EC TO DO LIST IN 2015

In 2015,  the Commission has selected the initiatives where there is the most pressing need for action.

The headline plans for 2015 include:   

• Delivering on our Investment Plan for Europe – Implementing the €315bn investment plan announced by President Juncker and Vice-President Katainen to boost the real economy and create jobs and growth.
• An Ambitious Digital Single Market Package – Creating the conditions for a vibrant digital economy and society by complementing the telecommunications regulatory environment, modernising copyright rules, simplifying rules for consumers making online and digital purchases, enhancing cyber-security and mainstreaming digitalisation.
• Building a European Energy Union – Taking action to ensure energy supply security, integration of national energy markets, reducing energy demand in Europe, and promoting green technology.
• A Fairer Approach to Taxation: An Action Plan on efforts to combat tax evasion and tax fraud, including measures at EU level in order to move to a system on the basis of which the country where profits are generated is also the country of taxation; including automatic exchange of information on tax rulings and stabilising corporate tax bases.
• A European Agenda on Migration – Developing a holistic approach covering both legal migration, to make the EU a more attractive destination for highly skilled people and companies, and improving the management of migration into the EU through greater cooperation with third countries, solidarity among our Member States and fighting human trafficking.
• Deeper Economic and Monetary Union: Strengthening the architecture of the EMU to maintain citizens' and markets' confidence, improving economic governance and reinvigorating social dialogue at all levels.

The Commission will also present proposals on strengthening the EU's single market for goods and services to benefit consumers and the competitiveness of industry, develop a new trade and investment strategy, continue to promote stability at Europe's borders through effective external action and neighbourhood policies, and bring a fresh dynamic to interinstituional relations, and greater transparency and accountability to citizen.

Leaders of the European Council are calling for the setting-up of a European Fund for Strategic Investments and for a fast-track legislative procedure for its activation. It is also calling for measures to improve the regulatory environment for investments and the removal of barriers in the internal market, especially in the field of services, to strengthen the multilateral trading system and to conclude bilateral trade agreement with important partners.

Leaders also stress that the new focus on investment should be seen in the context of the overall EU strategy for jobs and for a lasting economic recovery in Europe. This includes the equally important efforts to intensify structural reforms - both at national and European level, and sound public finances. This includes further work on closer coordination of economic policies in the Economic and Monetary Union.