Today, December 17, the European Commission adopted its Work Programme 2015 and announced new initiatives, withdrawals or modifications of pending proposals, REFIT actions (fixing EU law) and a list of legislation that becomes applicable law in 2015.
When it comes to the withdrawals, only one of those mentioned in a leaked letter from Commissioner Hill to Commission’s Vice-President Timmermans made it onto the final list, namely the Investor Compensation Scheme Directive, on the following grounds: “No foreseeable agreement. Discussions halted both at the Council and EP.”
The list of REFIT candidates includes the evaluations of the Prospectus Directive and International accounting standards. Results of these evaluations are expected in 2015.
Among the new initiatives figure the Capital Markets Union and the framework for resolution of financial institutions other than banks.
In total, the Commission is planning to withdraw 80 pending proposal while introducing only 23 new ones. “We want results on the ground, so where it is clear existing proposals will not be agreed in a way that meets our objectives, we will propose alternative approaches. This way we will make sure that our Union focuses both on what truly matters and on delivering concrete results for citizens. This time things really are different,” said Timmermans in a press release on the Commission’s new start.