Yesterday, the Commission published their 2018 Work Programme.
I was anxious. I was at the airport when the proposals were adopted. An airport departure gates is not the best place to digest a bulky set of new proposals. I need not have worried.
The Commission’s Work Programme for 2018 is a master-piece in brevity. It looks like half through his mandate, President Juncker is shutting up shop. He has slashed the amount of proposals from the Commission by around 80% and delivered on 80% of his priorities. By the end of 2018 he’ll surely have hit 100%.
The Work programme is slim on the Environment front. Reference is made to developing the battery infrastructure, evaluating the 2012 bio-economy strategy, including broadening the scope, but it is not developed.
The existing legislative programme continues and there were no repeals or withdrawals on the environment front. This means the circular economy package upgrading the following existing legislative updating continues:
- Directive 2000/53/EC on end of-life vehicles
- Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators
- Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment
- Directive 2008/98/EC on waste
- Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste
- Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste
From a 20 year historical perspective, the work load is emaciated.
Indeed, whether these proposals land up coming out the door is another thing. They’ll still have secure a positive impact assessment before the May 2018 deadline. After that, it appears people will have to wait until 2020 and a new Commission before anything new will be tabled.
Recalling the lessons outlined by J.Kingdon (see here), my best advice is to start preparing now for the next Commission, with clear and persuasive briefings for any new legislation/measures you may want. They start work on 1 November 2019 so you have the time to prepare. Indeed, as all outgoing Commission’s do, they will hand over a whole set of ideas for initiatives to the next Commission. Work on that will start the summer of 2018. Then Mr. Barnier and his new team can choose their new agenda.
2018 Work Programme
Item 1
- Strategy on plastics use, reuse and recycling – non-legislative – end of Q4 2017
- Proposal for a Regulation on Waste Water Reuse – legislative – end Q4 2017
- REFIT Revision of the Drinking Water Directive – legislative – end Q4 2017
- Monitoring framework for the Circular Economy – non legislative, Q4 2017
- Communication to address legal, technical or practical bottlenecks at the interface of chemical, product and waste – non-legislative – Q4 2017
Item 2
- Proposal for a Multi-annual Financial Framework beyond 2020 (Q2 2018) followed by proposals for the next generation of programmes and new own resources – legislative, Q2 2018
Item 3
- Reflection Paper ‘Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030’ on the follow-up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including on the Paris Agreement on Climate Change –non-legislative Q2 -2018
I have listed the Commission’s finances (Item 2) as this will be the biggest issue. The EU can no longer balance their books. They need to cut spending to deal with Brexit by 15% and to balance the books by 30%. Tough decisions will need to be taken.
This light work load will have two obvious impacts:
First, MEPs will have a lot more time to review delegated legislative proposals.
Second, Member States will introduce national measures in place and ignore the European order.