 

 • more cost-effective and fairer 

wastewater treatment in line with the 
‘polluter pays’ principle; 

 •

preventive measures for industry (using 
different or fewer industrial chemicals) 
and farmers (using fewer or less harmful 
pesticides, for example). 

GENERAL REPORT40

The proposals also respond to specific demands 
raised during the Conference on the Future of 
Europe (see Chapter 9), where citizens called for a 
drastic reduction in the use of chemical pesticides 
and fertilisers and the development of sustainable 
agriculture.

In addition to this, the EU and the Mediterranean 
states successfully submitted a proposal to the 
International Maritime Organization to designate a 
sulphur emission control area in the Mediterranean 
Sea. The aim is to improve air and water quality by 
reducing sulphur-related pollutants from shipping.

The proposal for a regulation on the sustainable use 
of plant protection products introduces measures 
to reduce the environmental footprint of the EU’s 
food system and help mitigate the economic 
losses already incurred due to climate change and 
biodiversity loss. It aims for a 50 % reduction in the 
use of chemical and more hazardous pesticides by 
2030, and more environmentally friendly pest control 
methods. There will be a ban on all pesticides in 
urban green areas, including public parks or gardens, 
playgrounds, schools, recreation or sports grounds, 
public paths and protected areas, in accordance with 
Natura 2000.

Reducing transport and industrial emissions

In 2022, the EU also kicked off the Renewable and 
Low-Carbon Fuels Value Chain Industrial Alliance, 
a new initiative aimed at boosting the production 
and supply of renewable and low-carbon fuels in 
aviation and waterborne transport. The work of the 
alliance will be important in securing the necessary 
alternative fuels for hard-to-decarbonise sectors, 
such as aviation and maritime. Further progress 
was also made on developing rules for the use of 
alternative fuels in these sectors. If successfully 
adopted in 2023, they will set a clear path for the 
decarbonisation of these sectors.

The Commission’s proposal to modernise the 
Industrial Emissions Directive will significantly 
reduce harmful emissions coming from industrial 

installations and Europe’s largest livestock farms, 
while providing long-term investment certainty, 
encouraging innovation and increasing Europe’s 
energy and resource independence. The revision 
builds on the existing directive, covering some 
50 000 large agro-industrial installations in Europe. 
They must comply with emissions limits by applying 
the best available techniques determined by industry, 
national and EU experts, and civil society. The new 
rules include more effective permits and targeted 
support for innovation for frontrunners and for the 
industry’s circular economy investments. This will 
strengthen the links between decreasing pollution 
and decarbonisation and increase transparency and 
public participation in the permit process.

THE EU IN 202241

The Commission also presented a proposal for new 
emission standards in November. These new Euro 7 
standards aim to ensure that cars, vans, lorries and 
buses are much cleaner, especially in cities where 
air-pollution problems are most significant, and for 
a much longer period of time than under current 
rules. The proposal tackles emissions from tailpipes, 
brakes and tyres. It also contributes to achieving the 
new stricter air-quality standards. In addition, the 
European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register will 
be transformed into an EU Industrial Emissions Portal 
where citizens can find out about polluting activities 
in their immediate surroundings.

What’s new in the Euro 7 Regulation? 

For all cars, vans, trucks and buses: 

 •

limits for 
emissions from 
brakes;

 • more effective 

emissions tests; 

 •

 •

rules on microplastic 
pollution from tyres; 

digital monitoring 
of compliance; 

For internal combustion engine vehicles: 

 •

fuel- and 
technology-neutral 
emission limits; 

For electric and plug-in 
hybrid vehicles:

 •

 •

regulating additional 
pollutants; 

battery durability 
requirements.

 •

 •

 •

vehicles need 
to comply with 
emissions rules for 
a longer period; 

better market 
surveillance tests.

on-road tests with 
a broader range of 
driving conditions. 

GENERAL REPORT42

Boosting organic farming and traditional quality food

Sustainable agriculture and reducing pesticide use is 
crucial to guarantee long-term food security. In 
2021, Member States submitted their plans to 
reform the Common Agricultural Policy following 
Commission recommendations. In August 2022, the 
Commission formally approved these Common 
Agricultural Policy Strategic Plans, which outline each 
Member State’s intended use of direct payments and 
economic interventions to support rural development. 
The new legislation, which is due to come into effect 
in 2023, will pave the way for a fairer, greener and 
more efficient agricultural policy. It will seek to 
ensure a sustainable future for European farmers, 

provide more targeted support to smaller farms and 
allow EU Member States greater flexibility to adapt 
measures to local conditions.

In March, the Commission adopted a proposal 
to strengthen the system for the protection of 
geographical indications, including the names of 
certain wines, agricultural products and spirit drinks. 
The geographical indications system protects the 
names of specific products in order to promote the 
unique qualities, characteristics or reputation linked 
to their geographical origin, as well as the traditional 
expertise associated with their production.

The inaugural EU Organic Awards ceremony took 
place in Brussels (Belgium), on EU Organic Day 
in September 2022. The eight winners – from 
Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, 
Austria and Sweden – all represent the growth 
and innovation of the European organic sector, 
and its contribution to reducing agriculture’s 
impact on the climate and the environment. 

2022 EU Organic Awards winners with Janusz 
Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for Agriculture 
(left), Brussels, Belgium, 23 September 2022. 

THE EU IN 2022 
43

Sustainable living

Cities and citizens have a key role to play in 
creating a green and sustainable Europe. The EU 
aims to support people-powered projects and local 
authorities in co-designing this new world through 
financial support and environmental initiatives. 

In 2022, 100 mayors across the EU signed the Green 
City Accord, committing their cities to addressing 
five areas of environmental management: air, water, 
nature and biodiversity, circular economy and waste, 
and noise. This EU initiative aims to make cities 
cleaner, greener and healthier.

First announced in 2020, the New European Bauhaus 
(NEB) initiative brings citizens, experts, businesses 
and institutions together to reimagine sustainable 
living in Europe and beyond. In addition to creating 
a platform for experimentation and connection, 
the initiative supports positive 
change by also providing beautiful, 
sustainable and inclusive projects 
with access to EU funding.

To support urban innovation 
and cities’ capabilities and 
knowledge, with a view to 
building a sustainable future, 

the European Urban Initiative was set up under the 
European Regional Development Fund. The first call 
for proposals, published in October, made €50 million 
of EU funding available to support innovative NEB 
projects. Cities were invited to present project ideas 
on the circular economy and carbon neutrality, the 
preservation of cultural heritage, the adaptation of 
buildings for affordable housing solutions and the 
regeneration of urban spaces in line with the NEB 
values of sustainability, inclusiveness and aesthetics.

The winners of the 2022 NEB prizes were announced 
at the first Festival of the New European Bauhaus, 
held in June, which brought people from all over the 
EU together to celebrate and share grassroots and 
creative approaches to the green transition. Projects 
from 15 different Member States were awarded 
prizes.

From left to right: Diébédo Francis 
Kéré, German-Burkinabè contemporary 
architect, Monica Maggioni, Director of 
Telegiornale 1, Ursula von der Leyen, 
President of the European Commission, and 
Giovanna Melandri, Director of the National 
Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome, Italy, 
9 June 2022.

GENERAL REPORT 
44

To highlight the innovative spirit of younger people, 
the NEB prizes dedicate the ‘Rising Star’ award 
to projects developed by people under 30. To 
complement the European Year of Youth 2022, 
‘A New European Bauhaus’ was the focus for 
DiscoverEU, a yearly initiative that helps 18-year-
olds travel across Europe for free. In this context, 
a New European Bauhaus route was developed for 
participants to follow.

Together with the Education for Climate Coalition, the 
EU announced a call for the transformation of places 
of learning, to create a network to transform learning 
spaces across society. 

In response to the armed conflict in Ukraine, NEB 
experts are analysing emergency housing needs and 
designing sustainable housing in preparation for 
post-war reconstruction (see Chapter 1).

V I D E O  Gardens of the Future, a 
project from Cyprus transforming 
an abandoned area in the politically 
divided capital, Nicosia, into a 
community garden, won the public vote.

V I D E O  The FOLK concept project from 
Poland aims to revive traditional rural 
architecture and preserve the treasures 
of Polish cultural heritage.

Sustainable and smart mobility

The Commission officially launched the Alliance 
for Zero-emission Aviation, a voluntary European 
initiative between private and public stakeholders to 
prepare hydrogen-powered and electric aircraft for 
commercial use. By securing an estimated 26 000 
zero-emission aircraft by 2050, the alliance will 
deliver on the commitment to align the sector with 
the EU’s climate ambitions.

To ensure that cars and other vehicles are safer, 
while also laying down a framework for automated 
vehicles, the EU’s Vehicle General Safety Regulation 
came into force in 2022. The first of its kind in 
the world, the framework protects consumers 
and will also boost innovation and improve the 
competitiveness of Europe’s car industry.

THE EU IN 2022 
 
Helping the public sector go green

45

The Commission’s Technical Support Instrument funded a multinational 
project to strengthen the public sector’s long-term sustainability and 
minimise its harmful impact on the environment. This project also 
aims to promote the efficiency, accountability and transparency of 
public policies. 

So far, 23 Member States’ public administrations have exchanged 
knowledge and best practices on ways to reduce the impact of 
budget expenditure on the climate, such as buying services and 
goods with a lower environmental impact and promoting green 

mobility and sustainable business-travel practices. 

Under the 2021–2027 Connecting Europe Facility, 
the EU’s funding instrument supporting the Green 
Deal, the Commission is investing in a wide range 
of transport infrastructure projects across the EU. 
These aim to improve cross-border infrastructure 
and promote new technologies. Examples include the 
Lyon–Turin tunnel, the Fehmarn Belt fixed link and 
the Rail Baltica project.

To make Europe’s transport infrastructure fit for 
both civil and defence use, the Commission adopted 
an Action Plan on Military Mobility and brought 
forward the grants process for projects that support 
military mobility. Other projects will help put in place 
infrastructure for projected increases in energy-
efficient and zero-emission mobility.

In total, €25.8 billion in grants is available under 
the Connecting Europe Facility to co-fund Trans-
European Transport Network projects in EU Member 
States.

Following the 2021 European Year of Rail, the EU 
started implementing its new Action Plan to Boost 
Long-distance and Cross-border Passenger Rail. The 
Commission has invited railway undertakings, 
infrastructure managers and national authorities to 
propose cross-border pilot services that address the 
remaining obstacles to cross-border rail. The 
transition to sustainable transport, part of the 
comprehensive Green Deal package, will make sure 
that the EU’s communities and economy can thrive in 
a healthy and safe environment, far beyond 2050.

Cross-border passenger rail transport needs a boost 

GENERAL REPORT46

4. A Europe fit for 
the digital age

Introduction

Closely interconnected with the EU’s goal of climate 
neutrality is the EU’s vision of leading Europe into 
the digital era. Its 10-year plan, also known as the 
Digital Decade, includes targets for the digitalisation 
of public services and businesses, setting up digital 
infrastructures such as 5G and supercomputers 
and ensuring that EU citizens are equipped with the 
necessary skills to navigate the digital environment 
with confidence. The Digital Decade Policy 
Programme 2030, adopted by the EU in 2022, will 
ensure that these targets are reached by Member 
States.

The EU’s Digital Decade will be an era of pioneering 
transitions towards a safer and more sustainable 
world. To this end, in 2022 the EU took action to 
update cybersecurity rules, recognise digital rights 
and increase the accountability of digital service 
providers, while putting in place the necessary digital 
infrastructure and supporting the development of 
digital skills. It also proposed new rules for fairer 
data access and made progress in regulating the 
digitalisation of different sectors.

Technical separation of chip structures in a 
semiconductor foundry, Dresden, Germany, 
8 February 2022.

THE EU IN 2022 
47

Digitalisation for citizens

A human-centric approach to digitalisation is at the 
heart of the EU’s Digital Decade. This means that 
individuals’ rights and freedoms must be respected 
online in the same way as they are offline. In 2022, 
the EU adopted the Declaration on Digital Rights 

and Principles for the Digital Decade, which sets 
out clear reference points to ensure that people are 
protected and empowered when they interact with 
new technologies.

PEOPLE AT THE CENTRE 
Digital technologies should protect 
people’s rights, support democracy 
and ensure that all digital 
players act responsibly and 
safely. The EU promotes 
these values across the 
world.  

Digital rights 
and principles

SUSTAINABILITY 
Digital devices should support 
sustainability and the green 
transition. People need to know 
about the environmental impact and 
energy consumption of their 
devices.  

SOLIDARITY AND INCLUSION 
Technology should unite people, not 
divide them. Everyone should have 
access to the internet, to digital 
skills, to digital public services and 
to fair working conditions.   

SAFETY AND SECURITY 
The digital environment should 
be safe and secure. All users, 
from childhood to old age, 
should be empowered and 
protected.  

FREEDOM OF CHOICE 
People should beneﬁt from a fair online 
environment, be safe from illegal 
and harmful content and be 
empowered when they interact with 
new and evolving technologies, 
like artiﬁcial intelligence.

PARTICIPATION 
Citizens should be able 
to engage in the 
democratic process at all 
levels and have control over 
their own data. 

Cybersecurity and resilience

As Europeans spend more time online and society 
becomes increasingly interconnected, cyber threats 
are becoming more common and potentially more 
dangerous. Russia’s war of aggression against 
Ukraine also poses a unique threat to Europe’s 
cyberdefence.

In 2022, the EU updated legislation on measures to 
achieve a high level of common cybersecurity in all 

Member States. Published in December 2022, the 
new rules, known as the NIS2 Directive, replaced 
the previous Network and Information Security (NIS) 
Directive on 16 January 2023. To help increase the 
overall level of cybersecurity in Europe, the new rules 
expand the list of critical entities and sectors that 
need to take risk-management measures.

GENERAL REPORT48

Expanded scope: more sectors and services as essential or 
important entities 

be Stock

o
d
A
©

 •

Providers of public electronic 
communications networks or services 

 • Wastewater and waste management 

 • Manufacturing of certain critical 

products (such as pharmaceuticals, 
medical devices and chemicals)

 •

Food

be Stock

o
d
A
©

be Stock

o
d
A
©

 •

 •

 •

 •

Digital services (such as social 
networking services platforms and 
data centre services)

Space

Postal and courier services

Public administration

Critical infrastructure, such as undersea cables and 
pipelines for transport and communication, are often 
closely linked to many different digital services and 
therefore need to be protected. The sabotage of 
the Nord Stream gas pipelines and other incidents 
have made it clear that the resilience of the EU’s 
critical infrastructure is under threat. Recently agreed 
legislation will soon provide the EU with an updated 
and comprehensive legal framework to strengthen 
both the physical and cyber resilience of critical 
infrastructure.

In light of the rapidly evolving threat landscape, the 
European Commission proposed to strengthen the 
capacity of early warning and response to disruptions 
of critical infrastructure through the Union Civil 
Protection Mechanism. The proposal also calls for 

strengthened cooperation with key partners and 
neighbouring countries on the resilience of critical 
infrastructure.

In terms of digital products that we use in our daily 
lives, in September 2022 the Commission presented 
a proposal for a new Cyber Resilience Act. Many 
products, such as baby monitors, smart devices or 
voice-activated speakers, currently have a low level 
of cybersecurity, resulting in widespread 
vulnerabilities and inconsistent security updates. 
Moreover, it is often difficult for users of these 
products to find out whether specific products are 
secure against cyber threats. The new proposal will 
ensure that manufacturers improve the security of 
their products and the transparency of security 
properties.

Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for 
Internal Market, at the press conference on 
the Cyber Resilience Act, Brussels, Belgium, 
16 September 2022.

THE EU IN 2022 
 
 
 
49

The Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act

Related to this, the Digital Markets Act rules, 
which will apply from 2 May 2023, will curb unfair 
practices of large online platforms, referred to 
as gatekeepers. Gatekeepers will all have been 
designated by 6 September 2023 and must comply 
with the obligations laid down in the act by 6 March 
2024 at the latest. The act contains a list of dos and 
don’ts that gatekeepers will have to comply with; for 
example, it will no longer be possible for gatekeepers 
to rank their own products more favourably 
than similar third-party products offered on the 
gatekeeper’s platform.

Online platforms are another key element of today’s 
digital world. They allow people to communicate, 
get information and shop online. At the same time, 
they can also pose risks relating to illegal or harmful 
content and unfair market practices. That is why the 
EU has introduced the Digital Services Act and the 
Digital Markets Act, which both entered into force in 
November 2022.

The Digital Services Act will set an unprecedented 
new standard for the accountability of online 
platforms and search engines regarding illegal and 
harmful content. When it becomes applicable for very 
large online platforms and very large online search 
engines for the first time around autumn 2023, 
and for all other platforms in February 2024, it will 
provide better protection for internet users and their 
fundamental rights online. Providers will benefit from 
a single set of internal market rules and smaller 
platforms will be able to scale up more easily.

Gatekeepers

Gatekeepers are digital 
platforms with: 

Gatekeepers will not be allowed to: 

 ➔ over 45 million active end 

 ➔ over-promote their own 

 ➔ pre-install certain software 

users each month; 

products;  

applications; 

 ➔ a turnover of €7.5 billion 

or more in the last 
3 financial years.

 ➔ limit payment possibilities to 
their own payment method; 

 ➔ restrict business users of 

platforms; 

 ➔ reuse personal data collected 
during one service for the 
purpose of another service; 

 ➔ use certain bundling practices 
(e.g. selling different items as 
a package). 

 ➔ impose unfair conditions on 

business users; 

Companies that do not comply with the new obligations may risk 
fines of up to 10 % of their worldwide turnover or up to 20 % for a 
repeat offence.

GENERAL REPORT50

Short-term rental platform regulation

Another decade of roaming

To protect tourists, the Commission also proposed 
to make data about short-stay rental bookings and 
accommodation more transparent, in particular 
when it comes to requesting ownership information, 
address details and business registration numbers. 
This will enable city authorities to work alongside 
booking platforms to shut down unauthorised 
listings and protect consumers from booking illegal 
accommodation.

Thanks to the new and improved roaming regulation 
that came into force in July 2022, citizens can ‘roam 
like at home’ for at least another 10 years and get 
better mobile speeds when travelling abroad. They 
can also receive information on services that are 
subject to extra costs, have better protection from 
unexpected charges when phones automatically 
connect to satellite networks and receive information 
on alternative ways to reach emergency services 
abroad in the EU.

