The European Commission embarks on its new mandate as the European Union (EU) finds itself at a critical juncture, confronting challenges like the climate crisis, threats to our fundamental rights and our democracy, rising geopolitical tensions, security concerns and intensifying global economic competition. 

In this context, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has put forward her Political Guidelines and Mission letters for the next College of Commissioners, to guide the direction of the Commission in the next 5 years.  

In view of the challenges facing the EU, the Commission must pursue European solutions, putting citizens and European civil society at the centre of the decision-making process. 

To this end, we present the following recommendations in response to the Commission’s priorities for the next 5 years:  

Defend our democracy and rights 

• Protect human rights for all and promote diversity and inclusion in society; 

• Defend the rule of law and rigorously enforce the Article 7 mechanism; 

• Strengthen media freedom and pluralism all over the EU by closely monitoring the implementation of the European Media Freedom Act; 

• Increase funding for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and grant civil society a stronger role in policy-making as per Article 11 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU);   

• Make European Citizens’ Panels as well as permanent Citizens’ Conferences a constant feature of EU policy-making to ensure that citizens’ voices are heard and effectively fed into policy-making;  

• Develop strong regulations that guarantee and protect citizens’ digital rights, especially the right to privacy, data protection, freedom of expression, social rights, and non-discrimination. 

Defence and security 

• Make proposals for meaningful political integration with shared strategic objectives and efficient decision-making among Member States to create a European Defence Union (EDU);  

• Leverage public and private resources in a Common Market for Security and Defence to drive EU industrial transformation, job creation, and enhanced security capabilities; 

• Strengthen the EU’s external borders by creating a fully integrated, coordinated and accountable border protection system based on EU values and human rights; 
• Revise current migration policies to achieve a comprehensive, harmonised and common approach to migration and asylum, with binding burden sharing mechanisms.  

Sustainable prosperity and competitiveness 

• Maintain the ambitious implementation of the European Green Deal (EGD) as a priority in the upcoming legislative term, channelling all necessary public and private resources; 

• Establish a Savings and Investment Union to enhance financial support for green and digital transitions within the Single Market;  

• Follow up on the Letta report with concrete actions to deepen the Single Market integration to enable the EU economy to respond to current and future challenges; 

• Closely monitor the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) and propose further legislation focused on incentivising sustainable and ethical use of AI;  

• Increase the share of the EU’s own resources in the EU’s budget to enhance flexibility and to strengthen the link between policy objectives and financial resources;  

• Substantially increase the EU budget to match the increased demands arising from the current major socio-economic challenges and for much-needed investment, as underlined by the Draghi report; 

• Work with Member States to overcome their differences and reach a compromise that will allow more joint debt issuance and increase the EU’s borrowing capacity. 

Social fairness 

• Enhance the social dimension of the Single Market to promote inclusive growth, social justice, and equal opportunities for all; 

• Pursue social justice and equality in Europe by implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR);  

• Enhance efforts to establish a well-being economy, fair wealth distribution, and stronger, more resilient social protection amid disruptive socio-economic changes. 

Leading in the world and delivering in Europe 

• Step up efforts to revise the EU’s industrial strategy to counter disruptive practices introduced by other global powers;  

• Diversify supply chains by fostering strategic partnerships and developing critical sectors to reduce dependency on non-EU actors while maintaining openness;  

• Provide a credible enlargement perspective and clear timeline for the accession process with interim goals within the 2024 Enlargement Package;  

• Reaffirm that candidate countries aspiring to join the EU must fully respect democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in the accession process.  

Furter to the above, the Commission must prioritise the necessary institutional and governance reforms to build a more efficient and effective Union that is transparent and representative. To that end, the Commission should respond, together with the European Council, to the European Parliament’s call for a Convention to reform the EU Treaties. Institutional reform is not a matter of choice, but a necessity to ensure that the EU can meet the evolving needs of its citizens, face unprecedented global challenges and successfully manage future enlargement.