The Commission has adopted its 2025 Work Programme, outlining key policy and legislative initiatives for the year ahead. The programme responds to the issues that matter most to Europeans and builds on the commitments set out in the Political Guidelines presented by President von der Leyen’s Political Guidelines, presented to the European Parliament on the day of her election. The work programme has been the result of close cooperation with the European Parliament, Member States and the EU consultative bodies.

The 2025 work programme focuses on the Commission’s ambition to boost competitiveness, enhance security, and bolster economic resilience in the EU. It reflects the need for more opportunities, innovation, and growth for its citizens and businesses, ultimately fostering a more secure and prosperous EU. The newly proposed initiatives are laid out in a dedicated annex together with the evaluations. 

Accompanying the programme is a Communication on Implementation and Simplification, which sets out the Commission’s strategy for the next five years to ease the implementation of EU rules, reduce administrative burdens, and simplify regulations. It contains targets and tools to help lighten the regulatory load, boost competitiveness and resilience, and deliver fast and meaningful improvements for people and businesses.

The Communication on Implementation and Simplification also introduces the first in a series of Omnibus packages aimed at making EU policies and laws more effective and efficient. Key areas of focus include sustainable finance reporting, sustainability due diligence, and taxonomy. Additionally, measures to simplify the Common Agricultural Policy and other policies affecting farmers will help reduce complexity and ease administrative burdens for national authorities and farmers. Further simplification proposals will be explored, including a possible omnibus in the area of defence.

The key deliverables of the 2025 Commission Work Programme are:

• Sustainable Prosperity and Competitiveness: A newly launched Competitive Compass will guide sustainable growth efforts, with the EU Start-up and Scale-up Strategy empowering entrepreneurs through better access to capital. At the heart of the collaborative plan for decarbonisation and competitiveness is the Clean Industrial Deal, which will pave the way towards a proposed 90% emission-reduction target for 2040.
• Defence and Security: Amid tensions in the geopolitical landscape, the EU is intensifying efforts to safeguard security and ensure peace. By investing collectively and strategically with NATO's cooperation, the EU aims to reinforce its defence industry and reduce dependencies. A Preparedness Union Strategy will enhance crisis anticipation and resilience.
• Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model: The Commission will enhance its efforts to modernise social policies through a New Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights, in order to strengthen social fairness. The Commission will present the Union of Skills to ensure that all workers have the education and training they need.
• Sustaining our quality of life: The Commission will present a Vision for Agriculture and Food to ensure a stable framework for farmers. It will also propose an Ocean Pact that creates a unified framework for ocean policies, aiming to preserve ocean health and boost the EU blue economy. A simplification package of the Common Agriculture Policy will address the complexities and administrative burden for farmers and national administrations.
• Protecting democracy and upholding values: Initiatives like the Democracy Shield will tackle threats like rising extremism and disinformation. The Commission also plans to enhance strategies to combat discrimination based on gender, disability, sexual orientation, or race, including a renewed LGBTIQ Equality strategy and a new Anti-racism strategy.
• Delivering together and preparing our Union for the future: the Commission plans to present a new Multiannual Financial Framework focused on simplifying access to EU funding and enhancing financial impact to support national, private, and institutional financing. 

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