Types of electronic devices covered

Common charger

Thanks to new rules, EU 
consumers will soon be able to 
use the same charging solution 
for all their electronic devices and 
opt out of buying extra chargers 
with each new device. By the 
end of 2024, all mobile phones, 
tablets and cameras sold in the 
EU will have to be equipped with 
a USB Type-C charging port. From 
spring 2026, the obligation will 
extend to laptops. This will enable 
consumers to reduce electronic 
waste.

Images © Adobe Stock

THE EU IN 202251

Digital for industry

Connectivity

Increased connectivity boosts the quality of life and 
the economy; it is also becoming more important 
for sustainable living. However, there is still a digital 
divide between urban, rural and remote areas. 

EU Member States have committed to invest around 
€130 billion from the Recovery and Resilience 
Facility (RRF) in measures contributing to the digital 
transformation, including connectivity measures. 
This figure corresponds to 26 % of the total amount 
of funds requested by Member States under the 
RRF by the end of 2022 and goes well beyond the 
20 % minimum requirement for digital expenditure 
established by the RRF rules (see Chapter 6 for more 
on the recovery and resilience plans).

In total, the 27 national recovery and resilience 
plans include connectivity measures worth around 
€16.5 billion. The aim is to roll out digital network 
infrastructure over the next 4 years, including in rural 
and remote regions, to enable them to thrive and 
to boost innovation and sustainability. The EU will 
also leverage investments in connectivity through 
the new European Regional Development Fund, the 
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, 
InvestEU and European Investment Bank loans.

In 2022, the Commission also launched the first 
calls for proposals under the Connecting Europe 
Facility programme to improve the EU’s connectivity 

infrastructure. The Commission will co-fund 
initiatives to equip Europe’s main transport routes 
and local communities with 5G connectivity, to 
deploy or upgrade essential networks that support 
advanced technologies and lay the groundwork 
for the set-up of operational digital platforms for 
transport and energy infrastructure across the EU.

Digital Europe Programme 

With a budget of €7.5 billion from 2021 to 2027, 
the Digital Europe Programme is the first EU funding 
programme which focuses on bringing digital 
technology to public administrations, businesses and 
citizens.

In 2022, several calls for proposals were launched. 
These included funding opportunities for projects on 
data spaces, blockchain infrastructures, advanced 
digital skills training courses, artificial intelligence (AI) 
and activities to improve cybersecurity cooperation 
between the Member States and the Commission.

Further calls were launched in relation to national 
high-performance computing centres, the 
deployment of advanced national quantum 
communication infrastructure systems and networks, 
and European digital innovation hubs.

Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-
President of the European Commission 
in charge of ‘A Europe Fit for the Digital 
Age’, and European Commissioner 
for Competition (right), at the Institut 
africain de cybersécurité, Dakar, Senegal, 
11 February 2022.

GENERAL REPORT 
52

A worker handling a 300 mm silicon 
wafer in a clean room, Grenoble, 
France, 4 February 2022.

The European Chips Act: bolstering Europe’s competitiveness

Chips and semiconductors are the building blocks 
of all electronic products, from smart devices to 
space and defence systems. They play a central 
role in today’s economies and our daily lives. The 
recent global chips shortage has disrupted supply 
chains, caused product shortages ranging from cars 
to medical devices and in some cases even forced 
factories to close. 

To prevent such disruptions in the future, the EU 
proposed the European Chips Act which will help build 

up the EU’s semiconductor ecosystem by tackling 
several strategic objectives. One of these is to 
strengthen the EU’s research and technological 
leadership, which will reinforce its capacity to 
innovate in the design, manufacturing and packaging 
of advanced chips. At the same time, the European 
Chips Act also aims to address skills shortages in 
advanced manufacturing, so that the EU remains an 
attractive place for the world’s top talent in this 
important field.

Progress on the European Strategy for Data

Data – especially industrial data – help fuel the 
digital economy, but the full potential of these data 
is still largely untapped. The Data Act, proposed in 

2022, includes new rules on who can use and access 
data generated in the EU across all economic sectors. 

THE EU IN 2022 
53

In addition, the ‘GreenData4All’ initiative will help 
deliver on Europe’s green and digital transformation 
by updating the EU’s rules on environmental 
geospatial data and on public access to 

environmental information. The aim is to make data 
more readily available for innovation and evidence-
based decisions.

GENERAL REPORT54

Digitalisation of healthcare in the EU

Health data provide valuable insight to healthcare 
service providers and researchers. The COVID-19 
pandemic accelerated the development and 
adoption of digital health products and services, 
with telehealth becoming commonplace. What’s 
more, it has shown that up-to-date, reliable and FAIR 
(findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) 
health data are key to providing efficient care in 
times of crisis and in developing effective treatment. 

The European Health Data Space, proposed in May 
2022, is the first common data space in a specific 
area to emerge from the EU Strategy for Data and is 
an integral part of building a European Health Union. 
It places the interests and rights of the individual at 
its centre.

The objective is to ensure that individuals in the 
EU have increased control over their electronic 
health data and are able to share their electronic 
health records with a doctor of their choice, even 
in a different Member State. It will also ensure 
a legal framework consisting of trusted EU and 
Member State governance mechanisms and a secure 
processing environment. This will allow researchers, 
innovators, policymakers and regulators at the EU 
and national levels to access relevant electronic 
health data to promote better diagnosis, treatment 
and well-being of natural persons, and lead to better 
and well-informed policies. It also aims to contribute 
to a genuine single market for digital health products 
and services by harmonising rules, thereby boosting 
efficiency in the healthcare system. 

Space

The European Space Programme provides valuable 
data and services that offer solutions to fight climate 
change, bring socioeconomic benefits to citizens, 
enable digital innovation and address emerging 
connectivity needs. In November 2022, the EU and 
its Member States reached a political agreement 
to launch the 2023–2027 Secure Connectivity 
Programme with a budget of €2.4 billion. The 
programme will deploy a satellite constellation for 
the EU, called IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, 
Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite), with 
the help of a new space-based secure connectivity 
system. This state-of-the-art system will provide 
reliable, cost-effective and ultra-secure connectivity 
to governments, businesses and citizens across 
Europe and beyond. It will complement and rely 
on the EU’s existing systems, such as Copernicus, 
Galileo, the European Union Governmental Satellite 
Communications programme and the European 
quantum communication infrastructure. 

As part of the European Year of 
Youth, the European Commission 
launched a naming competition, 
open to young European and African 
students, to select the name of the 
new EU space-based connectivity 
system. The winning name – IRIS2 – 
was submitted by two students.

THE EU IN 2022EU SPACE SURVEILLANCE AND TRACKING 
2022 facts and figures 

55

310   
satellites 
monitored 

756  
high-interest events 
(more than 1 per day) 

© Adobe Stock

77  
re-entry analysis 
events  

+/– 500 000 
measurements per day  

176  
organisations registered 
from 22 Member States  

13 608  
close-approach 
events 

7   
fragmentation 
analysis events  

Such a system also requires robust space 
surveillance and tracking to help protect space-based 
infrastructure. Active since 2016, the EU space 
surveillance and tracking system now monitors 310 
EU satellites, avoiding collisions in space. To cope 
with the exponential increase in the number of 
satellites and amount of debris in orbit, in 2022 the 
EU adopted a joint communication on an EU 
approach to safe space traffic management.

Space also plays an important role in terms of 
defence. In line with the Action Plan on Synergies 
between Civil, Defence and Space Industries, the 
EU’s roadmap on critical technologies for security 
and defence informs citizens and stakeholders about 
the latest initiatives in technology and their links to 
security and defence. It sets out the aim to reduce 
the EU’s strategic dependencies relating to critical 
technologies and value chains for security and 
defence.

Drone Strategy 2.0 

As announced in the Sustainable and Smart Mobility 
Strategy in November, the EU launched its Drone 
Strategy 2.0. The strategy sets out 19 measures for 
a safe and sustainable drone ecosystem by 2030. 
These include common rules for airworthiness, 
training requirements for pilots, supporting research 
and innovation, and defining criteria for a voluntary 
cybersecurity approved drone label. The aim is also 
to expand the use of drones for the transport of 
passengers and cargo, surveying critical 
infrastructure, monitoring oil spills, and security and 
defence, while strengthening social acceptance by 
addressing concerns about noise, safety and privacy. 

Adina Vălean, European Commissioner for 
Transport (second from left), inspecting 
an air taxi prototype, Brussels, Belgium, 
29 November 2022.

GENERAL REPORT 
56

Digital education 

Digital education and digital skills

For citizens to benefit from the transition, they 
must have the skills to help them thrive in the 
digital world. The 2022 Digital Economy and Society 
Index revealed that only 54 % of European citizens 
between the ages of 16 and 74 have basic digital 
skills, while the Digital Decade target is 80 % by 
2030. This demonstrates the urgent need for more 
action to build Europeans’ digital skill sets. The 
Digital Skills and Jobs Platform, launched in 2022, 
aims to bridge this gap. 

The EU also worked with Member States to identify 
the challenges in providing high-quality digital 
education and skills to all. The outcome of these 
discussions will feed into the Digital Education Action 
Plan. In 2022, the EU continued to provide guidelines 
for teachers and educators on disinformation and the 
ethical use of AI and data in teaching, both of which 
are important elements of digital literacy. Following 
the development of the European digital education 
hub, a community where educators can share best 
practices was formed in June 2022.

 •

The EU equipped 10 000 girls 
across Europe with digital and 
entrepreneurial skills through 
the Girls Go Circular initiative.

 •

In March 2022, the EU hosted 
the first Digital Education 
Stakeholder Forum.

 •

The 10th edition of the EU 
Code Week took place from 
8 to 23 October 2022, with 
75 070 activities in 77 
countries.

Supercomputers and artificial intelligence 

Supercomputers

A world-class supercomputer ecosystem in Europe 
is essential for promoting scientific excellence and 
industrial strength. A network of supercomputers 
would also ensure the EU’s technological sovereignty, 
meaning that it would have ownership of its 
important digital technologies. 

In June 2022, the European High Performance 
Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) – a legal 
entity that allows participating countries to pool 
resources to set up supercomputers – inaugurated 
the supercomputer LUMI in Kajaani (Finland). This 

was followed in November 2022 by the inauguration 
of the supercomputer Leonardo in Bologna 
(Italy). LUMI and Leonardo are the two fastest 
supercomputers in Europe and rank third and fourth 
fastest in the world, respectively.

Their computing power complements the EuroHPC 
JU’s existing supercomputers: Discoverer in Bulgaria, 
Karolina in Czechia, MeluXina in Luxembourg and 
Vega in Slovenia. Two more EuroHPC supercomputers 
are currently being set up: MareNostrum5 in 
Barcelona (Spain), and Deucalion in Portugal.

THE EU IN 2022LUMI supercomputer. 

© Fade Creative 

57

In 2022, it was announced 
that Europe’s first exascale 
supercomputer, Jupiter, 
will be hosted in the Jülich 
Supercomputing Centre 
in Germany. Exascale 
capability represents a major 
technological milestone for 
the EU and greatly promotes 
European scientific excellence. This will benefit 
complementary technologies, such as quantum 
computing, digital twins and big data. 

In October 2022, six sites across the EU were 
selected to host and operate the first quantum 
computers: Czechia, Germany, Spain, France, Italy 
and Poland. Quantum computers are able to perform 
calculations that are too complex for standard 
computers.

Artificial intelligence

AI is one of the most important emerging 
technologies: it is already at the core of many of the 
tools we use daily, such as social media algorithms, 
and will enable new technologies like autonomous 
vehicles. 

In 2022, the European Parliament and the Council of 
the European Union continued negotiations on the 
proposed Artificial Intelligence Act, which aims to 
introduce a common regulatory framework for AI. 
The Commission and the Government of Spain 
presented a pilot of the first regulatory sandbox on 
AI, allowing businesses to explore the effects of the 
framework’s rules on certain AI projects in a 
controlled environment. This will help ensure the 
implementation of the 
legislation within 
2 years. The tests began 
in October 2022 and 
results will be published 
in the second half of 
2023. 

Barbara Mazzolai, researcher at the 
Italian Institute of Technology, working 
on the ‘I-Wood’, ‘I-Seed’ and ‘GrowBot’ 
projects in the Bioinspired Soft Robotics 
Laboratory of the Center for Convergent 
Technologies, Italian Institute of 
Technology, Genoa, Italy, 14 June 2022.

Bert-2, the four-legged 
robotic system from the 
Institute of Robotics and 
Mechatronics, located 
near Munich, Germany, 
8 June 2022. The focus 
of the institute is on the 
development of a wide 
array of robots to enable 
humans to interact more 
safely and efficiently 
with their surrounding 
environments. 

GENERAL REPORT 
 
 
58

Digital finance

The Digital Operational Resilience Act

2022 marked an important milestone regarding the 
digital finance package: the Digital Operational 
Resilience Act was published on 14 December 2022 
and entered into force on 16 January 2023. The 
financial sector is becoming more reliant on software 
and digitalisation, and as such, ICT risks are on the 
rise. The new legislation will ensure that financial 
firms can withstand ICT-related threats. Banks, stock 
exchanges, clearing houses and other financial firms 
will have to respect strict standards to prevent and 
limit the impact of ICT-related incidents. The 
agreement also introduces an oversight framework 
on service providers that provide critical services, 
such as cloud computing, to financial institutions.

Regulation on crypto assets 

The EU is among the first major jurisdictions in 
the world to design a comprehensive regulatory 
framework for rules on crypto assets, namely the 
proposed regulation on markets in crypto assets. 
The new rules will provide a clear legal framework 
for crypto assets that are not already regulated by 
other EU financial legislation, thereby protecting 
consumers, market integrity and financial stability. 

For ‘stablecoins’, namely cryptocurrencies that 
are less volatile than classic cryptocurrencies, 
the agreement sets out strict requirements 
on establishment, authorisation and reserve 
management, including EU supervision for significant 
‘stablecoins’ that are systemically important. 
Crypto asset service providers will also need to be 

authorised in the EU, and as a result, will be able to 
provide their services throughout the EU. 

In addition, co-legislators agreed on the proposal 
to amend the Transfer of Funds Regulation. The 
agreement provides for an obligation for all crypto 
service providers involved in crypto transfers to 
collect data on the originators and beneficiaries of 
the crypto-asset transfers they operate, and make 
them available to the competent authorities in 
charge of the fight against money laundering and 
terrorism financing. These new rules will significantly 
enhance the monitoring and traceability of crypto-
asset transfers and ensure compliance with the 
relevant measures called for in the Financial Action 
Task Force recommendations.

THE EU IN 2022 A digital finance strategy for EuropeA Digital Single Market for ﬁnancial services A regulatory framework facilitating innovation Addressing the risks of digital transformation  A European ﬁnancial data space to promote data-driven innovation  59

5. Protecting people 
and freedoms

Introduction

While EU citizens are from diverse backgrounds, they 
share the same set of values on which the EU was 
founded (Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union). 
These are: respect for human dignity and human 
rights, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of 
law, as set out in the EU’s treaties and the Charter of 
Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

In 2022, the EU continued to deal with the ongoing 
pandemic and support vaccination campaigns in the 
EU and beyond. It also advanced its work to ensure 
that the EU is prepared for future health threats, 
acted to protect freedom of movement, freedom 
of speech and children’s rights and assisted people 
fleeing Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

GENERAL REPORT60

Better health

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is not 
over, new variants continue to 
emerge, and vaccination remains 
crucial to mitigate the harmful 
effects of the virus.

In 2022, the EU’s vaccine strategy continued to prove 
successful. In total, since the start of the pandemic, 
966 099 169 doses have been administered to 
Europeans. However, evolving COVID-19 variants 
call for adapted vaccines. In 2022, the EU authorised 
adapted vaccines to be used in a new booster 
programme to prevent a rise in cases. It also 
published the Report of the COVID-19 Therapeutics 
Sub-group – COVID-19 therapeutic innovation 
booster, which provides guidance on developing new 
treatments for COVID-19.

In addition to ongoing vaccination campaigns, the 
EU is tackling the long-term effects of COVID-19 
infection, such as long Covid. The European 
Commission is funding large cohort studies that 
follow populations from around the world over a 
long period of time. Research projects funded under 
Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe are also looking 
into instances of long-term conditions that appear 
following a COVID-19 infection.

Together with its Member States, the EU is building 
a strong European Health Union to better protect the 
health of EU citizens, prevent and prepare for future 
pandemics and improve Europe’s overall health 
systems. To achieve this, a better legal framework 
was needed. The new Cross-border Health Threats 
Regulation, adopted in 2022, will provide the EU 
with a comprehensive legal framework to govern 
coordinated action on preparedness, surveillance, 
risk assessment, and early warning and response 
measures.

A caregiver in a vaccination centre in 
Valletta, Malta, 27 January 2022.

The European Commission’s new service, the Health 
Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority 
(HERA) is another important component of a robust 
health union. HERA contributes to the development, 
production, procurement, stockpiling and distribution 
of medical countermeasures in the event of a health 
emergency.

In 2022, the EU increased the authority of an existing 
health agency. The European Medicines Agency can 
now monitor the health sector and take action to 
prevent medicine shortages and facilitate faster 
approvals of medicines to end a public health crisis. 
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and 
Control has also received more authority to support 
the EU and its Member States in the prevention and 
control of communicable disease threats.

The EU Digital COVID Certificate – an important tool 
during the height of the pandemic – was extended 
for another year and will continue to apply until 
30 June 2023. This extension will allow people 
to use their certificates to travel across the EU if 
the epidemiological situation worsens and travel 
restrictions are reintroduced. 

To improve access to vaccines in lower-income 
countries, the EU, with its Member States and 
financing institutions, contributed over €5 billion 
through the ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access’ 
initiative (see Chapter 8 for more information on 
donations to help vaccination efforts outside the EU).

THE EU IN 2022 
61

Global health strategy

An ambitious global health strategy is crucial in 
a world where diseases know no borders. Such a 
strategy must account for the fact that health is a 
global common good and plays an important part in 
human well-being, societal stability and sustainable 
development.

