Annexes to COM(2010)135 - Commission Work Programme 2010 Time to act - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2010)135 - Commission Work Programme 2010 Time to act. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2010)135  |
| date | March 31, 2010 |
Delivering EU neighbourhood, enlargement and development policies
The Treaty gives the EU a particular responsibility to promote freedom, stability and prosperity in its neighbourhood. The Commission is committed to developing the EU's special relationship with neighbouring countries based on respect for the values of the Union and aimed at fostering strong economic cooperation. Commission services will be cooperating closely with the EEAS on these issues.
The Commission is also committed to steering the enlargement process. Progress in negotiations will be linked to progress made by candidate countries, with a special emphasis on the respect of the rule of law.
Pursuing the international development agenda will be a key priority for the Commission: it will propose an EU action plan in the run up to the 2015 Millennium Development Goals Summit (strategic initiative n°31). The Commission remains committed to the Monterrey goals on official development assistance and the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action on aid effectiveness. Specific work has been launched to ensure aid efficiency, accountability and consistent synergies between development policy and policies such as migration, security, climate action and energy, food security, access to health care and education.
Modernising EU instruments and ways of working
This Work Programme serves to highlight new initiatives, but a key focus of the Commission’s work in 2010 will be about making effective use of existing policy instruments and paving the way for their modernisation.
Smart regulation – ensuring that policies are effective
Ensuring a high quality regulatory framework for citizens and businesses is a shared responsibility of all EU institutions and the Member States. Initiatives taken at European level must demonstrate clear EU value added, and be proportionate in their scope and nature. The Commission has put in place a number of smart regulation instruments to ensure that this is indeed the case. It is now time for a further step-change in the practical application of these instruments by fully connecting and integrating them along the regulatory cycle with a view to delivering effective policy outcomes. For the preparation of strategic initiatives, internal coordination will be supported by inter-departmental working groups, which will follow their elaboration from the impact assessment to the conception and finalisation of the initiative concerned.
Impact assessment
Our impact assessment system compares favourably with international best practice in terms of transparency and effectiveness. Priority will now be given to ensuring that this system delivers its full potential, both in terms of scope and content. All Commission initiatives with significant impacts, including proposals of delegated and implementing acts, should be supported by an impact assessment. In the current economic situation, employment and social impacts are particularly important, and the Commission will work towards reinforcing its analysis of such impacts.
To improve the transparency of impact assessment work, the Commission will prepare roadmaps for all initiatives likely to have significant impact. It encourages stakeholders to make use of these roadmaps in preparing their inputs to the policy-making process.
Ex-post evaluation and regulatory 'fitness checks'
A systematic ex-post evaluation of existing legislation is essential to ensure that our policies form a coherent framework and deliver effectively on their objectives. Over time, a full ex-post evaluation will become a requisite for the revision of important legislative acts to be included in future Commission's Work Programmes.
To keep current regulation fit for purpose, the Commission will begin reviewing, from this year onwards, the entire body of legislation in selected policy fields through "fitness checks". The purpose is to identify excessive burdens, overlaps, gaps, inconsistencies and/or obsolete measures which may have appeared over time. Pilot exercises will start in 2010 in four areas: environment, transport, employment and social policy, and industrial policy.
Simplification, administrative burden reduction and withdrawals
The simplification of legislation and the reduction of administrative burdens will remain priorities and be fully embedded in the smart regulation process. The Commission has already tabled proposals going beyond the 2012 objective of reducing the administrative burden by 25 percent, and is committed to continuing its efforts in the coming years. A particular focus will be on following up the work with the European Parliament, the Council and the Member States, as businesses will only feel the benefits of these efforts when the legislator has adopted the proposals and they have been implemented the proposals at national level. At the same time, the Commission will put forward 46 simplification proposals in the coming years (see annex III). Moreover, the Commission intends to withdraw a number of proposals which are listed in annex IV.
Implementation
Making EU legislation deliver its full impact throughout the Union is a key responsibility of the Commission. Wherever necessary, the Commission will continue to intervene, including via legal steps, to ensure the full and correct implementation of existing legislation. Moreover, the Commission will strengthen efforts to assist Member States to implement new legislation in a timely and correct manner.
Communicating Europe
Communicating Europe in a transparent and accessible manner is a prerequisite for citizens' participation in the democratic life of the Union and for Europeans to be fully aware of the opportunities provided by EU policies. This is a shared responsibility of all actors at different levels, with the Commission willingly taking up its part. In addition to general information and communication activities, the Commission will put particular emphasis on three joint communication priorities: driving the economic recovery and mobilising new sources of growth; climate action and energy; making the Lisbon Treaty work for citizens.
Adapting the EU financial framework to serve policy priorities
The budget of the EU must serve to address the main challenges facing Europe and provide real value added in promoting the Union's key policy objectives. As part of its broader political vision, the Commission will put forward a Budget Review this year (strategic initiative 32) to look at how changes in the balance of the budget, its priorities and its procedures can secure the best return for European taxpayers and shape the process leading up to the next Multiannual Financial Framework.
Within the overall context of the preparation for the next multi-annual financial framework, the Commission will be holding in depth consultations with stakeholders during 2010 on the future direction of key EU spending policies, such as the common agricultural policy, cohesion policy and research policy. The aim will be to assess achievements to date and challenges for the period after 2013, to get stakeholder views on the future direction of policy and to assess the role of the EU budget in delivering effective results in these policy areas across the EU. This work will build on the orientations of the Budget Review and will feed into the preparation of the Commission's 2011 proposals for the next Multiannual Financial Framework.
This should include a reflection on the existing instruments for economic development in the run-up to the set of proposals for the next financial framework, as well as exploring new ways of leveraging EU private and public investment, for instance through the European Investment Bank.
In parallel to this strategic approach, the Commission will continue to improve sound financial management, while simplifying the implementation framework, putting strong emphasis on performance, added value and value for money achieved through EU spending. Attention will continue to be given to improve and implement sound, solid, coherent and cost-effective management and control systems both within the Commission and in the Member States. The Commission will also pursue its reflection on the future of OLAF.
Conclusion: moving ahead
This first Work Programme of the new Commission sets out its ambition and commitments, for 2010 and beyond. It tackles issues of immediate concern and sets the policy direction to respond to upcoming challenges, laying the ground for further work in the rest of the mandate.
To facilitate dialogue, provide predictability and ensure transparency, the following are annexed to this Work Programme:
- A list of strategic initiatives on which the Commission commits to deliver in 2010 (annex I).
- Major proposals under consideration during 2010 and beyond, which are tentative prospects for the rest of the mandate (annex II).
- A list of simplification proposals and withdrawals (annexes III and IV).
The Commission will review its Work Programme every year, setting new annual strategic initiatives and adapting the multi-annual strand where appropriate in the light of new circumstances, including results from preparatory work and review of implementation.
The Commission will now work closely with the European Parliament and the Council, as well as stakeholders, to ensure a broad ownership on the overall approach and on individual initiatives. This Commission would like its Work Programme to act as a central building block for the common inter-institutional programming proposed under Article 17(1) of the Treaty of Lisbon. The Commission will remain in constant dialogue with EU institutions and stakeholders to develop and implement its 2010 Work Programme.
[1] COM(2010) 2020, 3.3.2010.
[2] Seven flagships were put forward as part of the Europe 2020 strategy: “Innovation Union”, “Youth on the move”, “A digital agenda for Europe”, “Resource efficient Europe”, “An industrial policy for a globalised era”, “An agenda for new skills and new jobs”, “A European platform against poverty”.