(Bloomberg) -- Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to tackle everything from global environmental destruction to regional child poverty when she takes over the European Commission in November. In between is a scattering of plans such as helping small businesses raise funds.
The German former doctor, 60, the first woman to lead the European Union executive branch, will have a busy start to her five-year term in Brussels. Here are some of her priorities:
CLIMATE
- Propose legislation to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050
- Strengthen Europe’s 2030 target for reducing greenhouse gases to a range of 50% to 55%, from 40% (compared with 1990 levels)
- Broaden the EU’s emissions-trading system, the world’s biggest carbon-dioxide market covering power plants, factories and airlines, to include shipping, road transportation and construction
- Reduce the number of free pollution permits for airlines
- Push for a European carbon-import tax to encourage other countries to step up action against global warming
- Unlock 1 trillion euros ($1.12 trillion) of clean-energy investment over the next decade with help of the European Investment Bank
ECONOMY
- Create a private/public fund for initial public offerings of small and medium-sized enterprises
- Possibly revive a failed EU proposal for a digital-services tax, should the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development find no global solution by the end of 2020
- Make “full use” of the flexibility in EU rules limiting national budget deficits and debt
TECHNOLOGY
- Propose EU legislation on the human and ethical implications of artificial intelligence
SOCIAL RIGHTS
- Propose a “legal instrument” for a fair minimum wage for every EU worker
- Push to create a European Unemployment Benefit Reinsurance Scheme
- Seek to introduce binding pay-transparency measures
- Establish a European Child Guarantee on healthcare and education for poor children
- Propose new EU anti-discrimination legislation
The commission proposes and enforces European laws on everything from auto emissions to energy pipelines. It also monitors national economies, negotiates trade deals, runs a diplomatic service, manages the bloc’s budget and acts as Europe’s competition authority.
While her priorities are important, von der Leyen will face political constraints from EU national capitals and the European Parliament as she assembles a team of commissioners over the coming weeks. The commission leadership is made up of one appointee from each of the 28 member countries. The EU Parliament plans to vote on von der Leyen’s whole team in October.
Legislative proposals by the commission must be approved by national governments and the 751-seat parliament, and experience shows that ambitious initiatives often run aground because of diverging national and institutional interests.
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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