Therefore, the EU Global Health Strategy, adopted in 
November, is rooted in equity, solidarity and human 
rights and focuses on improving partnerships with 
other regions to ensure a better response to global 
health threats. Health threats, such as antimicrobial 
resistance and pathogens that could trigger a 
pandemic, are becoming increasingly complex and 
play out in a changing geopolitical context. Climate 
change, biodiversity changes and pollution will 
especially impact the health of more vulnerable 
people and countries. The strategy therefore follows 
‘One Health’ principles, recognising that human, 
animal and environmental health are all closely 
connected.

Looking ahead to 2030, the challenges are 
significant. Many countries have fallen behind on 
the 2030 Sustainable Development Health Goals. 
The EU’s health strategy will therefore take a 
comprehensive approach and address three essential 
priorities: strengthening health systems, advancing 
universal health coverage and fighting current and 
future health threats.

The EU will continue to have a leadership role 
in global health in collaboration with the World 
Health Organization, and build trusted international 
partnerships via the Global Gateway (see Chapter 8). 
Digitalisation and research will be the key enablers 
of this strategy (see Chapter 4 for more information 
on the digitalisation of healthcare).

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan

Adopted in 2021, Europe’s Beating 
Cancer Plan signals the EU’s renewed 
commitment to cancer prevention and 
providing equal access to cancer 
diagnosis and treatment. It is another 
important building block of the 
European Health Union. The plan not 
only sets out to deliver concrete 
improvements for patients, but also 
aims to provide extra support for 
cancer survivors and healthcare 
professionals across Europe. The 
actions under this plan are supported 
by a budget of €4 billion – under 
programmes such as EU4Health and 
the Horizon Europe Mission on Cancer 
– earmarked for research and 
initiatives that address cancer. 
Examples include the development of 
an inter-speciality cancer training 
programme and a network for young 
cancer survivors.

A new approach to cancer screening 

Extended targeting 

Gradual introduction  

Breast

Colorectal

Cervical

Lung

Gastric

Prostate

Updated proposal on the Council recommendation
as part of the EU Cancer Screening Scheme.

GENERAL REPORT62

In December 2022, the Council of the European 
Union adopted a proposal for a new approach to 
cancer screening to ensure that 90 % of the EU’s 
population who qualify for breast, cervical and 
colorectal cancer screenings have access to them by 
2025. The scope of screening has been extended to 
include three new areas: prostate, lung and gastric 
cancer.

Another significant development regarding cancer-
related rules in 2022 was the proposed amendment 
to the Asbestos at Work Directive. Asbestos, a highly 
dangerous, cancer-causing substance, is still present 
in many European buildings and is responsible for 

many avoidable deaths in the EU. Workers may be 
exposed to this substance during building renovations 
or demolitions. With the amendments, the EU will 
lower the level of asbestos that a person may be 
exposed to in the workplace and introduce more 
sensitive and accurate asbestos-measuring methods.

2022 also saw the launch of the European Cancer 
Inequalities Registry, an ongoing task for the EU 
Network of Comprehensive Cancer Centres, and 
a series of joint actions where the EU supported 
national authorities in running initiatives such as a 
human papillomavirus vaccination programme for 
both girls and boys.

Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner 
for Health and Food Safety (second from 
left), visiting a cancer centre for young 
people, Ghent, Belgium, 12 July 2022.

THE EU IN 2022 
Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission 
in charge of ‘Promoting our European Way of Life’ (left), during 
the opening of a research and development centre, Thessaloniki, 
Greece, 15 July 2022.

63

The Pharmaceutical Strategy 
for Europe

The Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, adopted 
in 2020, is an ambitious roadmap that aims to 
bolster innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, 
make medicines more accessible and affordable 
and address unmet medical needs, such as getting 
medicines to children and patients with rare 
diseases.

As a first step towards achieving these aims, the EU 
adopted the Regulation on Health Technology 
Assessment. In addition, the EU’s pharmaceutical 
framework was evaluated in 2022 with a revision 
planned for early 2023. The changes that the EU 
intends to make will speed up access to quality, safe 
and affordable medicines in all Member States. 
They will address shortages and help Member States 
reap the benefits of the medicine technologies of the 
future, while also establishing the EU as a global 
leader in innovation.

The five strands of  the 
‘Healthier Together’ initiative

In July 2022, the Commission also adopted the 
proposal for a regulation on standards of quality and 
safety for substances of human origin (like blood, 
tissues and cells) intended for human application. 
The new regulation updates current legislation with 
higher safety and quality standards for the cross-
border circulation of these critical health products. 
Donors, along with recipients, are better protected, 
while cross-border standards allow for more 
solidarity between Member States.

In spring 2022, the Commission developed 
measures with the Member States and public health 
stakeholders to tackle the rising burden of non-
communicable diseases, including mental health. 
The ‘Healthier Together’ Non-communicable Diseases 
Initiative allocated more than €156 million to 
initiatives in 2022.

1. 

Health determinants 
for health promotion 
and disease prevention

2. 

Diabetes

3. 

Cardiovascular 
diseases

4. 

Chronic 
respiratory 
diseases

5.  Mental health 

and neurological 
disorders

GENERAL REPORT 
64

Vĕra Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission 
in charge of Values and Transparency (second from left), 
participates in a panel discussion on media freedom in Eastern 
Europe with Petr Dvorák, Director-General of Czech Television 
(first from left), Lutz Kinkel, Managing Director of the European 
Centre for Press and Media Freedom (third from left), and Piotr 
Stasinski, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Gazeta Wyborcza (fourth 
from left), at the 2022 Medientage Mitteldeutschland, Leipzig, 
Germany, 1 June 2022.

Strengthening our democracy

Media freedom and pluralism

Media freedom and pluralism are essential pillars 
of democratic systems based on the rule of law: the 
media’s independence must be protected at the EU 
level.

To safeguard media freedom and pluralism in the 
EU, the European Media Freedom Act was proposed 
in 2022. The Commission launched a public 
consultation in September 2022 to collect views on 
the most important issues affecting the functioning 
of the EU’s media market, including different types 
of interference in media and economic trends. The 
initiative stems from the European Democracy Action 
Plan, which proposes a set of measures promoting 
democratic participation, fighting disinformation and 
supporting free and independent media.

European Media Freedom Act

In addition, in April 2022, the Commission proposed 
a directive and adopted a recommendation to 
improve the protection of journalists and human 
rights defenders against manifestly unfounded or 
abusive court proceedings. Strategic lawsuits against 
public participation are a form of legal threat or 
abusive litigation and pose a serious threat to 
democracy and fundamental rights, such as freedom 
of expression and information. In December, the 
Commission also adopted a legislative proposal, 
aimed at strengthening the role and independence of 
equality bodies. The proposed directives will set 
minimum binding standards regarding the mandate, 
independence, effectiveness, resources and powers 
of equality bodies.

 •

 •

No interference in 
editorial decisions 
of media

 •

No spyware 
against 
journalists

 •

Independent and 
adequately funded 
public service media

 •

Transparency of 
ownership

 •

Transparent and 
fair audience 
measurement 
systems and 
allocation of state 
advertising

Establishment of 
a new European 
Board for Media 
Services

 • More protection 

 •

for media against 
unjustified online 
content removal

Commission 
recommendation

Toolbox of good 
practices to promote 
internal safeguards on 
editorial independence 
and media ownership 
transparency

Assessment 
of market 
concentrations and 
requirements on 
national measures 
affecting the media

THE EU IN 2022 
65

Protecting and empowering children

Strengthening our democracy also means 
empowering its youngest members: 1 in 5 people 
in the EU are children (people under the age of 
18) and have the right to be heard and included
in the democratic life of EU societies. To empower
children as active citizens, the EU launched the EU
Children’s Participation Platform in September 2022.
Co-designed with children and young people, its
function will be to connect existing child participation
mechanisms at the local, national and EU levels, and
involve children in the decision-making processes at
the EU level. The platform is a response to one of the
outcomes of the Conference on the Future of Europe
(see Chapter 9), namely strengthening democratic
participation in the EU.

 • 18.2 % 
of the EU’s 
population 
are children.

Source: Eurostat.

 • 30.2 % 

of the world’s 
population 
are children.

The EU also created space for children to become 
active participants in society, notably by developing 
child-friendly versions of EU documents and by 
adopting a new strategy for a better internet for 
kids that will help ensure that children are protected, 
respected and empowered online. Rules proposed 
in 2022 will also make online service providers 
responsible for detecting, reporting and removing 
child sexual abuse material distributed via their 
platforms.

On a more fundamental level, the Commission 
launched the EU Network for Children’s Rights to 
monitor the implementation of the EU Strategy on 
the Rights of the Child and to discuss the next steps 
with Member States and groups concerned. On a 
global level, the Youth Action Plan (for young people 
aged 15–29) was adopted in October 2022, giving 
young people the opportunity to communicate with 
their peers worldwide and build a better future.

The EU is also making justice systems more child-
friendly through the funding of initiatives such as 
the Barnahus project. This technical support project 
was designed to help Member States protect child 
victims and witnesses of violence. ‘Barnahus’ 
(children’s house) is a haven where law enforcement, 
justice systems, child protective services, and mental 
and physical health practitioners work together on 
cases of suspected child abuse. The projects also 
contribute to improving the skills of professionals 
working together on cases of child sexual abuse, and 
to increasing awareness of the issue. Owing to its 
success, the Barnahus model is being rolled out in 
Ireland, Spain, Finland and other EU Member States.

The Commission also adopted a proposal to 
strengthen the rights of families in cross-border 
situations. Member States have varying national 
laws on parenthood, and families in cross-border 
situations sometimes have to start administrative 
or even judicial proceedings to have the parenthood 
of one parent recognised. These are costly, time-
consuming and can have uncertain results. Thanks to 
the proposal, parenthood established in one Member 
State will be recognised in all the other Member 
States, without any special procedure. This protects 
the fundamental rights of children, provides legal 
certainty for families and reduces the legal costs and 
burdens for the families.

In light of Russia’s war of aggression against 
Ukraine, the Council focused on protecting the rights 
of children in emergencies.

GENERAL REPORT66

Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner 
for Home Affairs (second from left), on a 
visit to Chisinau, Moldova, to discuss the 
challenges in supporting those fleeing the 
war in Ukraine, 12 May 2022.

Migration and asylum

Russia’s unprovoked war of 
aggression against Ukraine 
triggered the largest forced 
displacement of people in 
Europe since the Second World 
War. This happened against a 
background of increased 
irregular migration via routes across the 
Mediterranean and the Western Balkans, and the 
Belarusian regime’s use of migrants for political 
purposes.

The EU quickly activated the Temporary Protection 
Directive to welcome displaced people and created 
a solidarity platform to coordinate their reception in 
the Member States (see Chapter 1). The EU Migration 
Preparedness and Crisis Management Mechanism 
Network, which gathers and disseminates 
information on the latest developments, 
strengthened the EU’s collective response.

The EU continued to improve on the long-term 
management of migration through the negotiation 
and implementation of the New Pact on Migration 
and Asylum. In particular, the Council signalled its 
readiness to start negotiations on proposals to help 
Member States monitor the paths of asylum seekers 
in the EU more effectively. 

In June 2022, Member States made a declaration 
of solidarity to help five Mediterranean countries 
(Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Malta) deal 
with migrant arrivals. The declaration launched 
a Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism, which saw 
13 participating states pledge to receive more 
than 8 000 asylum seekers and beneficiaries 
of international protection, while a few other 
countries have indicated their interest in making 
financial contributions to projects proposed by the 
benefiting states, based on their needs in migration 
management.

In November and December 2022, the Commission 
presented action plans on the central Mediterranean 
and the Western Balkans routes, respectively. 
These proposed action plans presented operational 
measures to address the immediate and ongoing 
challenges along these migratory routes.

The implementation of the renewed EU Action Plan 
against Migrant Smuggling (2021–2025) continued 
throughout 2022, including the launch of the first 
Anti-Smuggling Operational Partnerships with 
Morocco and Niger in July. In addition, December 
2022 saw the launch of two Team Europe initiatives 
focused on addressing migrant smuggling and 
irregular immigration via the Atlantic / western 
Mediterranean and central Mediterranean migratory 
routes.

Based on the first EU Strategy on Voluntary Return 
and Reintegration from April 2021, the structures 
and tools were put in place to ensure that voluntary 
return and reintegration are streamlined in the EU’s 
common system for return. Moreover, the strategic 
position of Return Coordinator was filled in 2022. The 
Return Coordinator will link the different strands of 
the EU’s return policy and foster cooperation between 
Member States to make the return process seamless. 
The High-Level Network for Return, the Schengen-
associated countries and the European Border and 
Coast Guard Agency will all support this work.

THE EU IN 2022 
67

The EU is also working on implementing a more 
ambitious and sustainable legal migration policy to 
attract new skills and talent to the EU. The Skills and 
Talents package – adopted in 2022 – will simplify 
application procedures for non-EU country nationals 
who wish to work in the EU and match skilled 
workers with the needs of employers in the EU.

This will benefit the EU’s economy, strengthen 
cooperation with non-EU countries and improve 
overall migration management. The new policy is 
additionally set to facilitate the integration of those 
fleeing Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine 
into the EU’s labour market, under the EU Talent Pool 
Pilot, launched in October 2022.

The Schengen area

The EU’s free-movement zone, the Schengen area, 
is central to European integration and growth. The 
recent pandemic has shown that disruptions to the 
flow of people and goods come at a cost. To better 
monitor the Schengen project, the Commission 
published the first annual State of Schengen Report 
in 2022, setting out what the EU and Member States 
can do to keep it functioning well.

The recently revised Schengen Evaluation and 
Monitoring Mechanism, effective since 1 October 
2022, provides further guidance on assessing how 
well Member States follow the Schengen rules. 
Moreover, the Council reached a general approach 
on the amendment of the Schengen Borders Code in 
2022, advancing negotiations on how best to deal 
with border controls during challenges such as health 
threats and the instrumentalisation of migration. 

The Schengen information system – an information-
sharing system used for both security and border 
management in Europe – was renewed in 2022 and 
offers new types of alerts and enhanced information 
exchange for border control and law enforcement 
authorities. 

The Commission also proposed the digitalisation of 
the Schengen visa application procedure for smarter 
and more effective border control. New information 
systems, such as the entry/exit system, which will 
assist with identity and document fraud, and the 
European travel information and authorisation 
system, which will pre-screen non-EU travellers who 
don’t require a visa to visit the Schengen area, help 
close existing security information gaps and help 
avoid delays at the external borders for travellers.

GENERAL REPORTThe Schengen area in 2022 

68

2
2
0
2

N

I

U
E

E
H
T

In 2022, the EU decided that Croatia had fulfilled the 
necessary conditions to join the Schengen area as 
of 1 January 2023. Although already partly bound 
by Schengen rules, Croatia will now enjoy the full 
benefits of being part of the largest free-movement 

area in the world. In addition, the Commission 
evaluated Bulgaria and Romania as being ready to 
join the Schengen area. Finally, the EU proposed to 
suspend the visa exemption for nationals of Vanuatu 
due to risks linked to its citizenship programme.

Protecting citizens

In 2022, the EU took comprehensive steps to protect 
its citizens and fight against criminal threats, such as 
the recommendation for increased police cooperation 
and information sharing between Member States’ 
police and law enforcement authorities. The EU 
also amended the Europol Regulation to allow 
the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement 
Cooperation to provide more extensive support to EU 
Member States. It came into force in 2022 and will 
help to tackle organised crime and terrorism.

The EU is also adapting and responding to new forms 
of criminal threats through several measures, such 
as new rules that oblige online service providers to 
remove terrorist content within 1 hour after receiving 
a removal order from national authorities. A revision 
of the Anti-trafficking Directive will align legislation 

with the EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in 
Human Beings (2021–2025). The EU additionally 
adopted the Action Plan against Trafficking in Cultural 
Goods.

A proposed expansion of the mandate of the 
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug 
Addiction will allow it to better respond to the 
challenges concerning illegal drugs.

To ensure that crime, and particularly organised 
crime, does not pay, a proposal was put forward 
to expand the reach of the national asset recovery 
offices to trace, recover and confiscate more criminal 
assets. The new proposal also seeks to expand the 
list of crimes for which assets can be confiscated.

 
 
 
69

6. Strengthening 
the economy

Introduction

In 2022, the EU’s recovery plan, NextGenerationEU, 
continued to deliver on the ground, financing 
important measures to boost the resilience of the 
economy and society and to accelerate the green 
and digital transitions.

After a strong first half of the year, the EU’s growth 
started to slow down and inflation started to rise 
as one of the consequences of Russia’s war of 
aggression against Ukraine. Despite the challenges, 
the labour market continued to perform strongly.

With the economic outlook uncertain due to risks 
related to future gas supplies, the EU accelerated 
its transition to clean energy to end its dependency 
on Russian fossil fuels. At the same time, the EU 
continued its work to strengthen the resilience of the 
Single Market and support industry and businesses 
on the path to climate neutrality.

A ship unloads cargo onto a busy port dock, 
Lower Saxony, Germany. 

GENERAL REPORT 
70

A new chapter for national recovery 
and resilience plans

As the key instrument at the heart of 
NextGenerationEU, the Recovery and Resilience Facility 
is designed to mitigate the economic and social 
impact of the coronavirus pandemic. It aims to make 
European economies and societies more sustainable, 
resilient and better prepared for the challenges and 
opportunities of the green and digital transitions.

It does so by supporting the implementation of 
crucial investment and reform measures outlined in 
Member States’ recovery and resilience plans. This 
includes a wide range of measures, from reducing 
the carbon footprint of public transport in Portugal 
and modernising healthcare services in Slovakia, 
to the digitalisation of public services in Estonia. 
The European Commission estimates that the total 
stimulus from NextGenerationEU could boost the EU’s 
economic growth by up to 1.5 % by 2027 and help 
create up to 1.5 million new jobs.

Europe’s economic growth

Trends

The EU economy entered a challenging phase in 
the second half of 2022. The shocks unleashed by 
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine hit the EU 
economy both directly and indirectly, setting it on a 
path of lower growth and higher inflation. The rapid 
increase in energy and food commodity prices eroded 
the purchasing power of households across the EU.

While Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine 
has had a serious effect on certain sectors of the EU 
economy, the labour market continued to perform 
strongly, benefiting from short-time work schemes 
supported by the SURE initiative (Support to mitigate 
Unemployment Risks in an Emergency). Unemployment 
reached record-low levels of 6.2 % in 2022.

