Common Agenda of the European Institutions for 2021: European recovery after COVID-19

On the 17th of December, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council signed a common agenda on legislative priorities for 2021, with proposals to boost the EU’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President David Sassoli and Chancellor Angela Merkel, on behalf of the Council Presidency, also signed the first joint conclusions on policy objectives and priorities for 2020-2024, in which they agreed to present a political and legislative programme for recovery and renewed vitality until 2024.

According to Ursula von der Leyen: “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”.

Common agenda: Legislative priorities for 2021

The common statement on legislative priorities for 2021 is based on the Commission’s work programme for the coming year. The three institutions will give priority to the following initiatives with the aim of completing as many as possible by the end of 2021:

1. Implementing the European Green Deal, ensuring that the climate transition is fair and that no one is left behind, thus enabling the EU to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and to ensure progress towards this objective by 2030.
2. Shaping Europe’s Digital Decade by creating a single market for digital services that operates within safe and ethical boundaries, by formulating a framework for reliable artificial intelligence and by fostering European leadership with digital targets for 2030 and a dynamic data economy.
3. Achieving an economy that works for people, ensuring that recovery reaches society, deepening the Single Market and strengthening industries. At the same time, the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) will be deepened, and the resilience and sustainability of European banks and capital markets strengthened.
4. Make Europe stronger in the world by strengthening the European brand of responsible global leadership and strong partnership and by showing a willingness to give a new impetus to transatlantic relations. The EU will promote international trade rules that are properly implemented and ensure a level playing field.
5. Promote a free and secure Europe, working towards a new deal on asylum and migration, and ensuring effective control of our external borders. The EU will protect freedom of movement by strengthening the Schengen framework and improving Europe’s response to health crises. The EU will act decisively to prevent the spread of terrorist content and the sexual abuse of children online.
6. Protect and strengthen the democracy and uphold our common European values, by further strengthening the EU’s capacity to uphold and protect the rule of law, fundamental rights and freedoms, and by consolidating Europe’s democratic foundations.

Background

Every year since 2016, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission discuss and agree on the EU’s legislative priorities for the following year, which are set out in an annual joint declaration. This year, in addition, the first-ever joint conclusions for 2020-2024 set out the policy objectives and priorities of the three Union institutions for the next four years.