Debate: Commission Work Programme
Date: THURSDAY, 30 JANUARY 2020
Speaker: Maroš Šefčovič
Language: EN

This 2020 Work Programme is important for two reasons. First, because it will not just be the basis of our work for the first year of the mandate but also because it sets the vision, direction and pace for the next five years and beyond. Let’s take, for example, the biggest challenge of our generation: the twin ecological and digital transition, which will affect every part of our society and every one of us.  Secondly, because it has set in motion the special partnership with the European Parliament. If you allow me, I will start with the second point, which is important both institutionally and politically and very dear to me. The adoption of the 2020 Work Programme was a joint exercise. The contribution of the European Parliament, your contributions at every stage were being taken into consideration. They were already instrumental in defining the political guidelines and now it is in these guidelines that we programme into action.  During this period, I have had the chance to discuss many different priority policies with you in different formats. A key institutional step in the process was the meeting between the Conference of Committee Chairs of this House and the Vice—President of the European Commission, which offered very good opportunity for in-depth discussion of our priorities and expectations, and I particularly appreciate the cordial and constructive atmosphere of these debates.  The discussion of the Conference of Presidents with President von der Leyen contributed to the fine-tuning of our Commission work programme just on Tuesday before we adopted it yesterday. So I would say that this special partnership clearly demonstrated how important it is, and it will continue all the way and will have to cover the entire policy cycle with this new approach and quality of relationship. If you allow me now, I will turn to the first point, the content of our 2020 Work Programme. This year, we have programmed 43 policy objectives or packages. In these packages, 28 initiatives will be legislative, allowing sufficient time for their adoption and implementation. We have also examined all proposals that are currently awaiting decision by the Parliament and the Council, and after taking the suggestions from your house into account. In this case, we are proposing to withdraw 32 of them. Some of them do not mention the new Commission’s political ambitions; for others we will reflect on more efficient ways to fulfil the objectives, in consultations with this House and the Council. Finally, under the Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme REFIT, we identified 44 significant pieces of legislation proposed for re-evaluation or revision.  We have already presented to you the European Green Deal communication, our new growth strategy and the European Green Deal Investment Plan as well as the Just Transition mechanism to support territories most affected by energy transition. The next big step is the Climate Law, which will propose a binding climate—neutrality target for the EU in 2050. We will conduct an impact assessment until summer. The aim is to be ready for the Glasgow Conference of the Parties (COP) 26, scheduled for the end of October. We will soon propose the 2030 biodiversity strategy to preserve and protect the natural environment and set out our ambition for the negotiations at the coming conference as well as the ‘farm to fork’ strategy, the new EU forest strategy and a comprehensive strategy for sustainable and smart mobility. The European Climate Bank will help bring together all these efforts, involving regions, local communities, civil societies, schools, industry and individuals.  We adopted yesterday our 5G communication, and will soon present a new European data strategy and a White Paper on artificial intelligence. We need to protect fundamental rights, but we want our industry to work with artificial intelligence and innovate. Soon, the digital services act will reinforce the single market for digital services and help provide smaller businesses with legal clarity and a level playing field by updating the legal framework, including by updating the corporate tax system. On this, the Commission will push for a global solution, but if this won’t be possible, we will aim for a European one. In parallel, we will present a new skills strategy. As regards our economy, we prioritise social fairness at the heart of the twin transitions, the green and digital ones, and as a part of this, we will refocus all our policies, including the European Semester, by incorporating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In consultation with social partners and all the relevant stakeholders, we are working on an initiative to guarantee fair minimum wages for workers in the EU while respecting the specific situations of each Member State.  The Commission will also review that economic governance framework and provide an overview on how fiscal rules have worked in recent years. The review will launch a broad consultation with Member States and other stakeholders to explore ways to improve the economic governance framework of the European Union. We will soon adopt an action plan to deepen the capital markets union, focusing on tackling regulatory barriers in existing legislation and structural barriers, and making sure that SMEs have access to finance, and this would become part of our wider SME strategy. The completion of the Banking Union, a strong and credible framework for preventing and fighting money laundering, the Unemployment Reinsurance Scheme and the European Youth Guarantee remain our priorities as well.  To make the geopolitical Commission a reality, we will invest in alliances and coalitions to advance our values, promote and protect Europe’s interests through open and fair trade. We will step up our engagement with the Western Balkans and we will also design a new eastern partnership strategy. As you know, we will soon launch a comprehensive strategy with Africa as a basis for our mutual partnership. The EU’s external policy should effectively address issues related to democracy and good governance, climate change, migration and human rights. In this perspective, it is equally essential to reinforce the rules—based multilateral order and as a part of this, the Commission will put forward proposals to update and reform the WTO.  We will present in spring our new impact on migration and asylum, which will be a comprehensive approach covering all aspects of migration, also addressing border security and ensuring more coherence between our internal and external policy. Under the same headline ambition of promoting our European way of life, we will present an action plan on integration and inclusion. We will also present a new security union strategy addressing both the digital and physical aspect of security as these are two sides of the same coin.  Another of our flagship initiatives will be Europe’s beating cancer plan – to support Member States in their efforts to improve cancer prevention and care.  I will also refer to the joint exercise of the three institutions and in close cooperation with national parliaments and our partners to organise a conference on the future of Europe. We are in the process of building the scope and the structure. By the end of 2020, we will present the European democracy action plan to address disinformation, political campaigning, free and independent media, and freedom of speech.  With regard to fundamental rights, technology needs to serve the people, not the other way around. Therefore, the Commission will update the Charter of Fundamental Rights to address emerging issues such as artificial intelligence and facial recognition.  Last but not least, on the rule of law, the Commission will intensify its preventive work, for example, with its first rule of law report, which will assess the situation in all Member States. This report will have a sound methodology and form the basis for future work on the rule of law.  We are also already working on embedding strategic foresight across all Commission policies by using all data at our disposal as regards the long—term trends and major shifts on the horizon to be able to design future—proof policies. To this end, I have already established a strategic foresight network within the European Commission and I am fine-tuning together with EU Member States and partners our coordination on this. I count a lot on cooperation with you. The European Parliament, as I already found out, has a wealth of data and intelligence in all its committees.  This was a very quick overview of the initiatives included in our 2020 Work Programme. It took me a little bit more than 10 minutes, but I wanted to demonstrate to you that we are really delivering on what we promised to you: an ambitious yet realistic agenda of our shared priorities for the first year of this Commission.  The future partnership with the UK will, of course, be one of our main challenges for the next months and years, and I was here yesterday with you on the emotional farewell to our British colleagues, but this was the case during the negotiation of the Withdrawal Agreement. We want to reassure you that we have committed to the maximum level of transparency as regards the negotiation process towards the European Parliament. Together with my colleagues in the Commission, we are looking forward to working together on our special partnership of trust and turning our agenda into concrete actions. We first have to join forces to ensure an appropriate, modern long-term budget that rises to our common challenges and from now on, we will all have to intensify the work on legislative decision-making with a view to delivering our priorities. The joint declaration on legislative priorities that will follow will serve as a concrete roadmap for our joint work, truly engaging all three institutions, and this will be followed by our first ever multi-annual programming that should capture our Common Strategic Agenda for Europe.  Thank you very much, Madam President, and I’m looking forward to the intervention of the honourable Members of this House. (