Overall, the EU economy is set to continue expanding, 
but at a significantly slower pace than previously 
expected. The forecasts for economic activity and 
inflation remain heavily dependent on the evolution of 
the war and its impacts on the supply of gas to Europe.

In this context, the swift implementation of the 
€723.8 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility at 
the heart of the NextGenerationEU recovery plan 
remains the priority, as it provides Europe with 
exactly what it needs today.

THE EU IN 202271

How does the Recovery 
and Resilience Facility 
work?

To finance NextGenerationEU, the Commission, 
on behalf of the EU, borrows on the capital 
markets.

To benefit from the support, Member 
States submit their recovery plans to the 
Commission. Each plan sets out the reforms 
and investments to be implemented by 
the end of 2026 and Member States can 
receive financing up to a previously agreed 
allocation. To receive regular payment, the 
Member States must reach agreed milestones 
and targets on their way to achieving the 
necessary reforms and investments.

Repayment of EU borrowing allocated to 
NextGenerationEU will start in 2028 and 
should be completed by 2058. The loans will 
be repaid by the borrowing Member States, 
while the grants will be repaid from the EU 
budget.

By the end of 2022, a total of €138.8 billion had 
been paid out to Member States under the Recovery 
and Resilience Facility (€74.35 billion in 2022), both 
as pre-financing and following the achievement of 
certain milestones and targets by EU Member States.

In addition, several billion euro have been allocated, 
distributed or paid out to Member States under 
a number of other EU budget programmes that 
benefit from NextGenerationEU financing. This 
follows successful capital market operations, under 
which the Commission has raised the funds via 
the issuance of long-term EU bonds. By the end of 
2022, the Commission had raised nearly €170 billion 
from capital markets for its NextGenerationEU 
programme. The Commission will continue its 
borrowing operations in 2023, through a unified 
funding approach that brings together all of its 
issuances under a single EU-Bond label. 

A report published in July confirms that major 
headway has been made in the implementation of 
the Recovery and Resilience Facility and that the 
ambitious reform and investment agenda of Member 
States is well on track. By December, all 27 recovery 
and resilience plans had been approved and Member 
States had committed more than €200 billion to 
climate expenditure and €130 billion to digital 
spending. These sums amount to more than 40 % 
and 26 % of the total amount of funds requested by 
Member States under the facility by the end of 2022, 
well over the targets of 37 % and 20 % established 
by the regulation.

The facility is also at the heart of the REPowerEU 
Plan, the EU’s response to the socioeconomic 
hardships and global energy market disruption 
caused by Russia’s war of aggression against 
Ukraine. It supports the coordinated planning and 
financing of relevant infrastructure, energy projects 
and reforms in order to give the EU a more reliable, 
affordable and sustainable energy supply by 
improving the energy mix and moving away from 
Russian fossil fuels (see Chapter 2). In December, a 
political agreement was reached to include dedicated 
chapters in Member States’ existing recovery and 
resilience plans to support REPowerEU priorities.

GENERAL REPORT72

As a performance-based instrument, payments 
under the facility are dependent on Member 
States reaching the milestones and targets for the 
investments and reforms included in their respective 
recovery and resilience plans. This set-up has 
proved to help accelerate reforms in some Member 
States, ensuring effective delivery. Member States’ 
monitoring and control systems – a precondition for 
the approval of the recovery and resilience plans – 
have also created a sense of national ownership that 
is crucial to the success of difficult reforms.

The Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard website 
gives a transparent overview of how the 
implementation of the Recovery and Resilience 
Facility and the national plans is progressing.

The Commission is helping Member States 
implement their recovery and resilience plans 
through the Technical Support Instrument – the EU 
programme that provides tailor-made technical 
expertise to design and implement reforms. The 
Commission has responded to the requests of 19 
Member States for support. In addition, 17 Member 
States are receiving technical support to implement 
the REPowerEU Plan.

Sources of REPowerEU financing

 •

Remaining loans (currently 
€225 billion) from the 
Recovery and Resilience 
Facility and new grants worth 
€20 billion funded under the 
facility through a combination 
of sources: namely, the 
Innovation Fund (60 %) 
and the frontloaded sale of 
Emissions Trading System 
allowances (40 %) 

 •

National fiscal measures

 •

 •

 •

 •

Cohesion policy funds

€5.4 billion of funds from the 
Brexit Adjustment Reserve 
that Member States will be 
able to voluntarily transfer 
to the facility to finance 
REPowerEU measures

 •

 •

 •

Connecting Europe Facility

National and EU funding in 
support of REPowerEU objectives

The European Investment Bank

Innovation Fund

Private investment

THE EU IN 202273

An economic governance framework 
fit for the challenges ahead

Following an open and rich public debate, the 
Commission published orientations for a simpler and 
more effective economic governance framework. 
The Commission proposals seek to promote greater 
national ownership and better enforcement of fiscal 
and economic policies, while allowing for reform and 
investment and reducing high public debt ratios in a 
realistic, gradual and sustained manner. In this way, 
the reformed framework should help build the green, 
digital and resilient economy of the future, while 
ensuring the sustainability of public finances in all 
Member States.

From left to right: Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister 
of Croatia, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the 
European Commission, Christine Lagarde, President 
of the European Central Bank, and Paschal Donohoe, 
President of the Eurogroup, during the European 
Council, 23–24 June 2022, Brussels, Belgium.

Croatia prepares 
to introduce the euro 

In July, the EU adopted the final legal acts 
required to enable Croatia to introduce the 
euro on 1 January 2023. It followed a period 
of intensive preparation and substantial 
efforts made by Croatia to meet all the 
necessary requirements. The preparations 
for the changeover were complemented by a 
comprehensive communication campaign led 
by the Croatian authorities. The Commission 
and the European Central Bank contributed to 
these efforts.

With Croatia, 20 EU Member States and 
347 million EU citizens share the EU’s 
common currency. The euro will deliver 
practical benefits to Croatian citizens and 
businesses. It will make travelling and living 
abroad easier, boost the transparency and 
competitiveness of markets and facilitate 
trade. Euro notes and coins will also become 
a tangible symbol for all Croatians of the 
freedom, convenience and opportunity that 
the EU makes possible.

GENERAL REPORT 
74

Enhancing Europe’s economic, 
social and territorial 
cohesion

The EU’s regional policy, also known as cohesion 
policy, aims to correct inequalities between regions. 
It delivers on the EU’s political priorities, especially 
economic, social and territorial cohesion, and the 
green and digital transitions.

In 2022, the Commission adopted the 2021–2027 
partnership agreements on EU funds with all the 
Member States. These are key instruments in every 
financing period as they set out the strategies of 
each country regarding the investment of 2021–
2027 funding for EU regions. The launch of the 
agreements was followed by the adoption of 380 
national, regional and thematic cohesion-policy 
programmes, including territorial just transition plans 
and 80 cross-border programmes that operationalise 
the strategies in specific initiatives on the ground. 

Elisa Ferreira, European Commissioner for 
Cohesion and Reforms, during her visit to 
Croatia for the launch of the 2021–2027 
partnership agreement in Zagreb, Croatia, 
29 September 2022.

Together

THE EU IN 2022 
75

Ensuring a just transition

The Just Transition Mechanism, a key tool to ensure 
that the transition towards a climate-neutral 
economy happens in a fair way, leaving no one 
behind, has already started to deliver on its promise 
to mobilise up to €55 billion in investment by 
2029. Some 67 of the expected 70 territorial Just 
Transition plans have been adopted, in 26 Member 
States.

A new rare-earth magnet factory in Ida-Virumaa 
(Estonia) was the first project to secure financing 
from the Just Transition Fund. Other coal and 
carbon-fuel intensive regions are also selecting the 
first investments under the fund.

Support for Just Transition regions increased through 
the Just Transition Platform, which offers tailored 
support and the exchange of information and best 
practices on the platform’s portal and at the biannual 
conferences.

In February, the Commission published the eighth 
cohesion report, which assesses the state of EU 
regions across multiple policy areas, including the 
economy, energy, transport, innovation, demography 
and society. The report found that thanks to 
cohesion-policy investment, most less-developed 
regions are catching up and that the gap between 
them and wealthier areas of the EU is reducing. At 
the same time, some challenging developments 
need policy attention, such as economic stagnation 
in some areas, a widening innovation divide and 
demographic ageing.

Putting people first – a renewed 
strategy for the outermost regions

To foster cohesion within the EU, in 2022, 
the Commission adopted a modernised and 
revamped strategy of engagement and support 
for the EU’s outermost regions. The nine overseas 
territories – the Canary Islands (Spain), French 
Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion 
and Saint Martin (France), and the Azores and 
Madeira (Portugal) – continue to face a set of 
distinct structural conditions, both challenges and 
advantages, which require tailor-made solutions. The 
new strategy puts people first by proposing concrete 
measures to improve the living conditions of their 
5 million inhabitants. It will do this by supporting 
the green and digital transitions and building on 
their unique assets, such as their young population, 
extensive maritime zones, unique biodiversity and 
research potential. The strategy will deliver specific 
assistance, ensuring that the outermost regions can 
fully benefit from EU policies and reap their potential.

The strategy was put in motion with two dedicated 
instruments of assistance being launched in 2022: 
a €1 million small grants scheme for young people 
to carry out local projects in areas of their choice 
and a €1 million project to support blue sustainable 
tourism. In addition, the strategy announced the 
creation of a new advisory tool designed specifically 
for the outermost regions, an on-demand instrument 
to help develop, refine and implement regional 
development strategies for the outermost territories.

New tools for finding out 
about EU-funded projects 

In 2022, the Commission launched Kohesio, 
a new public database including more than 
1.5 million projects funded by cohesion policy 
from 2014–2020. The platform, which will be 
updated frequently, allows any user to access 
information about EU-funded projects and 
beneficiaries in a transparent and simple way. 
Citizens can use Kohesio to find out about EU 
investment on the ground in their region.

A new database on the 2021–2027 
programming period was also launched, where 
all information on cohesion policy investments 
can be found.

GENERAL REPORT76

Crisis-proofing the Single Market

For almost 30 years, the Single Market has been 
the EU’s most important asset, offering certainty, 
scale and a global springboard for its companies, 
along with a wide availability of quality products 
and services for consumers.

However, recent crises have challenged the normal 
functioning of the Single Market, particularly in 
the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when 
businesses and citizens suffered from entry 
restrictions, disruptions to supply chains and a lack 
of predictability concerning rules. More recently, 
the impact of Russia’s war of aggression against 
Ukraine has shown how quickly some supply chains 
can disintegrate, risking shortages of certain goods 
and services in Europe and forcing businesses to look 
for new markets.

As a result, the Commission has proposed a 
new framework to protect the functioning of the 
Single Market in times of crisis. The Single Market 
Emergency Instrument will help ensure that goods, 
services and people can continue to move freely in 
the Single Market, safeguard the smooth-running of 
supply chains and guarantee the availability of and 
access to critical goods and services.

Tourism was one of the sectors hardest hit by 
the pandemic, and the first to benefit from a new 
initiative to accelerate the green and digital transitions 
across EU industry. In line with the 2021 update to 
the EU Industrial Strategy, in February 2022, the 
Commission published the transition pathway to 
tourism – a plan jointly created with industry and 
civil society, detailing key initiatives, targets and 
conditions to achieve the twin transformations and 
the long-term resilience of the sector.

Following a call for the EU’s tourism community to 
share their concrete measures and targets, more 
than 250 pledges were published during 2022. These 
include initiatives by public authorities and destination 
management organisations to establish and follow 
strategies for environmentally, economically and 
socially sustainable tourism, to enable tourism 
service providers to work with online booking tools, 
and to share information on their offers digitally. The 
private sector is also actively engaged, with several 
large companies making concrete commitments to 
reduce their carbon footprint, water use and waste 
generation. In addition, both small and large private 
stakeholders have set targets on providing sustainable 
tourism options.

The Single Market Emergency Initiative 
– crisis management framework

Advisory group 

coordinates and advises the Commission.

 • Contingency 
planning 

 • Single Market 

vigilance 

 • Single Market 
emergency 

This framework applies 
when there is no crisis 
and the Single Market 
functions normally.

Activated by a 
Commission decision 
when an event requires 
vigilance measures.

Activated by a Council 
decision if a crisis leads 
the Single Market to be 
severely affected.

THE EU IN 2022 
 
 
 
77

In addition to looking within its borders to strengthen 
the resilience of the European economy, the EU is 
also addressing areas where it faces dependencies 
on non-EU countries. In February 2022, the 
Commission issued a second in-depth analysis 
focusing on five strategic areas: rare earths and 
magnesium, chemicals, solar panels, cybersecurity 
and information technology software.

Building on the findings, the Commission has followed 
up with several initiatives, including launching the 
European Solar Photovoltaic Industry Alliance. This 
aims to boost Europe’s capacity to produce solar and 
photovoltaic technologies to 30 gigawatts annually by 
2025 across each segment of the photovoltaic value 
chain. Reaching this objective would deliver €60 billion 
of new gross domestic product per year in Europe and 
create more than 400 000 new jobs.

Standards are the silent foundation of the Single 
Market and global competitiveness. From Wi-Fi 
frequencies to connected toys or ski bindings, they 
are an invisible but fundamental part of people’s 
daily lives. As part of the new Standardisation 
Strategy, the Commission put forward new rules 

that lay out a more strategic approach to standards 
and enshrine democratic values in technology 
applications. The new strategy will benefit businesses 
and consumers by ensuring the interoperability of 
products and services, reducing costs, improving 
safety and fostering innovation.

In 2022, the Commission also presented revised 
rules to ensure design legislation takes into account 
new digital aspects of products and make it easier, 
cheaper and more predictable to protect industrial 
designs across the EU.

While the EU has specific geographical indication 
protection for wines, spirit drinks and other 
agricultural products and foodstuffs, there is 
currently no such protection for craft and industrial 
goods. New rules proposed by the Commission will 
similarly enable producers to protect products such 
as Murano glass, Donegal tweed, Limoges porcelain, 
Solingen cutlery and Boleslawiec pottery and act 
against fakes in Europe and beyond. They will also 
make it easier for consumers to recognise the quality 
of such products.

The new standardisation strategy will support 
EU industry on the path to the green and digital 
transitions.

 •

 •

 •

New standards should define hydrogen quality and technical 
interoperability to allow industries to decarbonise by using hydrogen.

Raw materials used in batteries – powering electric cars and a range 
of other electronic devices – should be mined in line with strong 
environmental and labour standards.

Chips needed to enable smart watches and other connected devices 
require strong protection against cyber threats.

GENERAL REPORT78

Fair competition

Quality products at fair prices were needed more 
than ever in a difficult year for Europeans. Among the 
strongest tools the European Commission can use to 
protect consumers and sustain the economy are its 
antitrust, merger and State-aid decisions that keep 
competition vibrant and fair in the Single Market.

One example of how the EU’s competition-control 
system can defend people’s interests was a 
September ruling of the Court of Justice of the 

European Union, largely confirming a decision the 
Commission had taken against Google and setting 
the fine to more than €4 billion. The prohibition of 
Illumina’s acquisition of GRAIL, a deal that would 
have reduced the choice of early cancer-detection 
tests, is another decision that shows how competition 
policy can support innovation. The Commission 
banned the deal when Illumina failed to offer 
remedies that would have allayed its concerns.

Sustainable production and consumption

Our current ‘take-make-replace’ economic model 
depletes our resources, pollutes our environment, 
damages biodiversity and drives climate change. 
It also makes Europe dependent on resources 
from elsewhere. With this in mind, and as part of 
the Circular Economy Action Plan, the Commission 
presented a package of proposals in March 2022 
to make sustainable products the norm in the EU.

The proposal for a regulation on ecodesign for 
sustainable products addresses product design, 
which determines up to 80 % of a product’s life 
cycle environmental impact. It extends the existing 
Ecodesign framework, establishing requirements 
to improve the circularity, energy performance 
and other environmental sustainability aspects 
of products.

The proposals build on the success of the 
existing EU ecodesign rules, which have brought 
about remarkable reductions in the EU’s energy 
consumption and significant savings for consumers. 
Last year alone, existing ecodesign requirements 
saved consumers €120 billion.

The package also included a new strategy to make 
textiles more durable, repairable, reusable and 
recyclable. It aims to tackle fast fashion, textile 
waste and the destruction of unsold textiles, and 
ensure that their production takes place in full 
respect of social rights.

Key actions for circular and sustainable products

 •Make products 
greener, circular 
and energy efficient 
through ecodesign 
requirements.

 •Improve products and 
environmental sustainability 
information for consumers 
and supply chain actors 
by introducing Digital 
Product Passports.

 •Prevent 
destruction of 
unsold consumer 
products.

 •Promote 
sustainable 
business 
models.

 •Set mandatory 
requirements 
for green 
public 
procurement.

THE EU IN 202279

New rules proposed by the Commission will 
ensure that consumers can make informed and 
environmentally friendly choices when buying 
products. Whether it is a mobile phone or a kitchen 
appliance, consumers will be better informed about 
how long the product is made to last and if it can be 
repaired. The new rules will also ban ‘greenwashing’ 
and practices misleading consumers about the 
durability of a product.

When drafting the proposal, the Commission consulted 
over 12 000 consumers, along with companies, 
consumer experts and national authorities. Verifying 
the reliability of environmental claims was seen 
as the biggest obstacle to engaging in the green 
transition.

The proposed revision of the Construction Products 
Regulation will strengthen and modernise rules 
that have been in place since 2011. It will create a 
harmonised framework to assess and communicate 
the environmental and climate performance of 
construction products.

In a second Circular Economy package, presented in 
November, the Commission proposed new EU-wide 
rules to tackle packaging, a growing source of waste 
and consumer frustration. For consumers, the new 
rules will ensure the availability of reusable packaging 
options, get rid of unnecessary packaging, limit 
overpackaging and provide clear labels to support 
correct recycling. The package also included an 
initiative bringing clarity to consumers and industry 
on bio-based, compostable and biodegradable 
plastics, setting out for which applications such 
plastics are truly environmentally beneficial and how 
they should be designed, disposed of and recycled.

