The new working methods of the European Commission for 2019 – 2024: striving for more at home and in the world

Abstract

The article explores the new working methods of the European Commission for 2019 – 2024, which were presented by the President Ursula von der Leyen in her Communication to Commission on December 1, 2020. It clarifies the importance of the Commission’s new working methods in the context of the internal and external environment of EU-27 functioning, as well as the President’s ambitious goal, who wants «the next five years to be an opportunity for Europe to strive for more at home in order to lead in the world». According to the author of the article, the ambitions of the current Commission are due to three additional factors: the gender composition of the Commission (the President of the Commission is the first woman in this position in the EU history, and about half of the members are women), a fundamentally new internal and external environment which forms under the influence of the Brexit impact, as well as the need to reaffirm the role of the European Commission as a driving force in the European integration process, especially against the background of problems with compliance to the fundamental principles of the EU by a number of Member States, including post-communist ones. It is concluded that the Commission’s new working methods are designed to make this institution strong and fair, capable of working together to implement the provisions of the «Agenda for Europe» proposed by the President of the Commission. To this end, Ursula von der Leyen introduces a number of novelties to the way the Commission works, notably with regards to the role of the Executive Vice-Presidents, the High Representative / Vice-President, Vice-Presidents and Commissioners’ Groups; the creation of the Group for External Coordination; the role of the Secretariat-General in supporting the Executive Vice-Presidents and the Vice-Presidents; the Commission’s follow-up to European Parliament Resolutions based on Article 225 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; the introduction of the digital transformation objective and an open, inclusive and cooperative way of working.