Von der Leyen breaks up and centralises: “project groups” emerge for commission priorities

Brussels – From the Clean Industrial Deal to Artificial Intelligence, from water resilience to housing, from start-ups to the vision of agriculture and food. These are some of the 14 EU policy priorities on which Commission President Ursula von der Leyen launched Project Groups.

Established for an initial period of one year, renewable—and chaired by commissioners or executive vice presidents depending on their areas of responsibility, although the chair may choose to attend and chair them—the Groups will focus on defining initiatives, implementing priorities, and ensuring consistency in different areas, breaking up even more of the already “diffuse” expertise that commissioners have and still keeping control in the hands of the chair.

To give a few specific examples, the Project Group on the Clean Industrial Deal, jointly chaired by Executive Vice Presidents Teresa Ribera (Transition) and Stéphane Séjourné (Industrial Strategy) and Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, “will coordinate the work to present the Clean Industrial Deal in the first 100 days of the mandate,” reads von der Leyen’s decision document. “The Project Group will maintain this coordination during the preparation of related deliverables, such as the Industrial Decarbonization Acceleration Act, the new state aid framework, the Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships, the revision of public procurement rules, the Affordable Energy Action Plan, the Circular Economy Act, the strengthening of grid infrastructure, the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan, and measures against carbon leakage,” the document continues.

Then there will be the Group on Water Resilience, which, chaired by Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall, will “develop an integrated and innovative approach to water resources management,” and the Group on Agriculture and Food, which, chaired by Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen, will “coordinate work to present in the first 100 days the Vision for Agriculture and Food”, “will work to strengthen EU food security and the competitiveness, resilience and sustainability” of the sector, and “will coordinate work to ensure that farmers have a fair and sufficient income.”

The other Groups are the one on Artificial Intelligence, chaired by Executive Vice President for Technological Sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen; on Affordable Housing, led by Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen; on Start-ups, headed by Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva (Start-ups, Research and Innovation). And, again, the one on external action will be in the hands of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas; the one on skills, jobs and social rights, will be with the executive vice president for social rights, Roxana Mînzatu; the one on economic security will be headed by the commissioner for trade and economic security, Maroš Šefčovič.

The Group on the Defense Union is headed by the Commissioner for Defense, Andrius Kubilius, and the Group on the EU of Savings and Investment by the Commissioner for Financial Services, Maria Luís Albuquerque. The Group on the EU of Preparedness will be chaired by Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib, that on European Internal Security by Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner, and the one on the European Democracy Shield by Democracy Commissioner Michael McGrath.