Companies play a key role in building a sustainable 
economy and society. In February, the Commission 
presented a proposal for a directive on corporate 
sustainability due diligence. The proposal aims to 
promote sustainable and responsible corporate 
behaviour throughout global value chains. Companies 
will have to anchor human rights and environmental 
considerations in their business activities and 
corporate governance.

Around half of consumers 
consulted said they would 
be willing to pay extra 
for a product that lasts 
longer without the need 
for repairs.

Source: Preparatory study to gather evidence on ways 
to empower consumers to play an active role in the green 
transition.

 • Construction 

products 

generate 30 % of the EU’s annual 
waste.

 • Buildings 

are responsible for 40 % of the 
EU’s energy consumption.

 • Construction and 
construction work 

produce 9.4 % of the total 
domestic carbon footprint.

 • Cement, steel, 

aluminium and 
plastics 

are responsible for 15 % of the 
EU’s carbon emissions.

GENERAL REPORT 
 
 
 
80

Accelerating sustainable investments

A great deal of private investment is needed for the 
EU to achieve its goal of climate neutrality by 2050. 
Sustainable finance is about reorientating investment 
towards environmentally friendly economic 
activities and is at the heart of the green and 
digital transitions. The EU is already a global leader 
in setting environmental, social and governance 
standards in financial markets and has created a 

first-of-its-kind classification system for sustainable 
activities in the EU (known as the EU taxonomy).

In 2022 the Commission updated the rules with the 
inclusion of specific transitional activities involving 
gas and nuclear technologies in line with the EU’s 
climate and environmental objectives, which become 
applicable from 2023.

Which gas-related 
activities are included?

Which nuclear-related 
activities are included?

 •

 •

 •

Electricity generation from gaseous 
fossil fuels

High-efficiency cogeneration of 
heat/cooling and power from 
gaseous fossil fuels

Production of heat/cooling from 
gaseous fossil fuels in an efficient 
district heating and cooling system

 •

 •

 •

Research, development and 
deployment of advanced 
technologies (‘Generation IV’) that 
minimise waste and improve safety 
standards

New nuclear plant projects with 
existing technologies for the 
generation of electricity or heat 
(‘Generation III+’) (until 2045)

Upgrades and modifications of 
existing nuclear plants for lifetime 
extension purposes (until 2040)

THE EU IN 202281

Fair, simple and modern taxation and customs

The EU’s long-term tax agenda for a fair and 
sustainable business environment sets out targeted 
measures intended to promote investment and 
entrepreneurship.

The proposal also extends existing reporting 
and information-exchange requirements to cover 
e-money and rulings given to individuals with 
a high net worth.

In December, the European Commission put forward 
a comprehensive package on value added tax 
(VAT) in the digital age to make it work better for 
businesses in the modern economy. The package 
will also make the EU’s VAT system more resilient to 
fraud, by harnessing the potential of digitalisation.

The key measures proposed include the introduction 
of a single VAT registration across the EU, a move 
to real-time digital reporting for cross-border 
businesses, and updated VAT rules for passenger 
transport and accommodation platforms. The 
measures will make the EU’s VAT system better 
suited for today’s globalised, digitalised business 
environment and stronger in the fight against fraud.

The Commission also proposed new tax transparency 
measures for all service providers that facilitate 
transactions in crypto assets for EU customers 
(see also Chapter 3). Currently, crypto-asset users 
make significant profits, which fall under the radar 
of national tax authorities. This leads to important 
revenue losses for public budgets. The Commission 
has proposed that all crypto-asset service providers, 
irrespective of their size or location, must report 
the transactions of clients residing in the EU. 

In December, the Member States also reached 
unanimous agreement on the forthcoming directive 
on ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for 
multinational groups in the European Union. Thanks 
to this historic agreement, the EU will be a front 
runner in applying the global tax reform agreement 
drawn up in 2021 by the Organisation for Economic 
Co-operation and Development. The directive 
includes a common set of rules on how to calculate 
the 15 % effective minimum tax rate, so that this 
is properly and consistently applied across the EU. 
The minimum tax rate of 15 % has been agreed at 
the global level by 137 countries. Once implemented, 
the directive will bring fairness, transparency 
and stability to the international corporate tax 
framework. Member States must implement 
the new rules by 31 December 2023.

In 2022, the Commission also launched a reflection 
process on the future of taxation, taking into 
account current challenges and future megatrends. 
This cumulated in a high-level Tax Symposium in 
November, where ministers, heads of international 
organisations, stakeholders and academics debated 
key issues around the future tax mix.

Paolo Gentiloni, European 
Commissioner for Economy, 
at the 2022 Tax Symposium, 
Brussels, Belgium, 
28 November 2022.

GENERAL REPORT 
82

Stronger financial markets

Consumer finance: accelerating the roll-out of instant payments

Instant payments allow people to transfer money at 
any time of any day within 10 seconds, significantly 
increasing the speed of transactions and convenience 
for people, for example when paying bills or receiving 
urgent transfers (such as in the case of a medical 
emergency). They also help to improve cash flow 
and generate cost savings for businesses, especially 

for small and medium-sized businesses, including 
retailers. In October, the Commission presented 
a legislative proposal to make instant payments in 
euro available to all citizens and businesses holding 
a bank account in the EU and in countries in the 
European Economic Area.

Benefits of instant payments

THE EU IN 202283

Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President 
of the European Commission in charge of ‘An 
Economy that Works for People’, and European 
Commissioner for Trade (left), and Mairead 
McGuinness, European Commissioner for Financial 
Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets 
Union, at a press conference on the Commission’s 
proposal for a regulation on instant payments, 
Brussels, Belgium, 26 October 2022.

Towards a more efficient and resilient 
Capital Markets Union

The Capital Markets Union is the EU’s long-term plan 
to deepen the Single Market for capital. The aim is 
to get money – investments and savings – flowing 
easily across the EU so that it can benefit consumers, 
investors and companies, regardless of where they 
are located.

To advance this plan, in 2022 the Commission 
put forward two packages of proposals. In March, 
the Commission proposed changes to the Central 
Securities Depositories Regulation to make 
settlement in EU financial markets safer and 
more efficient. Settlement refers to the delivery of 
securities to a buyer in exchange for the delivery of 
cash to a seller. It can take up to 2 business days 
to settle a transaction, which can result in both 

credit and legal risks during that period. Ensuring 
that these transactions are settled in a safe and 
efficient manner is therefore essential to the EU’s 
financial system. The proposal aims to provide 
more proportionate and effective rules to reduce 
compliance costs and regulatory burdens for central 
securities depositories, facilitate their ability to offer 
a broader range of services across borders and 
improve their cross-border supervision.

The second package of proposals targets three 
key areas: strengthening the EU’s clearing system, 
harmonising insolvency rules across Member States 
and reducing the burden for companies when it 
comes to listing on stock exchanges.

GENERAL REPORT 
84

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A safe, robust and 
competitive clearing 
system

Central clearing allows for smoother trading 
in capital markets and is key for the EU’s 
financial stability. When trades are cleared 
centrally, a provider of clearing services, 
known as a central counterparty (CCP), acts 
as an intermediary and guarantees the 
performance of contracts between buyers 
and sellers. This increases transparency and 
reduces risks in financial markets.

The EU needs to modernise its clearing 
system so it can react more swiftly 
to changing market and economic 
circumstances. It also needs to reinforce its 
domestic clearing capacity to reduce the 
risks stemming from its over-reliance on 
CCPs outside the EU.

The proposed measures will allow EU 
CCPs to expand their services more 
easily to meet demand. This will improve 
the attractiveness of the EU market by 
increasing competition and providing users 
of clearing services with more choice.

To ensure the EU’s financial stability and its 
capacity to act autonomously, the new rules 
will require certain market participants to 
clear at least a portion of their contracts 
with EU CCPs.

Harmonised corporate 
insolvency rules

The different insolvency regimes across 
Member States are one of the biggest 
barriers between national markets, with 
investors often having to consider different 
sets of rules in each Member State when 
assessing investment opportunities.

The proposed measures aim to harmonise 
certain insolvency rules to foster cross-
border investment across the Single Market, 
lower the cost of capital for companies and 
ultimately contribute to the achievement 
of the Capital Markets Union. Overall, the 
benefits of the proposal are expected to 
exceed €10 billion annually.

A new Listing Act

Companies today face significant 
requirements when listing on public 
markets. The new proposal aims to alleviate 
the administrative burden for companies 
of all sizes, but in particular of smaller 
companies, so that they can access funding 
more easily by listing on stock exchanges.

The measures will further contribute to 
the deepening of the Capital Markets 
Union by cutting unnecessary red tape and 
costs for companies, while ensuring a high 
level of investor protection and market 
integrity. This will encourage companies 
to get and remain listed on the EU capital 
markets. Easier access to public markets 
will allow companies to better diversify and 
complement available sources of funding 
and provide wider investment opportunities 
for EU investors.

 
 
 
85

7. Building a 
fair and social 
Europe

Introduction

In 2022, the EU continued to work towards a 
climate-neutral, green, fair and social Europe, 
advancing several initiatives previously launched 
by the European Commission. Despite the external 
challenges the EU has faced, the commitment to 
improving education, social rights and working 
conditions for everyone living in Europe remains a 
priority; this includes making sure that minimum 
wages are adequate and improving the quality and 
affordability of long-term care.

The second European Anti-racism Summit brought 
EU leaders and grassroots organisations together to 
consolidate work on equality and non-discrimination. 
Bringing wider attention to issues of equality 
culminated in the announcement of the winners of 
the first European Capitals of Inclusion and Diversity 
Awards. The inaugural European Employment and 
Social Rights Forum took place, with discussions 
focusing on how to achieve a fair and inclusive green 
transition.

A child reading a book with her parents in 
Berlin, Germany, 8 August 2021.

GENERAL REPORT 
86

How does the European 
Commission fight 
discrimination and 
promote diversity?

 ➔ With legislation, strategies and action 

plans such as: 

 •

 •

 •

 •

 •

 •

 •

 •

the EU Anti-racism Action Plan 
2020–2025, 

the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020–
2025, 

the Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025, 

the EU Roma Strategic Framework for 
Equality, Inclusion and Participation 
2021–2030, 

the Strategy on the Rights of Persons 
with Disabilities 2021–2030, 

the European Capitals of Inclusion 
and Diversity Award, 

the European Diversity Month, 

the European Pillar of Social Rights 
Action Plan. 

 ➔ Working with EU Member States. 

 ➔ Providing funding through the Citizens, 
Equality, Rights and Values Programme, 
the European Social Fund and the 
European Social Fund Plus. 

 ➔ Supporting voluntary initiatives like 
the European Diversity Charters. 

A fair economy for the green 
and digital transitions

To make sure the transition to a climate-neutral 
economy and continent is fair for everyone, the 
EU’s social policies must be aligned with its green 
and digital priorities. These include reducing poverty 
and providing active support for employment 
opportunities, equal access to quality and inclusive 
education, training and lifelong learning, along 
with investment in social protection for the most 
vulnerable.

In 2022, Member States presented their national 
2030 social targets to deliver on the European 
Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. Combined, their 
commitments set the EU firmly on the path to 
achieving or even exceeding the EU headline targets 
for employment, skills, and poverty reduction.

A central proposal included under the Fit for 55 
legislative package on climate neutrality (see 
Chapter 2) was the creation of a Social Climate Fund 
to support economically disadvantaged households, 
small businesses and microenterprises, and transport 
users by addressing the impact of carbon pricing on 
citizens.

A year after the EU adopted the Long-term 
Vision for Rural Areas, over a thousand 
organisations – at the European, national, 
regional and local levels – came together 
in the 2022 Rural Pact to forge stronger 
cooperation between public authorities 
across different policy areas and boost the 
sustainability and socioeconomic vitality of 
rural areas.

THE EU IN 202287

Three EU social targets for 2030: all Member States on board

GENERAL REPORT88

Support for workers

The European Parliament and the EU Member States 
reached a political agreement on the directive on 
adequate minimum wages, which establishes a 
framework to make sure national minimum wages 
are fit for purpose – providing a decent quality of life 
for workers. The new rules will promote collective 
bargaining on the setting of wages and enhance 
the effective access of workers to minimum-wage 
protection in the EU.

Helping younger people into work

As part of the 2022 European Year of Youth, the 
ALMA initiative (aim, learn, master, achieve) was 
launched to help young, disadvantaged people (aged 
18–30 years) access the labour market across EU 
borders.

In addition to that, the Directive on transparent 
and predictable working conditions in the European 
Union came into effect, guaranteeing workers across 
Europe more stability and allowing them to receive 
timely and more complete information about the 
essential aspects of their job, such as their place of 
work and remuneration.

ALMA offers participants a supervised stay abroad 
for a period of 2–6 months in another EU Member 
State, followed by intensive training and job-
matching assistance on their return. Coaching and 
counselling are involved at every step. Funded under 
the European Social Fund Plus, it will complement 
existing programmes like Erasmus+ or the European 
Solidarity Corps by catering to a group of young 
people not covered by these programmes.

Social inequalities 
and unemployment 
are the most important 
concerns of young 
Europeans.

Source: Future of Europe, 
Special Eurobarometer,  
No 517, 2022.

88 % 

of Europeans 
consider social Europe 
to be important for 
them personally.

Source: Social issues,  
Special Eurobarometer,  
No 509, 2021.

Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner 
for Jobs and Social Rights (fourth from 
left), during a visit to a social enterprise – 
funded by the European Social Fund – 
which employs people with disabilities, 
Plovdiv, Bulgaria, June 2022.

THE EU IN 2022 
89

Support for people in need

An adequate minimum income (cash benefits that act 
as a social safety net, different from minimum wage) 
helps ensure that everybody can pay their bills and 
live a life in dignity. This is particularly important in 
times of economic downturns, as it helps to cushion 

drops in household income for people most in need 
and contributes to sustainable and inclusive growth. 
While minimum income schemes exist in all Member 
States, their adequacy, reach and effectiveness in 
supporting people vary significantly.

More than 

95 million 

people in the EU were 
at risk of poverty or 
social exclusion 
in 2021.

Around 

20 % 

of jobless people 
at risk of poverty are 
not eligible to receive 
any income 
support.

An estimated 

30 % to 50 %  

of the eligible population 
did not take part in 
minimum income  
schemes.

The recommendation 
aims to: 

 •

 •

provide incentives 
and support to 
reintegrate those 
who can work 
back into the 
labour market;

preserve the 
sustainability of 
public finances.

 •

 •

protect the most 
vulnerable by 
reducing the risk 
of poverty and 
social exclusion;

contribute to 
reaching the 
EU’s 2030 
employment and 
poverty reduction 
targets;

In 2022, the Commission presented a proposal for 
a Council of the European Union recommendation 
on adequate minimum income to support Member 
States in modernising their minimum income 
schemes and making them more effective in lifting 
people out of poverty, while promoting the labour 
market integration of those who can work.

GENERAL REPORT90

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A European Year of Youth

To highlight how the green and digital 
transitions offer opportunities for young 
people and to bring a youth perspective 
to EU policies, European Commission 
President Ursula von der Leyen declared 
2022 to be the official European Year of 
Youth.

Focusing on issues close to young people’s hearts, 
such as climate change and the environment, 
employment and mental health, an immersive ‘Voice 
your Vision’ platform was launched to provide a way 
for young people to record their messages on the 
policy areas addressed by the Year of Youth and 
make their voices heard. 

V I D E O  Video on the European Year 
of Youth. 

Youth Policy Dialogue on financing future EU priorities, with 
Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Budget and 
Administration (sixth from right), as part of the European Year 
of Youth, Brussels, Belgium, 21 September 2022. 

 
 
 
 
 
91

To boost active participation and engagement, a 
series of youth policy dialogues were launched, 
allowing young people to debate with members of 
the College of Commissioners, while youth talks 
placed young people at centre stage in order to 
spread new ideas and inspire their peers to play an 
important role in the process of change. 

The European Youth Portal displayed all the 
opportunities linked to the Year of Youth. It included a 
section with stories by young journalists, and a youth 
policy section covering initiatives directly benefiting 
young people. The European Youth Portal activities 
map offered over 8 500 activities taking place across 
Europe and beyond.

V I D E O  Youth Policy Dialogue 
on financing future EU 
priorities, with Johannes Hahn, 
European Commissioner for 
Budget and Administration, as 
part of the European Year of 
Youth, September 2022. 

GENERAL REPORT 
92

Education, skills and lifelong learning

In 2022, Member States reinforced their cooperation 
under the new strategic framework of the European 
Education Area and mobilised significant EU funding 
for the education and training sector. Conceived 
in 2017, the European Education Area initiative 
helps Member States work together to build more 
resilient and inclusive education and training 
systems. The 2022 progress report on achieving the 
European Education Area by 2025 takes stock of 
the implementation of the European Education Area 
initiatives, policy reforms and progress towards EU-
level targets.

In the field of equality, equity, inclusion and gender 
equality, the Council adopted recommendations on 
the mobility of young volunteers across the EU, to 
make volunteering more accessible to those with 
fewer opportunities. The Council adopted additional 
recommendations on pathways to school success to 
reduce early school leaving.

The EU also wanted to empower universities to 
provide better and more inclusive education and 
research, with two important milestones in 2022: 
the communication on a European strategy for 
universities and the Council recommendation on 
building bridges for effective European higher 

education cooperation. The objective was to develop 
a genuinely European dimension in the higher 
education sector, built on shared values. Excellence 
and inclusion are distinctive features of European 
higher education. Following a call from EU leaders 
to the Council, the Commission and Member States 
to strengthen partnerships among universities, the 
European Universities Initiative now includes 44 
alliances involving 340 higher education institutions 
in 31 countries.

Together with the Member States and stakeholders, 
the 2022 Council recommendation on a European 
approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning 
and employability will help fill the skills gap by 
ensuring that EU citizens can take advantage 
of personalised learning and career pathways 
throughout their lifetime.

In 2022, the first 11 Erasmus+ teacher academies 
were launched, consisting of 182 organisations 
from 23 countries, who will receive a total of 
€15 million over 3 years to provide teachers with 
learning opportunities and mobility. Green and digital 
education are also key in completing the European 
Education Area. 

Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner 
for Innovation, Research, Culture, 
Education and Youth, at the 35th 
anniversary of Erasmus+, Brussels, 
Belgium, 14 December 2022.

