Opening Remarks of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans - Debate in European Parliament Plenary Session on 2016 European Commission Work Programme

Introduction

Exactly 10 years ago, 52 people died and many more were wounded in terrible terrible attacks in London. I remember vividly these days and especially the outpouring of solidarity across the world and especially in Europe. At that moment, whatever our position may be on European cooperation, we Europeans had a sense of common destiny. Because whatever else we might do right or wrong, we have a common duty to fight for the security of our citizens, a common duty to ensure that these barbarians, these distorted thinkers, these nihilists are not in a position to wreck havoc in our societies. This goes beyond politics. This is about human dignity, about our common values.

The challenges that Europe faces are huge: on terrorism, on migration, on jobs and growth, on Greece. This is the backdrop against which we are working on our work programme for 2015 and for 2016. Let me say a word about both.

CWP 2015: state of play

Over half of the Work Programme items are fully or mostly fulfilled.

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  Thanks to this Parliament, the European Fund for Strategic Investments has been operational since 1st July.
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  We have set out strategic agendas including for Investment, Energy Union, the Digital Single Market, Migration, Internal Security and a fairer corporate tax system. These agendas and action plans announce a considerable legislative workload for this House in the months and year to come. Some of these proposals are already before you, more are coming - starting with the revision of the energy labelling and emissions trading legislation next week.
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  In total over 40 proposals for legislation will flow from the strategies we have already presented. That comes on top of the 140 proposals which are pending on the table of the co-legislators. So let's bust this myth that this Commission is not forthcoming enough. Where legislation is the right response to address the big things, we will be big on legislation.
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  We are working on ambitious strategies on Trade and Investment, on the Single Market for goods and for services, on an ambitious package for the Circular Economy. We will present an action plan for developing a real Capital Markets Union in autumn and will accompany it with the first legislative proposals in the most pressing areas. And before the end of the year, we want to put to you a comprehensive — and clearly much needed — 'EMU Package'.
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  The importance of the social dimension - in EMU and more widely - is something President Juncker and I are both very attached to.To speed up the Youth Employment Initiative, we proposed making 1 billion Euros available this year. We are also actively working on a Labour Mobility Package, to be adopted later this year. The College will have a further orientation debate dedicated to social policy immediately after the summer.
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  Before looking ahead toward 2016, I would like to stress that it takes in this case three to tango. Delivering results where it matters is a shared responsibility of all three Institutions. That is why we are now negotiating a revised IIA on Better Law Making, and I look forward to the first meeting with Minister Schmit and Guy Verhofstadt.
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  Our proposal pays particular attention to reinforcing and consolidating the annual and multiannual planning and programming. While respecting the specific arrangements for close cooperation between Parliament and Commission that are set out in the Framework Agreement, and each of the three Institutions' role under the Treaties, by working better upstream we believe we can really make sure our combined efforts deliver effective and ambitious results to address the challenges Europe faces.

CWP 2016: preparations

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  Let me briefly turn to the preparations for next year.
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  A first orientation debate will be held in College a week from now. In September, we will have an opportunity to take stock of the progress made and of challenges ahead during President Juncker's State of the Union address.
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  We intend to adopt the 2016 Work Programme on 27 October.In the run up the Commission will engage actively in dialogue with Parliament, in full accordance with the Framework Agreement. We will also listen to the input of Member States in the General Affairs Council.
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  To launch and guide our discussion, a 'letter of intent' will be sent in parallel with the State of the Union address here in this House.
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  You can expect another targeted and balanced Work Programme, focused on 2016 and only on 2016, grounded on the ten priorities set out by President Juncker and agreed with your Parliament. Our strategic agendas - those already presented and those still to come later this year - will obviously be the main frame and we will keep a clear focus on delivering what we have announced there. 2016 will of course also be the year of the MFF mid-term review.
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  Once again there will be a strong emphasis on REFIT, because keeping the acquis up to date and pertinent to today's challenges requires a permanent effort. And if pending proposals need to be repealed or withdrawn to allow the co-legislators to use their energy on files that have a chance of being adopted, we will flag them. We need to be pragmatic and result oriented. If others need to be prioritising and speeding up, we will flag them.
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  I hope to be able to count on Parliament's continued support, and I think we need to deliver better results for our citizens.

Conclusion

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  Aligning our political priorities and planning can help make all the difference to whether Europeans look at Europe as part of the problem or rather part of the solution to the huge challenges they face. I look forward to the resolution that this House will adopt later this week and which will be very useful in guiding the Commission's ongoing reflection.
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  Let's work together, let's work hard — there are so many challenges we face, so many results citizens expect from us: let's do it together.

SPEECH/15/5322

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