Book Description

This EPRS paper analyses progress made in carrying through the policy agenda set by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and her College of Commissioners when they took office in December 2019. It looks in particular at the state of play with respect to delivery of the agenda's six key priorities, as we enter the final months running up to the 2024 European elections. The von der Leyen Commission - either on taking office or more recently - has announced a total of 610 planned initiatives. In concrete terms, EPRS finds that more than two thirds (420) have now been submitted and, for those which are legislative proposals, the co-legislators have started work. Of the 420, more than half (221) have already been adopted by the co-legislators, or, for the non-legislative initiatives (such as strategies, action plans and other communications, amounting to nearly one fifth of the total), by the Commission itself. The vast majority of the remainder are either close to adoption (26) or proceeding normally through the legislative process (141). On the other hand, almost one sixth are moving slowly or are blocked (32). While the Commission's first priority - the European Green Deal - ranks highest in terms of the number of initiatives planned (154), the second, fourth and fifth priorities - 'A Europe fit for the digital age', 'A stronger Europe in the world', and 'Promoting our European way of life' - have higher rates of initiatives actually adopted so far (more than half for the second and fifth, almost three quarters for the fourth, largely due, for the latter, to its less legislative nature).