THE EU IN 2022  
93

Further afield, the EU participated in the UN 
Transforming Education Summit, sending a strong 
political signal on the need to speed up efforts to 
reach the UN Sustainable Development Goal on 
quality education. President von der Leyen was 
announced as one of five global champions, and the 
EU led calls to increase global funding for education.

In 2022, the EU and Member States made sure 
learners of all ages would be able to access the 
knowledge and skills to live more sustainably and 
cope with a changing labour market in the digital 
era. The Council recommendation on learning for the 
green transition and sustainable development and 
the European Sustainability Competence Framework, 
along with the ongoing structured dialogue on digital 
education and skills, address the EU’s growing skills 
needs for the green and digital transitions.

Making sure Europe’s workforce is equipped with 
the right skills is therefore necessary in shifting to a 
modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy. 
In June, the Council adopted a recommendation 
to support working-age adults’ training needs. The 
recommendation proposes the establishment of 
‘individual learning accounts’ by Member States 
to improve access to training and keep workers in 
employment. The aim is to increase the number of 
people engaged in training each year.

The Council also adopted a recommendation on 
ensuring a fair transition towards climate neutrality, 

inviting Member States to adopt measures that 
address the employment and social aspects of 
climate, energy and environmental policies. These 
measures include a comprehensive policy package on 
quality, affordable and inclusive education, training 
and lifelong learning, and equal opportunities. 

The European Skills Agenda’s Pact for Skills aims 
to bring public and private organisations together 
by facilitating the creation of large-scale skills 
partnerships and encouraging them to make concrete 
commitments to upskilling and reskilling adults. In 
2022, the pact reached 1 000 members committing 
to concrete training offers for workers across Europe, 
gathering pledges to help train 6 million people. In 
addition, the Erasmus+ programme and other EU 
programmes provide significant funding for EU-level 
initiatives and education and training reforms at the 
national and local levels.

In October, the Commission adopted a proposal 
designating 2023 the European Year of Skills. With 
the support of the European Parliament, Member 
States, and public and private actors, this will 
revitalise lifelong learning in the EU, helping people 
get the right skills for quality jobs and allowing 
companies to address their skill shortages. To further 
harness the full potential of the European workforce, 
there will be an added focus on women, young 
people and those not in education, employment or 
training. 

GENERAL REPORT94

Stepping up measures for a 
union of equality

In 2022, the European Commission continued to 
implement its broad range of equality strategies, 
touching on gender (including equal pay), anti-racism, 
anti-Semitism, discrimination against Roma people, 
the LGBTIQ community and disability rights.

Gender equality

The Commission’s 2022 Report on Gender Equality in 
the EU takes stock of the main initiatives to promote 
equality between women and men in the past 
12 months in the key areas of the Gender Equality 
Strategy 2020–2025.

June 2022 marked a historic agreement on gender 
balance in EU companies with the Gender Balance on 
Boards Directive followed by a full endorsement from 
the European Parliament. EU companies listed on the 
EU stock exchanges are obliged to achieve a 40 % 
share of the under-represented sex among non-
executive directors and 33 % among all directors. 
The directive also imposes clear and transparent 
appointment procedures.

In December, the Parliament and the Council reached 
a political agreement on pay transparency measures, 
following a proposal by the Commission in 2021. 
The new rules will provide more transparency and 
effective enforcement of the principle of equal pay 
between women and men, and improve access to 
justice for victims of pay discrimination.

+

26 %
increase

A 26 % increase in global growth is up 
for grabs if we close the gender gap.

Source: The power of parity: How advancing women’s 
equality can add $12 trillion to global growth.

1 in 5

At least 1 in 5 millennials feel they are 
discriminated against all the time or 
frequently because of an aspect of 
their background. Race and ethnicity 
were the most cited factors.

Source: The Deloitte Global 2021 Millennial 
and Gen Z Survey.

THE EU IN 202295

NextGenerationEU

Investing in women and girls in 
the EU and around the world

 ➔ Gender equality is now a key element of the new 
EU budget, NextGenerationEU and funding for 
the EU’s external action.

 ➔ Over 100 different initiatives on gender 
equality feature in Member States’ recovery 
and resilience plans.

 ➔ €1.55 billion allocated over 2021–2027 
under the EU’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and 
Values Programme.

 ➔ €500 million allocated under the global EU–UN 

Spotlight Initiative.

 ➔ 85 % of initiatives under the Neighbourhood, 
Development and International Cooperation 
Instrument will promote gender equality.

Combating gender-based violence

On International Women’s Day in March 2022, the 
Commission proposed EU-wide rules to combat 
violence against women and domestic violence. The 
proposed directive would criminalise rape based on 
lack of consent, female genital mutilation and cyber 
violence, which includes the non-consensual sharing 
of intimate images, cyberstalking, cyberharassment 
and cyber incitement to violence or hatred. 

The proposed rules strengthen victims’ access to 
justice and encourage Member States to implement 
a one-stop shop mechanism, meaning that all 

support and protection services would be located in 
the same place. 

The rules also state that victims should be able 
to claim compensation in the course of criminal 
proceedings. The proposal calls for adequate and 
specialised protection and support, such as free-
of-charge helplines and rape crisis centres, and 
it provides targeted support for groups that have 
specific needs or are at risk, including women fleeing 
armed conflict.

GENERAL REPORT96

An EU that cares

Everyone has the right to affordable care services: 
from early childcare and education to long-
term home care and community-based services. 
Participation in early childhood education has a 
positive impact on a child’s development and helps 
reduce the risk of social exclusion and poverty 
throughout their lifetime. Long-term care empowers 
people who, because of old age, illness or disability, 
depend on help for daily activities, to maintain 
their autonomy and live with dignity. However, for 
many people these services are still not affordable, 
available or accessible.

In 2022, the European Commission adopted the 
European Care Strategy. The strategy contributes to 
the well-being of care recipients, gender equality and 
social fairness. This ambitious plan aims to reinforce 
access to affordable, high-quality, long-term care 
and revises the targets on early childhood education 
and care set by the Council in Barcelona (Spain) as 
envisaged under the European Pillar of Social Rights 
Action Plan.

Investing in care is important to attract and retain 
talent in the care sector, which is often characterised 
by difficult working conditions and low wages, and 
to address labour shortages and fulfil the sector’s 
economic and job-creation potential. This investment 
will also improve women’s participation in the labour 
market. Since women still bear the main brunt of 
care responsibilities, with 90 % of the formal care 
workforce made up of women, and 7.7 million 
women out of employment because of care 
responsibilities, an efficient care sector could offset 
continuing gender inequalities like gender pay and 
pension gaps.

To address these issues, the Commission is proposing 
concrete measures to support Member States in 
increasing access to high-quality and affordable care 
services, while improving working conditions and the 
work–life balance for carers.

As of August 2022, all Member States were obliged 
to start applying the new EU rules on work–life 
balance.

© Adobe Stock

Almost 90 % of 
the formal care 
workforce are 
women.

7.7 million 
women do not 
work because 
of unpaid care 
responsibilities.

Investing in care 
can generate 
an additional 
13.6 million jobs 
in the EU by 2030.

© Adobe Stock

In 2019, only 27 % 
of children at risk of 
poverty and social 
exclusion were 
enrolled in early 
childhood education 
and care compared 
to 35 % for the 
general population 
of children.

Around  
one third 
of households with 
long-term care needs 
do not use home care 
services because they 
cannot afford them.

THE EU IN 202297

Implementing the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020–2025

The EU issued new Guidelines for strategies and 
action plans to enhance LGBTIQ equality, which 
help Member States implement measures to ensure 
equality for their LGBTIQ communities. The guidelines 

include the setting of clear targets for promoting 
equality while focusing on the most vulnerable 
members of the LGBTIQ community and ensuring 
their protection through effective legal pathways.

The Commission also adopted 
a proposal to harmonise the 
recognition of parenthood across 
Member States, protecting the 
fundamental rights of children 
and providing legal certainty for 
the families (see Chapter 5).

Helena Dalli, European Commissioner for 
Equality (third from left), attends the 30th 
anniversary of EuroPride, Belgrade, Serbia, 
16 September 2022.

GENERAL REPORT 
98

Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021–2030

On the European Day of Persons with Disabilities 
Conference, organised by the European Commission 
and the European Disability Forum, Vice-President 
for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, and 
Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, presented 
the 2023 Access City Awards, recognising cities that 
have made efforts to improve accessibility and the 
participation of persons with disabilities. Skellefteå 
(Sweden), won for its innovative approach and long-
term commitment to improved accessibility in public 
spaces and transport infrastructure.

Persons with disabilities have the right to full 
participation in all areas of life, as does everyone 
else. Despite progress in some areas, many obstacles 
remain. Only half of persons with disabilities are 
employed compared to 3 in 4 persons without 
disabilities. In 2021, 29.7 % of the EU population 
aged 16 or older with a disability (activity limitation) 
was at risk of poverty or social exclusion, while the 
figure for those with no disability was only 18.8 %.

In 2022, the Commission published a monitoring 
framework where people can track the progress 
being made on each of the 64 actions of the 
Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 
2021–2030. Two flagship initiatives of the strategy 
have already been delivered: the establishment of 
the Disability Platform, where EU Member States, 
civil society and institutions work together on making 
the goals of the strategy a reality, and the renewal 
of the Human Resources Strategy for the European 
Commission, with measures to promote diversity and 
the inclusion of persons with disabilities.

The Disability Employment Package, aiming to 
improve the labour market outcomes of persons with 
disabilities, was launched in September. The package 
will help develop national policies that involve 
persons with disabilities in the green and digital 
transitions.

The EU’s Disability Platform 
provides another setting that 
enables relevant stakeholders 
to share experiences and 
good practices, learn from 
each other and collaborate.

© Adobe Stock

THE EU IN 202299

A truly anti-racist European Union

As part of the measures under the EU Anti-racism 
Action Plan 2020-2025, the Commission held the 
second European Anti-racism Summit together with 
EU institutions, Member States, civil society, equality 
bodies and grassroots organisations in March 2022. 
Since the launch of the action plan, Member States 
have been asked to develop national plans against 
racism. The summit was an opportunity to discuss 
the progress made in their implementation, in 
particular the common guiding principles to support 
the preparation and implementation of national 
action plans against racism.

The Commission also worked with Member States 
on an assessment report of their national Roma 
strategic frameworks as a follow-up to the new EU 
Roma Strategic Framework for Equality, Inclusion and 
Participation, analysing the commitments made by 
the Member States and providing guidance for any 
improvement needed.

The EU has continued its work on combating racist 
and xenophobic hate crime and hate speech, and 
ensuring a proper transposition and implementation 
of the Framework Decision on Combating Hate Crime 
and Hate Speech by means of Criminal Law, including 
through infringement procedures.

Fight against anti-Semitism

The Commission has begun the implementation of 
the first ever EU Strategy on Combating Antisemitism 
and Fostering Jewish Life 2021–2030. The Council 
adopted conclusions on combating racism and 
anti-Semitism in March 2022 and invited Member 
States to develop national strategies against anti-
Semitism by the end of 2022. Member States were 
also invited to use the non-legally binding working 
definitions of anti-Semitism and of Holocaust denial 
and distortion adopted by the International Holocaust 
Remembrance Alliance. 

First EU diversity awards 

In April 2022, the European Commission announced 
the winners of the first ever European Capitals of 
Inclusion and Diversity Awards, aimed at highlighting 
towns, cities and regions across the EU that lead by 
example in inclusive policies. The winners, spread 
across five Member States, were celebrated for 
their work on building fairer societies by promoting 
diversity and inclusion in terms of sex, racial and 
ethnic origin, religion and belief, disability, age, 
LGBTIQ rights and Roma integration.

Launched within the EU Anti-racism Action Plan 
2020–2025, the annual European Capitals of 
Inclusion and Diversity Awards are part of the 
Commission’s work towards achieving a true union 
of equality, and the winners were announced during 
the 2022 European Diversity Month. The theme 
was ‘Building bridges’, and representatives from 
business, academia, non-governmental organisations 
and the European Commission discussed how to 
build inclusive workplaces and create effective and 
intersectional inclusion and diversity policies that 
tackle several areas of discrimination at once.

V I D E O  Winners of the first European Capitals 
of Inclusion and Diversity Award explain the local 
impacts of the award, their motivations and the 
overall benefits of striving for a more equal and 
inclusive Europe. 

GENERAL REPORT 
Informal meeting of heads of state and 

government, Versailles, France, 11 March 2022. 

100

8. Promoting 
European interests 
and values in 
the world

Introduction

In a year of increasing uncertainty, the EU remained 
a driving force for multilateralism and led the 
response to global challenges, pursuing an ambitious 
neighbourhood policy, showcasing solidarity and 
developing comprehensive partnerships to secure 
and promote global peace, stability, democracy and 
human rights.

United and determined in their response to Russia’s 
war of aggression against Ukraine and the ensuing 

food and energy crises, the EU and its Member 
States provided humanitarian aid, emergency 
assistance, and financial, operational and military 
support to Ukraine (see Chapter 1).

The EU Member States also reaffirmed their 
commitment to take greater responsibility for 
European security and defence, in close cooperation 
with international partners, to protect common 
interests and values.

Officials at the Emergency Response 
Coordination Centre, which coordinates the 
delivery of assistance to disaster-stricken 
countries, Brussels, Belgium, 4 May 2022.

THE EU IN 2022 
 
101

 © Judith Litvine / French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs 

Informal meeting of heads of state and 
government, Versailles, France, 11 March 2022. 

The year also saw Denmark join the other 26 
Member States in the Common Security and Defence 
Policy, which further enhanced the EU’s capacity 
to take a leading role in peacekeeping operations, 
conflict prevention and the strengthening of 
international security.

The likely long-lasting effects of Russia’s war of 
aggression against Ukraine (see Chapter 1) on 
European and global security order have called 
for even closer cooperation with partners such as 
the UN, NATO, the Organization for Security and 
Co-operation in Europe, the African Union and the 
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Security and defence

To improve the EU’s ability to protect its citizens, 
values and interests and contribute to international 
peace and security, the Council adopted a Strategic 
Compass, which EU leaders endorsed in March 
2022. In line with the direction set by the Versailles 
Declaration, it aims to step up investment, harness 
innovative and critical technologies and build a 
more integrated and competitive European defence 
market. The plan is to increase the EU’s defence 
budget and improve coordination between Member 
States as regards capabilities and equipment 
standardisation.

The cooperation between the EU and NATO continues 
to constitute an integral pillar of European stability 
and security. In 2022, two more EU Member 
States, Finland and Sweden, applied to join NATO, 
abandoning their long-standing military non-
alignment.

food and energy crises, the EU and its Member 

States provided humanitarian aid, emergency 

assistance, and financial, operational and military 

support to Ukraine (see Chapter 1).

The EU Member States also reaffirmed their 

commitment to take greater responsibility for 

European security and defence, in close cooperation 

with international partners, to protect common 

interests and values.

GENERAL REPORT 
102

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Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign 
Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European 
Commission in charge of ‘A Stronger Europe in the World’ (in 
the centre), at the 29th Ministerial Council of the Organization 
for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Łódź, Poland, 
1 December 2022. 

The European Peace Facility provided military 
equipment and security infrastructure to the 
Ukrainian armed forces, leaving a decisive mark in 
support of Ukraine’s defence. This was the first time 
in its history that the EU has provided lethal 
equipment to a country to defend itself against an 
aggression. Via the European Peace Facility, the EU 
also supported partner countries through assistance 
measures, such as in Moldova, Mozambique, Niger, 
Somalia and the Western Balkans countries, and 
supported the African Union.

The EU also launched the EU Military Assistance 
Mission in support of Ukraine to strengthen the 
capacity of the Ukrainian armed forces to defend 
Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally 
recognised borders and to deter and respond to 
possible future military offensives by Russia and 
other potential aggressors.

The EU and its Member States quickly mobilised the 
European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal 
Threats to ensure vigilance against criminals taking 
advantage of the ongoing military aggression in 
Ukraine. An EU Support Hub for Internal Security and 
Border Management was set up in Moldova.

The EU provided full operational and financial 
support to the frontline countries (see Chapter 1). 
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency 
(Frontex) is offering support at the EU’s borders 
with Russia and Ukraine to assist local authorities in 
dealing with arrivals of large numbers of refugees. 
The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement 
Cooperation (Europol) is also present on the ground 
and works closely with all Member States to prevent 
and counter crimes, such as human trafficking, 
firearms trafficking, money laundering and labour 
exploitation.

 • €1 billion 

 • €500 million 

mobilised via the 2022 European Defence 
Fund to boost the EU’s defence capabilities 
and provide new tools for defence innovation. 

 • €1.2 billion 

made available to 61 defence industrial 
research and development projects (supported 
by around 700 companies) selected under the 
2021 European Defence Fund. 

 • €2 billion 

investment announced for the EU Defence 
Innovation Scheme (*).

 •

(*) Consists of budget from the European Defence Fund 
(€1.46 billion), combined with co-funding from Member 
States (€90 million) and expected leverage of €400 million to 
€500 million from other public and private sources.

proposal for a new short-term instrument 
via the regulation establishing a European 
Defence Industry Reinforcement through 
Common Procurement Act to incentivise 
the common procurement by Member 
States of urgent and critical defence 
products from EU industry. 

 • €3.1 billion 

of equipment and supplies provided via the 
European Peace Facility. 

NB: This infographic combines both 
existing and future programmes.

 
 
 
 
103

Neighbourhood policy and enlargement negotiations

Western Balkans and Türkiye

The EU remained committed to the European 
perspective of the region and opened negotiations 
with North Macedonia and Albania in July. It also 
granted candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina 
in December.

The 2022 Enlargement Package included a detailed 
overview of the implementation of the €30 billion 
Economic and Investment Plan for the Western 
Balkans, as part of the Global Gateway strategy 
(see below). This aims to reduce the apparent 
socioeconomic gap between the EU and the region, 
and improve the region’s energy security. 

The European Commission confirmed its 
recommendation for the abolition of the visa 
regime for Kosovo (this designation is without 
prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with 
UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the 
Kosovo declaration of independence).

Within the framework of EU accession negotiations 
with Montenegro and Serbia, the EU maintained its 
regular dialogue with the two countries at both the 
political and technical levels.

