European Commission members were sworn in by the Court of Justice of the EU on December 10th, 2014, and the new Commission is progressing with the adoption of the 2015 European Commission Work Programme set for December 17th. With things propelling forward, it is a good time to revisit the ten (10) priorities underpinning the next 5 years, as laid out by Commission President Mr. Jean Claude Juncker the day he was elected by the European Parliament- July 15, 2014.

In an official political guidelines paper, President Juncker set the tone for his policy priorities, stating that he ‘wants a European Union that is bigger and more ambitious on big things, and small and more modest on small things’. Under his agenda for Jobs, Growth, Fairness and Democratic Change, are the following priorities:

1. A new boost for Jobs and Growth Investment

2. A connected digital single market

3. A resilient Energy Union with a forward-looking climate change policy

4. A deeper and fairer internal market with a strengthened industrial base

5. A deeper and fairer Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)

6. A reasonable and balanced free trade agreement with the United States

7. An area of Justice and Fundamental Rights based on mutual trust

8. Moving towards a new policy on migration

9. Europe as a stronger global actor

10. A Union of democratic change

From these priorities, namely the first three, we can expect to see a progressive jobs, growth and investment package to be turned out within the first three months of President Junckers mandate. Likewise, within the first six months, the EU will likely see ambitious legislative steps towards enabling a more connected digital single market, with the overarching goal of eliminating roaming fees, providing borderless access for consumers to online services/music/movies/sport,as well as facilitating a level playing field for all companies offering digital goods and services in the EU, specifically in regards to data protection and consumer rules irrespective of where servers may be located. The European Energy Union is another ambitious priority stipulated among Juncker’s priorities for his mandate, which aims not only to pool and unite resources and infrastructures across EU member states, but to diversify energy sources- looking more to renewable energy, and go beyond the 2020 objectives in terms of enhancing energy efficiency.

Each priority outlined in ‘Juncker’s paper’ is meticulously thought out and explained, and they all have their challenges, but every priority is ambitious in its own right, and only time will tell if these priorities are the right ones to re-energise the EU.

To read about each priority, please find the full political guidelines document by Commission President Juncker here.