EU institutions agree on priorities for coming years: A common agenda for our recovery and renewed vitality

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Today, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President David Sassoli and Chancellor Angela Merkel, on behalf of the Presidency of the Council, signed the Joint Declaration on legislative priorities for 2021. The Declaration cements the three institutions’ commitment to adopt swiftly the necessary legislative proposals to drive the EU’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, while seizing the opportunities of the climate and digital transitions. The three Presidents also signed the first-ever Joint Conclusions on policy objectives and priorities for 2020-2024, agreeing to deliver an ambitious political and legislative agenda for recovery and renewed vitality until 2024.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “These joint agreements show the EU’s shared determination to work together to safeguard the health and jobs of our citizens across Europe. Europe needs a sustainable recovery that benefits everyone and improves our ability to respond to health crises. Now is the time to move to implementation.”

The Joint Declaration on legislative priorities for 2021 is based on the Commission work programme for the year ahead. The Declaration draws political attention to key legislative proposals that either have already been presented by the Commission or will be by the autumn of 2021. Meanwhile, the first-ever Joint Conclusions set out the institutions’ agreed priorities to guide the EU’s legislative agenda until 2024.

According to the Joint Declaration, the three institutions will give priority to the following initiatives, with the objective to finalise as many as possible by the end of 2021:

1. Implement the European Green Deal, ensuring the climate transition is just and that nobody is left behind, enabling the EU to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and ensuring ambitious progress towards that goal by 2030.
2. Shape Europe’s Digital Decade, creating a truly functioning single market for digital services within safe and ethical boundaries, devising a framework for trustworthy Artificial Intelligence, developing European leadership with digital targets for 2030 and a vibrant data economy.
3. Deliver an economy that works for people, ensuring that the recovery reaches society as a whole, deepening the single market and strengthening our industries, striving for more social fairness and prosperity. At the same time, deepening the Economic and Monetary Union, strengthening the resilience and sustainability of Europe’s banks and capital markets.
4. Make Europe stronger in the world, strengthening Europe’s brand of responsible leadership globally, and strong partnership, and standing ready to give a renewed impetus to transatlantic relations. The EU will promote international trade rules that are properly enforced and provide for a level playing field.
5. Promote a free and safe Europe, working to agree on a new pact on asylum and migration, and the effective control of our external borders. The EU will protect free movement through strengthening the Schengen framework and enhancing Europe’s response to health crises. The EU will act decisively to prevent the spread of terrorist content and child sexual abuse online.
6. Protect and strengthen our democracy and defend our common European values, continuing to strengthen the EU’s capacity to uphold and protect the rule of law, fundamental rights and freedoms, and strengthening Europe’s democratic foundations.

Next steps

The three institutions will now work together on the basis of this Declaration and these Conclusions on all pending proposals, guided by the principles of European added-value, subsidiarity and proportionality. The institutions are also now recommitting to engaging with citizens, so they have a greater say on their future, including through the upcoming Conference on the Future of Europe.

Background

Each year, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission discuss and agree on the EU’s legislative priorities for the coming year, which are set out in an annual Joint Declaration. This allows the institutions to work more closely together to tackle the challenges ahead. The first Joint Declaration was signed in December 2016. This year, in addition, the first‑ever Joint Conclusions for 2020-2024, set out the policy objectives and priorities of the three EU institutions for the next four years.