On 6 December, the first EU–Western Balkans 
Summit was held in Tirana (Albania) and represented 
an important opportunity to reconfirm the accession 
perspective of the Western Balkans partners. The 
Commission announced the Energy Support Package, 
consisting of €1 billion in grants to help the Western 
Balkans face the energy crisis and promote its clean 
energy transition. The summit also welcomed a joint 
declaration by the EU’s and the Western Balkans’ 
telecom operators on the future reduction in roaming 
costs between the EU and the Western Balkans and a 
commitment on the alignment with EU visa policy.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission 
(first from right), receives (from left to right) Petr Fiala, Prime 
Minister of Czechia, Dimitar Kovačevski, Prime Minister of North 
Macedonia, and Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania, Brussels, 
Belgium, 19 July 2022. 

GENERAL REPORT 
104

The EU continued its high-level dialogue with Türkiye 
in selected areas of common concerns, notably 
climate change and migration. Intensive engagement 
on trade also continued.

Financial assistance for the Western Balkans and Türkiye

 • €500 million 

urgent budget support for the Western Balkans to tackle the effect of the energy crisis. 

 • €1.8 billion 

adopted in grants under the Western Balkans 
Investment Framework for 40 flagship 
investment projects (transport, energy, 
environment, digital, private sector and human 
capital). Out of this, €500 million is used as part 
of the energy support package. 

 •

Leveraging a total investment of €5.7 billion. 

 • €990 million 

in rural development programmes under the 
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance for 
Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia 
and Türkiye. 

 •

Expected to generate over €2 billion 
investment in rural areas of the Western 
Balkans and Türkiye. 

Eastern Partnership

Following the decision of the 
European Council in June 2022, 
the EU granted candidate status 
to Moldova and Ukraine, and a 
European perspective to Georgia.

The EU continued to implement 
its ambitious Economic and 
Investment Plan, as part of the 
Global Gateway strategy (see 
below), across the Eastern 
Partnership region in order to 
support small and medium-sized 
enterprises and the green and 
digital transitions.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of 
the European Commission (left), and 
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of 
Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, 8 April 2022. 

THE EU IN 2022 
105

Maia Sandu, President of Moldova 
(left), and Olivér Várhelyi, European 
Commissioner for Neighbourhood 
and Enlargement, Brussels, Belgium, 
18 May 2022. 

The Commission supported partner countries’ 
resilience through programmes addressing issues 
such as economic recovery, social protection, job 
creation and agriculture. €225 million of EU support 
was made available to the Southern Neighbourhood 
via the Food and Resilience Facility, to mitigate the 
effects of potential emerging food crises caused 
by high dependence on food imports disrupted by 
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (see 
‘Food security’ below).

For the eastern partners, the EU is 
investing €2.3 billion to leverage 
investments of up to €17 billion 
across all sectors. This includes 
digital connectivity projects, such 
as deploying a fibre-optic cable 
under the Black Sea and 
developing high-speed broadband 
infrastructure. Transport routes for people and goods 
between the Caucasus region and the EU are also a 
priority.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding 
on energy with Azerbaijan strengthened the EU’s 
energy security and Azerbaijan’s green transition.

Following the fraudulent presidential elections in 
Belarus in 2020 and the regime’s involvement in 
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the 
EU increased its sanctions targeting the Belarus 
regime. However, the EU continues to offer support 
and solidarity to the people of Belarus, both in the 
country and in exile.

Southern Neighbourhood

The implementation of the Economic and Investment 
Plan for the Southern Neighbourhood, as part of 
the Global Gateway strategy (see below), is well 
underway, with important projects taking shape 
in the priority areas of the green transition and 
climate-change resilience. In 2022, €30 billion 
was committed for investment in the Southern 
Neighbourhood, largely in renewable energy 
infrastructure.

In November, the EU and Egypt stepped up their 
cooperation on the clean energy transition by signing 
a memorandum of understanding on a strategic 
partnership on renewable hydrogen. 

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine caused 
multiple adverse effects in Southern Neighbourhood 
countries, in particular among those structurally 
dependent on food imports and suffering from 
deteriorated socioeconomic conditions already 
brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

GENERAL REPORT 
106

International partnerships and humanitarian aid

The Global Gateway

In 2022, the EU worked on rolling out its positive and 
sustainable offer to finance investments, the Global 
Gateway strategy. Launched in late 2021 to support 
major investment in hard and soft infrastructure 
projects, it aims to boost smart, clean and secure 
links in digital, energy and transport sectors, and 
strengthen health, education and research systems.

Following a ‘Team Europe’ approach, the EU, its 
Member States, development banks and financial 
institutions agreed to contribute to the mobilisation 
of €300 billion by 2027, to invest in partner 
countries. The first major Africa–Europe Global 
Gateway investment package of €150 billion 
was launched at the EU–African Union Summit in 
February. 

Key investments were made in its first year of 
implementation to boost digital connectivity through 
underwater data cables and terrestrial connections 
between the EU and its partners, to increase 
renewable energy production with investments in 
solar plants and wind farms and to increase the 
access to and manufacturing capacity of vaccines, 
medicines and health technologies. 

With a ‘Team Europe’ approach, the EU and its 
Member States remain the leading providers of 
official development assistance worldwide, with 
€71.6 billion in 2021 (latest available data), 
representing 41 % of global assistance. Together 
they also contribute more than half of all global aid 
to education, supporting the education sector in more 
than 100 countries around the world. The EU remains 
at the forefront of efforts towards achieving the UN 
2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development 
Goals.

2022 also marked 45 years of EU–ASEAN relations. 
During the EU–ASEAN Commemorative Summit, 
the EU and its Member States, in a ‘Team Europe’ 
approach, announced the mobilisation of €10 billion 
as part of the Global Gateway, to accelerate 
infrastructure investments in ASEAN countries. 
A number of flagship projects were identified in 
the Indo-Pacific region, such as Team Europe’s 
Sustainable Connectivity Initiative.

From left to right: Ursula von der 
Leyen, President of the European 
Commission, Joe Biden, President 
of the United States, and Joko 
Widodo, President of Indonesia, at 
the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, 
16 November 2022. 
In the margins of the summit, a 
high-level event on the Partnership 
for Global Infrastructure Investments 
took stock of the state of play after 
the first year of its implementation. 
The partnership is a collaborative effort 
made by the G7 to fund infrastructure 
projects in developing nations. 

THE EU IN 2022 
107

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General 
of the World Health Organization (left), and 
Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for 
International Partnerships, sign a partnership 
programme between the EU and the World Health 
Organization, Brussels, Belgium, 30 November 
2022. 

Vaccines arriving in Sierra Leone, 
February 2022.  

In support of partner countries’ efforts to address the 
pandemic and its consequences, €53.7 billion had 
already been mobilised and €47.7 billion disbursed in 
a ‘Team Europe’ approach by the end of 2021. In 
2022, the EU and its Member States continued to 
lead on international COVID-19 solidarity with 
502.2 million vaccine doses shared with partner 
countries. Of these, 422 million doses were shared 
through COVAX (1.1 million doses through the EU 
Civil Protection Mechanism) and 80.2 million doses 
bilaterally (38 million through the EU Civil Protection 
Mechanism).

The EU allocated an additional €300 million to 
speed up the roll-out and uptake of vaccines in 
several countries, most of them in Africa, and a 
further €100 million to strengthen health systems 
and improve access to diagnosis and treatment. To 
bolster global health capacities, the EU helped create 
a new international fund for pandemic prevention, 
preparedness and response and will contribute 
€427 million to it.

© CONCERN, 2022

In 2022, the implementation of the Team Europe 
Initiative on Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines, 
Medicines and Health Technologies in Africa 
progressed and an initiative to support similar efforts 
in Latin America and the Caribbean was announced. 
This will complement and further enhance social, 
economic and scientific ties between the EU and 
Latin America and the Caribbean.

The EU has also put forward a strategy to strengthen 
the partnership between its Member States and the 
Gulf Cooperation Council in key policy areas, such 
as energy, the green transition and climate change, 
trade and economic diversification, regional stability 
and global security, humanitarian and developmental 
challenges, and closer people-to-people contacts. 
The EU is pursuing enhanced cooperation with Arab 
donors on joint priorities.

GENERAL REPORT 
 
108

A midwife checking babies for 
malnutrition in Kousseri refugee 
camp, Baga Sola, Chad, May 2022. 
The camp was set up with the help of 
EU Humanitarian Aid after people in 
Nigeria fled violence from Boko Haram. 

Kousseri refugee camp, Baga Sola, 
Chad, May 2022. 

Humanitarian aid and civil protection

Over the last 30 years, the EU has helped alleviate 
the suffering of millions of the most vulnerable 
people in more than 110 countries. In 2022, the 
Commission mobilised €2.2 billion of humanitarian 
aid to help address the most pressing needs of 
affected populations around the world. One in seven 
euro of the EU humanitarian aid budget is allocated 
to ‘forgotten emergencies’, such as the famine in the 
Sahel region.

The Commission also continued to provide 
humanitarian funding in support of 4 million 
refugees in Türkiye, mostly fleeing the war in 
Syria. A further €50 million came in addition to the 
€325 million humanitarian aid already announced at 
the end of 2021 for the Emergency Social Safety Net 
Programme in Türkiye, bringing the total EU 
humanitarian funding for Türkiye since 2012 close to 
€3.4 billion.

The EU chaired the sixth Brussels Conference on 
‘Supporting the future of Syria and the region’ on 
9 and 10 May 2022, gathering 55 countries and 22 
international organisations. The conference, which is 
the main pledging event for Syria and the region, 
mobilised aid to Syrians inside the country and in 
neighbouring countries through pledges totalling over 
€6.4 billion.

In 2022, a new tool, the European Humanitarian 
Response Capacity was set up to fill gaps, mainly in 
logistics, in the humanitarian response to sudden-
onset natural hazards and human-induced disasters.

V I D E O  Helping a bakery relight the 
ovens after the war, Aleppo, Syria, 
March 2022.

THE EU IN 2022109

Common logistical 
service
The EU Humanitarian Air 
Bridge, EU humanitarian aid 
ﬂight routes, last-mile 
delivery, transport services 
and warehousing 

European Humanitarian 
Response Capacity 

Providing support to 
humanitarian actors 
and emergency 
responders

Stockpiles 
Water, sanitation and 
hygiene and non-food 
shelter items 

Expertise
Health experts and 
logistical experts  

EU-funded humanitarian aid operations cover a 
variety of sectors, including food security, healthcare, 
shelter and education in emergencies, but also 
protection services, including against gender-
based violence. Aid is provided based on the four 
fundamental humanitarian principles: humanity, 
neutrality, impartiality and independence.

The EU remains firmly committed to promoting 
compliance with international humanitarian law in 
order to be able to fulfil its humanitarian aid 
objectives and improve the security of its 
humanitarian partners, but violations of international 
humanitarian law remain a challenge around the 
world.

The EU: a major 
humanitarian donor in Yemen

After 7 years of war, Yemen remains one of 
the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Millions 
of Yemenis are displaced, destitute and 
malnourished. In addition, more than half of the 
population is food insecure. EU humanitarian aid 
helps Yemenis with food assistance, healthcare, 
education, water and shelter. It also helps 
improve hygiene services in areas of high food 
insecurity and malnutrition, conflict-affected 
areas and for displaced populations.

© UNICEF, 2022

Yemen, October 2022.  
Vulnerable Yemeni children sometimes 
drop out of school because of costs 
associated with attending school, which 
are often too high for their parents to 
bear. Thanks to EU funds, UNICEF provides 
school supplies to children in need and 
brings them back to education.

GENERAL REPORT110

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Examples of  humanitarian aid allocated in 2022

 Horn of Africa 

 €633 million (Team Europe)

to fight extreme food insecurity 
due to unprecedented drought, 
COVID-19 and Russia’s war of 
aggression against Ukraine.

  Sahel and Lake Chad 
region

 €954 million (EU and its 

Member States)

to fight acute and deteriorating 
food insecurity across Africa.

  Afghanistan and the 
region

 Over €115 million

to support humanitarian 
organisations. (Plus additional 
funding in response to the 
devastating 5.9 magnitude 
earthquake that struck eastern 
Afghanistan in June 2022.)

 Yemen

 €170 million

for those affected by the 
conflict. 

Since the beginning of the 
war in 2015, the EU has 
contributed over €1.2 billion to 
respond to the crisis, including 
€862 million in humanitarian 
aid and €407 million in 
development assistance.

 Syria and the region

 €6.4 billion

total pledge made at the Syrian 
Conference in 2022.

The EU and its Member States 
pledged €4.8 billion. They have 
been the largest donors of 
humanitarian and resilience 
assistance to this region, with 
€27.4 billion allocated since 
2011.

 Myanmar/Burma

 €27 million

to address the immediate 
needs of the most vulnerable, 
including displaced and 
conflict-affected communities.

© Danish Refugee Council, 2022

EU humanitarian aid in remote areas, 
Afghanistan, October 2022.

 
 
 
111

Food security

The blockade of Ukrainian exports and destruction 
of fields for crop production carried significant risks 
for both food availability and affordability in the 
EU neighbourhood, in North Africa and the Middle 
East, but also in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin 
America. This particularly concerned wheat, a basic 
food staple.

As part of the response to global food insecurity, the 
EU mobilised an additional €600 million to support 
affected African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, and 
€225 million for North Africa and the Middle East. 
This brought the estimated total of EU support for 
global food security and food systems until 2024 to 
over €8.3 billion.

Taking a ‘Team Europe’ approach, the EU pooled 
resources and expertise with its Member States and 
financial institutions to address the global food crisis 
while fully acknowledging the need to work in a 
multilateral manner in cooperation with international 
partners.

The EU’s contribution to global security worldwide

GENERAL REPORT112

Thanks to these initiatives, from May to December 
2022 around 29 million tonnes of agricultural 
products were exported from Ukraine, according to 
the information received from the Ukrainian Ministry 
of Agriculture. A further €1 billion was mobilised in 
December to sustain and scale up the EU–Ukraine 
solidarity lanes.

The EU worked on increasing its food production, 
facilitating food and feed trade from Ukraine and 
strengthening local food production. At the request of 
the Ukrainian agricultural authorities, access to EU 
markets was preserved and facilitated in a flexible 
way, for both imports to and exports from Ukrainian 
markets. The EU-Ukraine solidarity lanes created new 
logistics routes to connect Ukraine to global trading 
partners (see Chapter 1).

The EU also supported the UN’s efforts with the Black 
Sea Grain Initiative in order to facilitate the safe 
transit of grain and related foodstuffs and fertilisers 
from Ukrainian Black Sea ports to further distribution 
ports.

V I D E O  EU-Ukraine solidarity lanes.

THE EU IN 2022113

Trade and technology

New tools

To tackle the problem of other global powers using 
trade as a weapon, the EU has introduced several 
new tools. 2022 saw the International Procurement 
Instrument enter into force, which gives the EU 
greater leverage to provide companies in the EU 
with access to public procurement markets outside 
the EU.

Progress was made in the European Parliament and 
the Council of the European Union on the passage 
of the Anti-coercion Instrument, which will help the 

EU to tackle economic coercion, in which a non-EU 
country seeks to pressure the EU or its Member 
States into making policy choices. The instrument will 
give the EU the ability to impose countermeasures in 
the form of trade, investment or other restrictions.

In addition, the new communication on the power of 
trade partnerships aims to enhance the contribution 
of EU trade agreements to advancing sustainable 
development and protecting the climate, the 
environment and labour rights worldwide. The new 
approach includes the use of trade sanctions for 
breaches of core climate and labour provisions.

Agreements

In June, the EU and New Zealand concluded 
negotiations for a trade agreement that has the 
most ambitious sustainability commitments of any 
EU trade deal so far. It will open new opportunities 
for European farmers, companies and workers.

2022 also saw the continuation of negotiations for 
trade agreements with Australia and India. Technical 
and legal work for the EU–Mercosur trade agreement 
was also carried out. A political agreement to 
conclude negotiations for a trade agreement was 
reached with Chile.

In 2022, the EU signed its first bloc-to-bloc 
comprehensive air transport agreement with the 
10 ASEAN countries, covering a total EU–ASEAN 
population of more than 1.1 billion. The agreement 
will open markets, improve direct connectivity, and 
generate economic benefits and new opportunities 
thanks to the establishment of a single set of rules 
for all air services between the EU and ASEAN. This 
will benefit consumers, airlines and airports alike. 
The agreement is based on common high standards 
in areas such as the environment, labour matters 
and fair competition, along with aviation safety and 
security.

V I D E O  The EU and New Zealand sign 
a Free Trade Agreement, June 2022.

EU–ASEAN comprehensive 
air transport agreement 

Replacing more 
than 140 bilateral 
air services 
agreements with 
the Association of 
Southeast Asian 
Nations Member 
States.

GENERAL REPORT114

Oceans and fisheries

The new World Trade Organization agreement to end 
harmful fisheries subsidies is a crucial step towards 
ensuring that fisheries subsidies worldwide make 
sustainability their central objective and will thus 
contribute to the protection of the oceans. The 
agreement bans subsidies that contribute to illegal, 
unreported and unregulated fishing, along with 
fishing on the unregulated high seas. Also banned 
are subsidies for overfished stocks with no fisheries 
management measures in place to rebuild the stock 
to a healthy level.

In addition, the joint communication on the EU’s 
International Ocean Governance Agenda proposed 
measures for safe, secure, clean, healthy and 
sustainably managed oceans. In line with the agenda, 
the EU made 52 voluntary commitments worth up to 
€7 billion – a concrete example of the EU’s role as 
a global leader in protecting the world’s oceans. The 
agenda will play an important role in delivering the 
blue dimension of the European Green Deal. It takes 
into account key trends, such as the exacerbated 
impact of climate change, the dangerous decline of 
biodiversity and the changed geopolitical conditions.

V I D E O  Outcomes of the 12th 
Ministerial Conference of the World 
Trade Organization: Agreement on 
Fisheries Subsidies, June 2022. 

The EU has committed to strengthening the 
international ocean governance framework 
at the global and regional levels, and making 
ocean sustainability a reality by 2030 by taking 
a coordinated and complementary approach to 
common challenges and cumulative effects.

The EU will also continue to make the ocean a 
safe and secure space, in response to the growing 
competition in international waters and challenges to 
multilateral cooperation.

