Progress on the European Commission's 10 priorities

On 14 September 2015 the EU General Affairs Council (11966/15) took note of the European Commission's letter of intent (11693/15, available in 23 languages) regarding the Commission's work programme for 2016, scheduled for adoption on 27 October.

The letter, dated 9 September, from president Jean-Claude Juncker and the first vice-president Frans Timmermans offers some general remarks as well as an outline of future initiatives and activities, grouped under ten priorities.

Progress report on Commission priorities

The antecedents are mentioned in the letter of intent, but here we are interested mainly in the evaluation of where the European Union stands with regard to the current challenges:

State of the Union 2015: Progress on the European Commission's 10 priorities (11 pages; available in 24 languages through the SOTEU page)

You can peruse the progress report as an update on current EU challenges, or find your area of interest among the priority headlines in this useful recap:

1. A New Boost for Jobs, Growth and Investment

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

5. A Deeper and Fairer Economic and Monetary Union

6. A Reasonable and Balanced Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.

7. An Area of Justice and Fundamental Rights Based on Mutual Trust

8. Towards a New Policy on Migration

9. A Stronger Global Actor

10. A Union of Democratic Change

http://www.eu2015lu.eu/en/la-presidence/index.html

Over the next weeks input from the European Parliament and the Luxembourg presidency of the Council of the European Union, as the conduit for the member states, can influence the final Commission work programme for 2016.

Ralf Grahn