New European Commission, new practices: the Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, Maroš Šefčovič, announced on Wednesday 29 January, on the occasion of the presentation of its work programme for the year 2020, the introduction of multiannual programming between the three EU institutions (European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the EU).
At the end of his speech detailing the European Commission’s work programme and “strategic foresight”, the Vice-President stressed the need for the three institutions to get onto the same page, recalling that the European Commission’s priorities will also be “theirs”.
Therefore, Mr Šefčovič indicated that a joint declaration from the three institutions on legislative priorities would be adopted within the next two months at the latest. This document will identify the priority legislative texts among those under negotiation (126 texts, including 56 linked to the next multiannual financial framework) and new texts (93 new initiatives, including 28 legislative acts).
This will be followed in May, at the same time as the publication of the first foresight report, by the presentation of the aforementioned programming (The Multiannual Programming) for the three institutions, he explained. It will be a presentation and not an adoption, we are told. The latter option would have slowed the process, we are told. Asked by a journalist, the Vice-President indicated that the European Commission is ready to take the lead, but “as always, in close cooperation with the European Parliament and the EU Council”.
Twenty-eight legislative initiatives...
The work programme, which is keeping with the policy lines set out by President Ursula von der Leyen (see EUROPE 12297/1) and the UN goals for sustainable development for 2030, foresees no less than 93 policy initiatives for 43 policy objectives.
Along with the Green Deal, the Transition Mechanism, and a multitude of action plans and strategies (see EUROPE 12412/16), there are numerous legislative proposals, in particular to regulate digital services (Digital Services Act), to regulate chargers for telephones and mobile devices, to combat evasion, and to establish a European system for guaranteeing unemployment insurance, as well as a package on aviation.
However, there are a few missing items: nothing on the right of initiation for the European Parliament. The issue will be decided at the end of the Conference on the Future of Europe in two and a half years’ time, said Mr Šefčovič. What’s even stranger is that there seems to be no proposal for a carbon adjustment mechanism at the EU’s borders. The nature of the proposal for an instrument to introduce a fair minimum wage in all Member States is still unresolved, pending a return of the social partners (see EUROPE 12403/5).
... and 34 texts withdrawn
In line with the principle of ‘one in, one out’, a principle dear to Ursula von der Leyen, according to which any legislative proposal creating new administrative burdens must be accompanied by the removal of an existing equivalent administrative burden, 34 texts have been proposed for removal from the legislative track.
Some are symbolic, such as the directive on animal cloning (in limbo since 2015), the directive on customs infringements and penalties (which will be replaced by a new proposal, says the Commission), the regulation on the reduction of pollutant emissions from road vehicles (because it is obsolete and will soon be replaced by a proposal on the Euro 7 standard) and the regulation on protection against the effects of the extraterritorial application of legislation adopted by a non-Member State.
It should be noted that the Commission proposes to repeal, for reasons of obsolescence: the old Regulation 1108/70 establishing an accounting system for expenditures on infrastructure for transport by rail, road and inland waterway, and the Regulation on the abolition of certain postal charges for customs presentation.
For the full European Commission work programme: http://bit.ly/2RWULSR (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens and Marion Fontana)