By updating its policy, the EU confirmed its active 
commitment to accelerating the implementation of 
the UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development 
Goal 14.

THE EU IN 2022© Adobe Stock

Digital partnerships

At the 2022 Ministerial Meeting of the Trade 
and Technology Council, the EU and the United 
States reaffirmed their support for an open, 
global, interoperable, reliable and secure internet, 
as enshrined in the Declaration for the Future 
of the Internet and the declaration on European 
digital rights and principles. The two sides also 
discussed the implementation of common artificial-
intelligence principles and agreed to develop a 
joint roadmap on the evaluation and measurement 
tools for trustworthy artificial intelligence and risk 
management.

In 2022, the EU also launched a trade and 
technology council with India, and digital 
partnerships with Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

115

Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-
President of the European Commission 
in charge of ‘A Europe fit for the Digital 
Age’, and European Commissioner 
for Competition (second from left), 
and Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive 
Vice-President of the European 
Commission in charge of ‘An Economy 
that Works for People’, and European 
Commissioner for Trade (second 
from right), at the EU–US Trade and 
Technology Council, Paris, France, 
15 May 2022.

From left to right: Charles Michel, 
President of the European Council, 
Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, 
and Ursula von der Leyen, President of 
the European Commission, at the 28th 
EU–Japan summit, in Tokyo, Japan, 
May 2022.

GENERAL REPORT  
  
116

9. Institutional 
developments

Introduction

In 2022, the European Parliament, the Council of 
the European Union and the European Commission 
worked closely together not only to respond to 
emergencies, but also to improve the EU’s lawmaking 
and deliver even better results for its citizens. Given 
the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead on 

the path to a sustainable recovery, it remains crucial 
to act as efficiently as possible, with the EU’s future 
in mind. Getting better results for EU citizens by 
improving EU rules is a shared objective and the 
responsibility of all EU institutions and Member 
States.

From left to right: Ursula von der Leyen, 
President of the European Commission, 
Roberta Metsola, President of the 
European Parliament, Charles Michel, 
President of the European Council, and 
Josep Borrell, High Representative of the 
Union for Foreign Affairs and Security 
Policy and Vice-President of the European 
Commission in charge of ‛A Stronger 
Europe in the World’, before a debate at 
the European Parliament, Strasbourg, 
France, 16 February 2022.

THE EU IN 2022 
117

Major initiatives in 2022

During the year, the institutions made progress on 
a number of major initiatives. The Council of the 
European Union adopted the Strategic Compass, an 
ambitious plan of action for strengthening the EU’s 
security and defence policy by 2030, and facilitating 
an agreement among EU leaders on strengthening 
Europe’s defence industrial base (see Chapter 8).

As regards the green agenda and sustainable and 
inclusive growth, the European Parliament and the 
Council reached an agreement on the revision of the 
EU Emissions Trading System, creation of a Social 
Climate Fund and implementation of the new Carbon 
Border Adjustment Mechanism. They also struck a 
provisional deal to reduce the risk of deforestation 
and reached a political agreement on corporate 
sustainability reporting (see Chapter 3).

When it comes to key digital files, a political 
agreement between the Parliament and the Council 
allowed for the finalisation of the Digital Services 
Act and the Digital Markets Act, along with new 
legislation on universal chargers (see Chapter 4).

The Parliament and the Council were also able to 
reach a political agreement on the Women on Boards 
Directive, on pay transparency measures and on 
the directive on adequate minimum wages (see 
Chapter 7).

The Council steered discussions on the EU’s external 
relations (see Chapter 8) and hosted the EU–African 
Union and Western Balkans summits. Moreover, it 

opened accession negotiations with North Macedonia 
and Albania (see Chapter 8). The Parliament and 
the Council also agreed on key pieces of legislation 
on distortive foreign subsidies and the International 
Procurement Instrument.

The presidency of the Council of the European 
Union rotates between the EU Member States every 
6 months. In 2022, the Parliament, the rotating 
French and Czech Council Presidencies and 2023 
incumbents Sweden and Spain joined efforts to 
advance the interinstitutional negotiations on both 
the Common European Asylum System and the 
Pact on Migration and Asylum, and signed a joint 
roadmap (see Chapter 5).

The European Economic and Social Committee 
and the European Committee of the Regions 
provided important and relevant contributions 
to the Parliament, the Council and the European 
Commission, including on the 2023 Commission 
Work Programme, and actively contributed to the 
final recommendations of the Conference on the 
Future of Europe.

The European Economic and Social Committee 
highlighted the economic, social and environmental 
impact of the military aggression in Ukraine and the 
European Committee of the Regions adopted the 
Marseille Manifesto, a call to Europe’s leaders to 
hear the voices of the million regionally and locally 
elected politicians across the EU who are committed 
to bringing Europe closer to its people.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the 
European Commission, and Charles Michel, 
President of the European Council, arrive 
at the European Council meeting on energy 
and the economy, Brussels, Belgium, 
20 October 2022. The main initiatives 
discussed were the joint purchase of 
gas by the EU and limiting episodes of 
excessive gas and electricity prices. 

GENERAL REPORT 
David Sassoli, President of 
the European Parliament 
from 3 July 2019 to 
11 January 2022. 

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New president of the Parliament

The start of 2022 saw the sad passing of the former 
President of the European Parliament, David-Maria 
Sassoli. President Sassoli will be remembered as a 
true European leader and a champion for democracy. 
In over a decade of service in the Parliament, he 
constantly defended the EU and its values, but also 
believed that Europe had to strive for more: to be 
more united, closer to its people and more faithful to 
its values.

In the context of the midterm election process, 
Roberta Metsola was elected as the new president on 
18 January 2022, with an absolute majority of 458 
votes out of 690 cast. 

Parliament set up three new parliamentary 
committees: on foreign interference, including 
disinformation; on lessons drawn from the COVID-19 
pandemic; and of inquiry, to look into the use of the 
Pegasus spyware.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen regularly 
attended debates, in particular on the preparation of 
or follow-up to European Council meetings, and for 
Ukraine-related debates. On 14 September 2022, 
she delivered the annual State of the Union address, 
indicating the policy priorities for 2023 and for the 
second half of the Commission’s mandate.

Election of the President of 
the European Parliament: 
statement by Roberta 
Metsola, the newly elected 
president, Strasbourg, France, 
18 January 2022. 

 
 
 
 
 
119

Focus on citizens

Conference on the Future of Europe

The year-long Conference on the Future of Europe, 
which gave Europeans the opportunity to have a say 
on what they expect from the EU, concluded its work 
in 2022. It was the largest and most far-reaching 
consultation exercise of its kind, with 5 million 
individual visitors to the multilingual digital platform, 
and more than 720 000 participants joining more 
than 6 600 live events, including the national 
citizens’ panels and European Citizens’ Panels.

Four European Citizens’ Panels were organised 
with 200 citizens each, chosen through random 
selection from all 27 Member States, with careful 
consideration to include individuals that reflect 
the EU’s diversity in terms of geographic origin, 
gender, age, socioeconomic background and level of 
education. Special attention was given to ensuring 

that a third of each panel would consist of young 
people (aged 16–25). The participants discussed 
their recommendations in the conference plenary 
sessions where members of civil society, elected 
representatives from all levels of governance and 
other stakeholders met to consensually endorse 
49 conference proposals, which were subsequently 
presented to the EU institutions.

On 9 May 2022, the final report containing all 
proposals and detailing 326 measures was presented 
to the presidents of the Parliament, the Council and 
the Commission during the closing ceremony of the 
conference on Europe Day. The results are structured 
around the nine conference topics, ranging from 
climate change and health to European democracy 
and the digital transformation.

A young mother speaking 
about the future of Europe 
while holding her baby who 
was born halfway through the 
conference, Strasbourg, France, 
30 April 2022.

Citizens voting during the 
Conference on the Future of 
Europe – Panel 3 ‘Climate 
change, Environment/Health’, 
Natolin, Warsaw, Poland, 9 
January 2022.

GENERAL REPORT 
 
120

Closing ceremony of the Conference on the 
Future of Europe, with Ursula von der Leyen, 
President of the European Commission (sixth 
from left), Roberta Metsola, President of the 
European Parliament (seventh from right), 
Emmanuel Macron, President of France (fifth 
from right), and Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President 
of the European Commission in charge of 
Democracy and Demography (second from left), 
holding the final report with proposals to reform 
the EU, Strasbourg, France, 9 May 2022. 

On 17 June, the Commission presented the 
communication on the Conference on the Future of 
Europe, assessing the proposals and charting the way 
forward. In her State of the Union address, President 
von der Leyen confirmed that the citizens’ panels 
would become a regular feature of Commission 
policymaking and outlined new proposals stemming 
from the conference’s conclusions. Over 80 % of the 
new initiatives contained in the Commission’s 2023 
Work Programme follow up directly or indirectly on 
the proposals of the conference. On 2 December 
2022, the Parliament, the Council and the 
Commission organised a feedback event to explain to 
citizens how the institutions are following up on the 
conference’s proposals.

In December, the Commission hosted the first 
European Citizens’ Panel on food waste reduction. 
The reduction of waste, and particularly food waste, 
is the subject of a legislative proposal included in the 
Commission’s 2023 Work Programme, in line with 
the proposals from the Conference on the Future of 
Europe.

Inspired by the conference, the Commission’s new 
online interactive tool, the ‘Have your say’ portal, 
will bring together all information on Commission 

mechanisms for citizen engagement. This new online 
hub will integrate key features of the conference’s 
multilingual digital platform and form the basis 
for a new system of democratic engagement and 
innovation.

The consultative committees also played their 
full role in the conference. On 27 April 2021, the 
European Economic and Social Committee adopted 
a resolution on the conference, A New Narrative for 
Europe, and organised 75 events across Europe, 
45 of which alone gathered more than 7 600 
participants. The document Organised Civil Society’s 
Vision for the Future of Europe presents the results 
of those consultations, detailing recommendations 
and ideas that fed into the 326 final proposals 
adopted by the conference.

The European Committee of the Regions organised 
more than 120 local and cross-border citizens’ 
dialogues and the ideas and recommendations from 
these were uploaded to the platform. Its High-
Level Group on European Democracy adopted its 
final report on democracy in the EU as part of the 
contribution of local and regional authorities to the 
conference.

THE EU IN 2022 
121

European Citizens’ Initiative

2022 also marked the 10th anniversary of the 
European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). The Commission 
celebrated this important milestone throughout 
the year, together with interinstitutional partners, 
organisers of initiatives and multipliers. Bringing 
information about the ECI closer to citizens was 
a primary focus of the year, with events and 
promotional actions around Europe Day or at the 
annual ECI Day held on 2 June at the European 
Economic and Social Committee.

The seventh successful initiative, ‘Save bees and 
farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for 

a healthy environment’, was submitted to the 
Commission for examination in 2022. Two other 
initiatives collected more than 1 million signatures 
each: ‘Stop Finning – Stop the trade’ and ‘Save 
cruelty-free cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without 
animal testing’. The Commission will reply to these 
three initiatives in 2023.

In 2022, the Commission also registered 10 new 
initiatives, calling for EU action in various fields, 
such as sports, education, the garment sector, green 
energy, animal protection, rural policy and a tobacco-
free environment.

GENERAL REPORT122

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Working in times of crises 

In 2022, the EU institutions once again demonstrated 
great resilience in dealing with unforeseen 
emergencies. Just as the recovery from the 
COVID-19 pandemic was under way, Russia started 
its unprovoked and unjustified aggression against 
Ukraine. The EU institutions worked tirelessly to 
support the Ukrainian people in their fight for 
freedom and to help citizens and businesses in the 
Member States deal with the consequences of the 
war. 

On 1 March 2022, Parliament held an extraordinary 
plenary session, during which Ukrainian President 
Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Members live from 
Kyiv (Ukraine). He stressed that Ukrainians ‘were 
fighting for their rights, freedoms and lives, as well 
as to be equal members of Europe’. European Council 
President Charles Michel, Commission President 

Ursula von der Leyen and the High Representative 
of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy 
Josep Borrell also participated in the debate. 
Parliament expressed unwavering support for 
Ukraine and called for sanctions on Russia and for 
new efforts to grant Ukraine EU candidate-country 
status. 

Subsequently, Parliament held regular Ukraine-
specific plenary debates and adopted 16 resolutions. 
The Chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada 
(parliament), Ruslan Stefanchuk, participated in 
person in the June 2022 plenary session. Meanwhile, 
Ukrainian ministers and high-level officials frequently 
participated in various parliamentary committee 
meetings and had discussions with Members of 
Parliament regarding the latest developments on the 
ground.

Honouring the Ukrainian 
people 

The European Parliament’s 2022 Sakharov 
Prize for Freedom of Thought was awarded to 
the brave people of Ukraine in a ceremony on 
14 December. 

Consisting of a certificate and a €50 000 
award, the prize is an annual award to honour 
individuals and organisations that defend human 
rights and fundamental freedoms.

From left to right: Vsevolod Chentsov, Head of the Mission 
of Ukraine to the EU, Stanislav Kulykivskyi, State Emergency 
Services of Ukraine, Ivan Fedorov, Mayor of Melitopol, Yulia 
Paevska, Founder of the medical evacuation unit Angels of Taira, 
Oleksandra Matviichuk, Nobel Peace Prize winner and head of 
Center for Civil Liberties, Yaroslav Bozhko, Spokesperson of 
the Yellow Ribbon Civil Resistance Movement, and Oleksandr 
Chekryhin, Director of the Department for emergency prevention, 
State Emergency Services of Ukraine, pose with Roberta 
Metsola, President of the European Parliament (third from right) 
after receiving the 2022 Sakharov Prize, Strasbourg, France, 
14 December 2022. 

 
 
 
 
123

France and Czechia held the rotating Presidency 
of the Council of the European Union. The Council 
sought to provide a strong and united response to 
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the 
resulting food and energy crisis. Under the guidance 
of the European Council, it oversaw the deployment 
of unprecedented measures and large amounts of 
assistance to Ukraine.

The Commission and the European Court of Auditors 
continued their constructive cooperation as the EU’s 
executive and audit powers, respectively. At their 
annual meeting in July, members discussed how the 
EU budget contributes to the achievement of the 
European Union’s political priorities, delivers concrete 
results for citizens and adds value to action taken by 
Member States.

The Commission took wide-ranging action in support 
of Ukraine across all areas throughout the year 
and adopted in 2022 more than 200 measures 
in response to the invasion. A significant number 
of these decisions relate to ensuring that the EU 
provides the necessary humanitarian assistance and 
financial support to Ukraine and helps the Member 
States welcome Ukrainians fleeing the war and 
deal with the economic consequences of Russia’s 
aggression against Ukraine (see Chapter 1). It also 
made a number of proposals to revise its energy 
policy to reduce the EU’s dependency on Russian 
fossil fuels (see Chapter 2).

Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified aggression 
against Ukraine and its people constitutes a direct 
challenge to EU values and the rules-based world 
order. The 2022 annual Rule of Law Report placed 
particular emphasis on the importance of upholding 
democratic values, human rights and the rule of 
law. For the first time, the report contained specific 
recommendations addressed to each Member State 
to help identify where improvements are needed and 
encourage the necessary reforms.

The Commission continued exercising its role as 
guardian of the treaties, taking 1 410 decisions on 
infringement procedures to enforce EU law. Respect 
for the rule of law is also key for the sound financial 
management of the EU budget and the effective 
use of its funding. In December 2022, the Council 
adopted budget protection measures under the 
conditionality regulation against breaches of the 
principle of the rule of law in Hungary.

While dealing with the crises, the Commission 
continued its work to ensure transparent and efficient 
decision-making through its Better Regulation 
agenda. This means that its proposals are based on 
solid evidence, informed by extensive consultations 
through the ‛Have your say’ portal and reviewed 
by an independent oversight body, the Regulatory 
Scrutiny Board. The Commission’s Better Regulation 
framework is ranked top by the Organisation for 
Economic Co-operation and Development in its EU 
report on measuring regulatory performance.

In 2022, the Commission started the full 
implementation of the ‛one in, one out’ approach, 
which ensures that any newly introduced burdens 
are offset by removing equivalent burdens in the 
same policy area. The approach focuses on the 
impacts of costs of Commission proposals on 
citizens and businesses and complements the 
Commission’s regulatory fitness and performance 
programme (REFIT). Under REFIT, the Commission 
makes systematic efforts to identify and remove 
red tape and unnecessary costs, while achieving 
policy objectives whenever EU legislation is revised 
and evaluated. A high-level expert group, the Fit 
for Future Platform, supported this work with the 
adoption of 10 opinions, providing recommendations 
on how to simplify EU laws and make them more 
efficient. The Commission also worked to ensure 
that the Better Regulation addresses and supports 
sustainability goals and the digital transformation.

GENERAL REPORT124

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Strategic foresight 

The EU is seeking to future-proof its policies by 
increasingly embedding foresight into policymaking. 
Strategic foresight anticipates trends, risks and 
emerging issues, and their potential implications and 
opportunities, in order to draw useful insights for 
strategic planning, policymaking and preparedness. 
It also informs the design of new EU initiatives and 
the review of existing policies in line with the Better 
Regulation toolbox. Ultimately, strategic foresight will 
help the EU react better to unprecedented and highly 
complex situations against a backdrop of increasing 
uncertainty.

In 2022, the interinstitutional cooperation on 
foresight under the umbrella of the European 
Strategy and Policy Analysis System focused on 
geopolitics. A European Strategy and Policy Analysis 
pilot project on horizon scanning was initiated to 
identify signals of change that could potentially have 
a significant impact on the EU in the future.

The Commission’s 2022 Strategic Foresight Report 
focused on the interplay between the green and 
digital transitions in the new rapidly evolving 
geopolitical context. The Commission also continued 
the analysis of the key megatrends affecting 
the future, such as migration, climate change, 
digitalisation and inequalities. Cooperation with 
Member States, through the EU-wide Foresight 
Network, which includes the Ministers for the Future, 
was further developed.

Successfully managing 
the green and digital 
‘twin’ transitions is 
the cornerstone for 
delivering a sustainable, 
fair and competitive 
future.

Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-
President of the European 
Commission in charge of 
Interinstitutional Relations 
and Foresight, at the Energy 
Storage Global Conference, 
Brussels, Belgium, 
11 October 2022.

 
 
 
 
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