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Every year, the Commission adopts a Work Programme (WP) setting out policy actions for the year to come. Each WP informs the public and the EU co-legislators of political commitments in both presenting new initiatives and review existing EU legislation (while withdrawing pending proposals). As a rule, WP does not interfere into the Commission’s functions as “the guardian of the treaties” in enforcing existing legislation or/and the Commission’s regular legislative initiatives for a year.

The WP-2017 consists of 21 key initiatives (clarified in 5 annexes) and 18 REFIT proposals to improve the quality of existing EU legislation. To ensure a focus on delivery, WP has identified 34 priority pending proposals already made in the past two years which shall be swiftly adopted.

EU’s administrating and planning process

The Commission's CWP-17 preparation has been enriched by consultations with the European Parliament and Council in the context of the new Inter-institutional Agreement on Better Law-Making and based on the Letter of Intent sent by President Juncker and First Vice-President Timmermans on 14 September 2016 after the President's State of the European Union address.

Every year, the European Commission adopts a Work Programme which sets out its key initiatives for the year ahead.

Present CWP-17 is the third programme presented by the Juncker Commission, and the first to be adopted following the consultation with the European Parliament and Council which is foreseen in the Inter-Institutional Agreement on Better Law-Making and complements the structured dialogue with the European Parliament under the Framework Agreement.

The CWP-17 is fully aligned with the priorities identified by the 27 EU-Heads of State or Government in Bratislava, and includes concrete proposals which will contribute to the long-term vision of the Union ahead of the 60^th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome in March 2017.

Compared with the previous two Commission’s agendas (previous mandate from 2009 and 2014), during which the Commission proposed an average of over 130 new initiatives in each annual Work Programme, the present Commission is taking a different approach. In the WP-15, e.g. only 23 new initiatives were presented, and so much in WP-16; the WP-17 contains 21 key initiatives, reflecting the new priorities and focusing on implementing the proposals already on the table from previous years.

The present Commission was approved by the European Parliament on the basis of clear Political Guidelines, which also reflected the European Council's Strategic Agenda. The 10 priorities set out in these Guidelines continue to act as the framework for the Commission's annual planning.

Every year in September, the President of the European Commission delivers his State of the Union speech before the European Parliament. Together with the Letter of Intent, which is sent the same day by the President and the First Vice-President to the President of the European Parliament and the Council Presidency, it outlines the key priorities of the Commission for the months to come.

The State of the Union speech kick-starts the dialogue with the Parliament and the Council to prepare a new WP; this dialogue serves to ensure a shared understanding of the priorities ahead between the Parliament, the EU states and the Commission. Besides, the Commission also hears the views of the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions in the preparation of the Work Programme.

Up to the end of 2016, the Commission will work with the European Parliament and Council to reach an agreement between the three presidents on a Joint Declaration which will set out the broad objectives and priorities for 2017 and identify proposals that deserve priority treatment in the legislative process. This is a new shared commitment under the Inter-institutional Agreement on Better Law-Making which was signed on 13 April 2016.

The CWP-17 provides a basis for this shared reflection and highlights the pending proposals on which the Commission considers it most important to advance quickly.

Commission’s opinion

President Jean-Claude Juncker underlined that the Commission is focusing on the things that matter, on concrete actions that improve people's lives. WP-17’s main issue is the 60^th Anniversary of the Rome Treaties in March 2017, for which already during last months in 2016 the Commission -together with the European Parliament and Council- would select a number of initiatives of major political importance that should receive priority treatment in the legislative process in the months to come.

First Vice-President Frans Timmermans underlined that during two previous years the Commission made sound progress on EU’s challenges like boosting investment and employment, managing migration and advancing on climate change and the fight against  terrorism. “But, he added, there is still more to do and in 2017 the member states must deliver on agreements on the many crucial proposals already on the table”.

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-16-3485_en.htm

CWP’s annexes

The Commission Work Programme consists of a political communication and five annexes.

• Annex I includes the key initiatives to be presented in the year ahead, which focus on concrete actions to implement the ten political priorities of the Juncker Commission and includes REFIT proposals which deliver on these 10 priorities;
• Annex II contains other key REFIT initiatives aimed at updating/improving legislation;
• Annex III lists the priority pending legislative files on which EU’s co-legislators (EP & the Council) would take the swiftest action to deliver results;
• Annex IV contains a list of intended withdrawals of pending proposals;
• Annex V contains a list of existing legislation which the Commission intends to repeal.

Commission's Regulatory Fitness and Performance programme, REFIT

REFIT is the European Commission's Regulatory Fitness and Performance programme with the objective to review the existing stock of EU legislation and ensure it remains fit for purpose and delivers the results intended. It aims to keep the body of EU law lean and healthy, remove unnecessary burdens and adapt existing legislation without compromising on our ambitious policy objectives.

The WP-17 contains 18 new REFIT initiatives where, based on thorough evaluation, the Commission will propose to update and improve existing legislation so it continues to achieve its objectives effectively and without undue burdens, for example to improve disclosure and reduce fees in cross-border payments in particular to and from non-euro states or to improve the operation and use of the Schengen Information system in the field of border management. Where REFIT actions directly relate to the key initiatives, such as reviewing legislation on online data protection and on enforcement of environmental legislation, these are included in Annex I of the Work Programme. In identifying REFIT priorities, the Commission has taken into account the Opinions of the REFIT Platform (see below).

