{"id":34385,"date":"2024-10-29T09:07:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T13:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cepa.org\/?p=34385"},"modified":"2025-01-02T10:30:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T15:30:59","slug":"europe-2029-eight-policy-priorities-for-the-new-european-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cepa.org\/comprehensive-reports\/europe-2029-eight-policy-priorities-for-the-new-european-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe 2029: Eight Policy Priorities for the New European Commission\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Executive Summary <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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  • Task One<\/strong> for the new European Commission must be winning the fiscal war with Russia by overcoming political barriers to consistent financial aid to Ukraine and tightening the screws on Russia\u2019s hydrocarbon revenues. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Because reconstruction must begin long before the war ends if it is to be effective, Task Two<\/strong> is to maintain the pace of humanitarian aid and commit to breaking the back of Ukraine\u2019s accession negotiations by 2029. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • If Europe is to carry its strategic weight, Task Three<\/strong> must be to begin making good on its arms production promises and deliver stepwise surges in European Union (EU), member-state, and private-sector investment. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Longer-term stability and prosperity on the continent will hinge on the ability of the new Commission to maintain the pace of Ukraine\u2019s European integration and reinvigorate the EU enlargement process as a whole, comprising Task Four<\/strong>. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • As Moscow increasingly pursues gray-zone aggression within Europe itself, Task Five<\/strong> is to build the capacity for rapid identification of hybrid threats and retaliation sufficient to impose deterrence. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Task Six<\/strong> must be to develop and implement a medium-to-long-term policy of containment for Russia. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Considering growing strategic tensions, Task Seven <\/strong>is to begin a concerted process of reviewing and recalibrating the EU\u2019s economic and strategic relationship with China. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Finally, Task Eight <\/strong>is to reestablish trust and partnership between Europe and the \u201cglobal middle ground\u201d to present a more united front against Russia now, and potentially against China in the future. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \"European
    European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a statement as the Candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission (2024-2029) to the European Parliament. Credit: Alexis Haulot\/ European Parliament<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Introduction: Seeking Constancy in Shifting Sands <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s first European Commission \u2014 inaugurated in 2019 \u2014 inherited a smoldering conflict in Ukraine and emergent trade wars with both China and the United States. Pivoting to what she called a \u201cgeopolitical Commission,\u201d using a term once anathema in the European Union bureaucracy, von der Leyen, together with High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell, stabilized relations with both Washington and Beijing, only to find themselves staring down a hot war with Russia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It is, in many ways, the response to that war that has brought von der Leyen to a second term running Europe. The challenges she and her new Commission will face, however, are deeper than ever. A protracted war is sapping Brussels\u2019 fiscal and political reserves precisely at the time when visionary thinking \u2014 and visionary spending \u2014 is most in demand. Set to be joined by former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as high representative and former Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius as the EU\u2019s inaugural defense commissioner, von der Leyen will need to move rapidly along multiple fronts if her second Commission is to make good on the promise of her first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n