On Friday 10 January, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the establishment of fourteen working groups at political level to work on specific projects.
The aim of these ‘project groups’ is to prepare and provide political oversight for the fourteen initiatives, from design to implementation. Chaired by at least one member of the College of Commissioners, each project group has its own mandate, composition, duration and working methods.
The following project groups will be set up for an initial period of one year: - the ‘Clean Industrial Deal’, a group jointly chaired by Teresa Ribera, Stéphane Séjourné and Wopke Hoekstra; - artificial intelligence, chaired by Henna Virkkunen; - external action, chaired by Kaja Kallas; - skills, jobs and social rights, chaired by Roxana Mînzatu; - economic security, chaired by Maroš Šefčovič; - the defence union, chaired by Andrius Kubilius; - the European savings and investment union, a group chaired by Maria Luís Albuquerque; - the preparedness union, a group working on crisis preparation, chaired by Hadja Lahbib; - European internal security, chaired by Magnus Brunner; - water resilience, chaired by Jessika Roswall; - affordable housing, chaired by Dan Jørgensen; - startups and scaleups, a group chaired by Ekaterina Zaharieva; - the European democracy shield, chaired by Michael McGrath; - a vision for agriculture and food, chaired by Christophe Hansen.
For example, with regard to the ‘affordable housing’ project, the group will support the preparation and implementation of the first European plan to tackle the structural factors of the housing crisis (see EUROPE 13518/5). This will involve unlocking public and private investment, including by doubling the funds provided by European cohesion policy and revising the European framework for state aid, and setting up a pan-European investment platform, in collaboration with the EIB and stakeholders. Skills for the construction workforce and improving the environmental performance of buildings will also be addressed, through synergies with the Social Climate Fund.
To see the mission and composition of each ‘project group’, go to https://aeur.eu/f/ezu (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)