In addition to the key REFIT initiatives, the Commission is working on a wide range of actions to evaluate, review and simplify EU legislation, which is reflected in the REFIT Scoreboard that is presented together with the Work Programme. The REFIT Scoreboard shows the state of play on 231 initiatives for simplifying and reducing administrative burdens in existing legislation. The Commission also published a summary of key elements of the REFIT scoreboard, detailed information on the first 22 platform opinions and described the ways in which the Commission intends to follow up.

The REFIT Platform

The Commission created a high level expert group including EU states, advisory bodies, business and civil society to provide advice on how to make EU regulation more efficient and effective reducing costs and burden and without undermining policy objectives.

So far, the REFIT Platform has adopted 22 Opinions across a wide area of EU regulation including e-privacy, chemicals regulation, financial services, health and food safety, the Common Agricultural Policy, Cohesion Policy and Value Added Tax. The REFIT scoreboard sets out the Commission's follow up to the REFIT Platform opinions.

European citizens and businesses want the Commission to take efforts “on big and urgent things”, whilst striving for simple, evidence-based, predictable and proportionate laws which deliver maximum benefits.

The Commission has carefully examined all pending proposals to assess whether they should be maintained, amended or withdrawn: hence the proposed withdrawal of 19 pending proposals that are technically outdated or no longer serve their purpose, to allow the co-legislators to focus on the proposals that really matter.

Implementing CWP-17 proposals

In line with the commitments under the new Inter-institutional Agreement on Better Law-Making, the WP-17 indicates the envisaged timetable to the extent possible.

Besides, WP-17 also gives details, as far as available and on an indicative basis, on the intended legal base, the type of legal act and any other relevant procedural information, including information on impact assessment and evaluation work.

Roadmaps for individual actions have already been published or will be published shortly, giving further details on the planned initiatives and providing the opportunity for stakeholders and citizens to give feedback on the Commission's plans.

Reference: Questions and Answers: The 2017 Commission Work Programme in:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-16-3485_en.htm

Priorities for the Commission in 2017

From the start of its mandate in 2014, this Commission has set its priorities to focus on “the big things”, where effective European action can make a concrete difference. The new WP-17 sets out concrete proposals for the next year, which includes Commission's contribution to the process of preparation for the 60^th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome in March 2017.

WP-17 continues the EU work across the initial 10 priorities through 21 new initiatives:

(1) to boost jobs, growth and investment; three initiatives are proposed: = a Youth Initiative, = an Action Plan on the implementation of the Circular Economy; and = a new Multi-annual financial framework;

(2) to carry out a mid-term review of the Digital Single Market;

(3) to implement the Energy Union Strategy with work on low-emission vehicles and mobility;

(4) building a deeper and fairer internal market by implementing the Single Market Strategy, Space Strategy for Europe, Capital Markets Union Action Plan, and making proposals for Fairer taxation of companies;

(5) presenting ideas for the reform of the EU-27; strengthening of the Economic and Monetary Union and to propose a European Pillar of Social Rights;

(6) implementing the Trade for All Strategy and pursue trade negotiations with partners around the world while strengthening EU’s trade defence instruments;

(7) pursuing a Security Union to fight terrorism with aligning the rules on the protection of personal data and privacy;

(8) delivering on the European Agenda on Migration;

(9) strengthening EU's role as a global actor: to present a European Defence Action Plan including a European Defence Fund; to adopt EU Strategy for Syria; implement the EU Global Strategy and Africa-EU Partnership;

(10) adapting existing laws to the Treaty provisions on delegated and implementing acts while assessing the democratic legitimacy of existing procedures for adopting certain secondary EU acts. Finally, adequate efforts will be taken to enforce EU law.

Efforts towards efficient EU legislation

This year we are proposing 19 withdrawals of pending legislative proposals which have become outdated, and we will repeal 16 pieces of existing legislation which have become obsolete. We will also step up our efforts on the enforcement agenda across a range of policy areas including the single market and the environment, because even the best law is useless unless it delivers real results on the ground.

Many of the key initiatives we will present in the next year follow regulatory fitness and performance reviews (REFIT) and will update and improve existing legislation so it continues to achieve its objectives effectively and without undue burdens. In setting our priorities, we have taken particular account of the 22 Opinions delivered by the REFIT Platform, the newly-created independent panel of experts which reviews existing legislation and draws on citizens' and stakeholders' suggestions for reducing the administrative and financial burden of EU law. In parallel to this Work Programme, we are publishing a Scoreboard which sets out in detail the follow up to the REFIT Platform opinions and the state of play on 231 initiatives for simplifying and reducing administrative burdens in existing legislation.

More information is available on the following links:

 - Q&A on the 2017 Commission Work Programme;

 - Communication on the 2017 Commission Work Programme with the following annexes: Annex 1 – Key initiatives;

Annex 2 – New REFIT actions;

Annex 3 – Priorities for the co-legislators;

Annex 4 – Intended withdrawals or modifications;

Annex 5 – List of repeals;

-The REFIT Scoreboard

- REFIT Scoreboard Summary;

-President Juncker's Political Guidelines;

-The 2016 State of the Union Address, Letter of Intent, and Progress on the Ten Priorities;

- The Bratislava Declaration;

- Inter-institutional Agreement on Better Law-Making

Source: Commission press release: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-3500_en.htm from Strasbourg, 25 October 2016.