President Juncker defines 10 priorities for EU, seeks inter-institutional support
In a letter to the President of the European Parliament and to the Italian Presidency obtained by EurActiv, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker proposes a better coordinated working program of EU institutions and fleshes out the 10 priorities he has identified for 2015.
<p>President Juncker and his Vice-President Frans Timmermans sent the 4-page letter on Wednesday (12 November) to Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, and to Matteo Renzi, the Italian Prime Minister currently holding the six-month rotating EU presidency. Herman Van Rompuy, the outgoing European Council President and Donald Tusk, who will take over on 1 December, are not included among the recipients.
The Commission President argues that closer cooperation among the EU institutions can send a powerful message at a time when the crisis still bites, unemployment remains "unacceptably high", and when events in Ukraine "call for a strong response".
According to the EU treaty, it is the Commission that initiates the Union’s annual and multi-annual programming. However, Juncker says he wants to share with the Parliament and Council his initial thinking for the 2015 priorities, before those are adopted at the end of this year.</p>
