European Commission Publishes 2020 Work Programme

The European Commission has published its 2020 Work Programme, setting out the EU’s strategic priorities for the next 12 months. Key areas of focus include:
 

• the “European Green Deal” to tackle climate change;
• capitalizing on the transition to a digital society, including via the adoption of new EU legislation on digital services;
• tackling economic inequality and promoting a strong European economy, including through implementation of Action Plans on: (i) the Capital Markets Union (to improve access to EU capital markets); and (ii) Anti-money Laundering (to improve the supervision and enforcement of EU anti-money laundering regimes);
• enhancing Europe’s geo-political alliances and coalitions;
• promoting cohesion and resilience in European society through initiatives on healthcare, education and security; and
• enhancing democracy in Europe.

The Work Programme also stresses that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals will be at the heart of policymaking over the next decade.

A series of annexes are published alongside the Work Programme, relating to: (i) details of the EU’s new initiatives, which include the development of an EU approach to artificial intelligence (a white paper is expected in Q1 2020), and amendments to legislation (including the establishment of an EU Digital Services Act and a review of the Cybersecurity Regulation, both expected in Q4 2020); (ii) “REFIT” initiatives to revise and evaluate existing EU projects such as the Directive on distance marketing of consumer financial services; (iii) pending legislative initiatives that should receive priority attention, such as the proposed regulation on recovery and resolution of CCPs and the proposed Directive on credit services, credit purchases and recovery of collateral; (iv) pending initiatives that should be withdrawn; and (v) envisaged repeals of legislation.

View the European Commission's 2020 Work Programme and other key documents.

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