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What is the EU Commission work programme

Each year, the Commission establishes its annual work programme, detailing the most significant new policy and legislative initiatives planned for the upcoming year.

Based on the Commission's work program and the priorities set by other institutions, the Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council collaborate to create a Joint Declaration on the EU's legislative priorities for 2025 and Joint Conclusions on priorities for the term.

Competitiveness and Simplification

The Commission objectives to boost competitiveness and simplify various pieces of legislation, as showcased in the Commission’s unveiling of its Competitiveness compass remain present in these newly released plans for 2025 aim.

 Indeed, the Commission will be working on 51 New Policy initiatives, out of which there are 18 legislative initiatives. More than half of the legislative initiatives will have a simplification objective/dimension. The Commission also plans on withdrawing 37, repeal 4, and conduct 37 evaluations to stress test EU legislation in order to identify potential areas of simplification and cost reduction.

Work Programme Contents

The work pogramme categorises new initiatives under 7 main categories:

• A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness
• A new era for European Defence and Security
• Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model
• Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature
• Protecting our democracy, upholding our values
• A global Europe: Leveraging our power and partnerships
• Delivering together and preparing our Union for the future

Within those the following announced initiatives directly touch upon tech and digital issues:

• Digital Package (Q4 2025)
• Digital Networks Act (Q4 2025)
• AI Continent Action Plan (Q1 2025)
• Quantum Strategy of EU (Q2 2025)
• EU Space Act (Q2 2025)
• Bioeconomy Strategy (Q4 2025)

The Commission highlights the “Digital Package” as one of the initiatives aimed at simplifying rules in order to boost competitiveness.

The EU Commission also indicates it will conduct a “fitness check on the legislative acquis in the digital policy area” by Q4 2025.

Quite importantly the Commission has also withdrawn the AI liability legislation proposal, and the ePrivacy Regulation proposal.

What does it mean

These initiatives announcements, which include multiple Omnibus simplification packages bound to have a wide impact on a variety of field, showcase the EU Commission’s current commitment to boost competitiveness, simplify rules, and ensure effective implementation. We will now need to monitor these upcoming developments to better understand their potential impacts on techUK members.

If members have any views or questions, please reach out to theo.maiziere@techuk.org