Commission 2024-2029 : first 100 days.
Date: 2025-03-25
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communication
Subjects: EU Member State, EU action, Economic and Monetary Union, European integration, President of the Commission, action programme, area of freedom, security and justice, common foreign and security policy, digital technology, economic growth, economic policy, economic recovery, energy policy, fight against unemployment, green economy, political programme, project of common interest, public awareness campaign, single market, the EU's international role, trade agreement (EU)

COMMISSION 2024-2029: 
FIRST 100 DAYS

March 2025

As the world sees tectonic shifts, the European Union must raise to new and unprecedented 
challenges to ensure our competitiveness and security. The events of the last weeks make that 
clearer than ever. Our Union needs to be more independent, more autonomous, and more able 
to defend itself against any threats. 

In the first 100 days of its mandate, the von der 
Leyen Commission has already made important 
steps towards those goals. The Commission launched 
many initiatives to boost the EU’s competitiveness, 
strengthen its defence capabilities, and increase 
its level of preparedness. 

For the months and years ahead, we will once again 
need to shift gears to crisis mode. This Commission 
stands ready to answer these new challenges with 
exceptional actions at unprecedented scale, scope 
and speed.

In its first 100 days, the von der Leyen Commission has acted to:

Make Europe more competitive

•  The Competitiveness Compass provides a roadmap to boost Europe’s competitiveness 

and secure its prosperity.

•  The Clean Industrial Deal and the Action Plan for Affordable Energy will support and 

strengthen European energy-intensive industries and clean tech companies, while we continue 
our path towards climate neutrality by 2050.

•  Two packages to simplify EU rules were adopted, to boost competitiveness and mobilise 
additional investments. They will bring total savings in annual administrative costs of around 
€6.3 billion and mobilise an additional investment capacity of €50 billion.

•  Two strategic dialogues were launched respectively with the automotive sector and 

the steel sector and specific initiatives will be laid out on that basis, to make sure together 
the future of these industries is made in Europe. An Industrial Action Plan for the European 
Automotive sector was already adopted, setting out concrete measures to secure global 
competitiveness for our automotive industry and maintain a strong European production base.

•  A Union of Skills, an Action Plan on Basic Skills, and a STEM Education Strategic Plan 
will support the development of human capital and make sure that European companies have 
access to the skills they need to scale up and be more competitive.

•  23 commissioners have held youth dialogues so far and by day 100, all of them would have 

had their exchanges with young people.

•  Seven consortia were selected to establish the first AI factories across Europe, representing 
€1.5 billion in national and European funding. This is a major step to build an environment 
to train advanced AI models. Furthermore, with the new initiative InvestAI we will mobilise 
€200 billion for investment, including €20 billion for AI gigafactories.

•  A Critical Medicines Act will be presented in the following days to ensure that our Union 
counts on a resilient and uninterrupted supply of critical medicines even in times of crisis. 

•  A Savings and Investments Union initiative will be launched shortly to provide incentives 

for risk capital and ensure investments flow seamlessly across the European Union.

Security Action for Europe

•  With REARM Europe, the Commission aims to mobilise up to €800 billion to drive a major 

increase in European defence spending. The proposals include the activation of the national 
escape clause, €150 billion in loans to accelerate the joint procurement of pan-European 
defence capabilities (SAFE), flexibility in the voluntary use of cohesion policy programmes 
for defence spending.

•  The White Paper on the Future of European Defence will be presented shortly and will 

lay out further investment needs and possibilities to bolster European defence.

•  Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been fully disconnected from Russian and Belarussian 
networks and joined the European continental electricity grid. This comes after 18 years of 
investments and preparations, involving 40 infrastructure projects and over €1.2 billion in 
European funding. 

•  A wide range of actions were introduced to enhance security of submarine cables, including 

prevention, detection, response, recovery, and deterrence.

•  The Vision for Agriculture and Food sets out a roadmap to support European farmers, 

protect  our food security, and ensure the future of farming and food in Europe. 

•  A dedicated Action Plan to bolster the cybersecurity of hospitals and healthcare providers.

Continue our unwavering support 
for Ukraine

•  Three years after the start of Russia’s war of aggression, President von der Leyen 
and the College visited Ukraine and met President Zelenskyy and his government 
in a show of unwavering commitment and solidarity.

•  The Commission is fully engaged politically and diplomatically with partners around 
the world to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine in which the interests 
of our Ukrainian partners are upheld.

•  Disbursed to Ukraine €3 billion under the exceptional assistance programme 

to be repaid with proceeds from immobilised Russian assets.

•  The Commission has offered a new support package to secure Ukraine’s energy 

system and enable its full integration within the European energy market.

•  Agreement on the legal foundations for the establishment of a Special Tribunal 

for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

•  Adoption of the 15th and 16th package of sanctions against Russia and its enablers.

Engage with the world in win-win 
partnerships

•  Ambitious partnerships were concluded with Mercosur, Switzerland, and Mexico. 

Trade negotiations with Malaysia were also relaunched and an interim trade agreement with 
Chile entered into force.

•  President von der Leyen and the College travelled to India to reinforce ties with the largest 
democracy in the world. They met Prime Minister Modi and his government to discuss a new 
Strategic Agenda and held the second meeting of the EU-India Trade and Technology Council.

•  Signature of the EU-Jordan Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership.

•  President von der Leyen strengthened ties with the Caribbean region during the CARICOM 

Summit in Barbados.

•  The College held meetings with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, and with the 
President of the World Bank Group, Ajay Banga, to discuss cooperation and synergies.

•  The EU-South Africa Summit will take place in Cape Town in the coming days to strengthen 

our bilateral cooperation.

© European Union, 2025Reuse of this document is allowed, provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license). For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the EU, permission may need to be sought directly from the respective right holders. All images © European Union, unless otherwise stated.Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2025PDF ISBN 978-92-68-25501-8 doi: 10.2775/9648441 NA-01-25-022-EN-N