The presentation of the Commission work programme is one of the stages in setting the priorities of the Seimas under the Commission work programme. The Commission work programme 2022 will be further discussed at the committees of the Seimas. The committees, in accordance with the Statute of the Seimas, will have one month to identify the most important matters falling within their scope, thus obligating themselves to be pro-active in the preparation of the respective positions of the Republic of Lithuania.
On the basis of the conclusions of the specialised committees, the Committees on European Affairs and on Foreign Affairs will adopt the priorities of the Seimas in accordance with the Commission work programme 2022. The priorities of the Seimas will be communicated to the Lithuanian Government and the European Union institutions to ensure constructive work on the most pressing issues for Lithuania.
Presenting the Commission work programme 2022, Mr Sinkevičius drew attention to the most relevant initiatives planned by the European Commission, including the commitment to strengthen the Union’s global leadership role, ‘The EU must become more resilient to geopolitical challenges. […] A new EU-NATO Joint Declaration will be presented at the end of this year and the European Commission will seek to accelerate the work on building a European Defence Union’. The European Commissioner also informed that in pursuing the global energy transition and cleaning of the oceans, the Commission is planning to table an action plan on international ocean governance.
According to the European Commissioner, as part of the European Green Deal initiatives, the Commission will continue on its path towards making Europe the world’s first climate neutral continent by 2050. Digital skills in schools and higher education institutions are at the top of the Commission agenda. To ensure that Europeans have access to quality jobs, fair working conditions, the Commission will also follow up on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights action plan. Under a new Commission initiative ALMA (Aim, Learn, Master, Achieve), disadvantaged young Europeans who are not in any kind of employment, education or training will be able to receive the necessary social support to gain professional experience abroad.
According to Mr Sinkevičius, the European Commission will take further steps to protect media freedom and pluralism by tabling a European media freedom act, and will continue to defend the rule of law. The Commissioner delegated by Lithuania also presented the measures to be taken by the Commission to turn the ideas it raised in the work programme 2022 into tangible benefits for the European population and called on Lithuanian society ‘to actively join the debate in the framework of the Conference on the Future of Europe and at the same time enhance the vitality of European democracy’.
The members of the Committees on European Affairs and on Foreign Affairs, who attended the meeting, mainly focused on the topic of financing the physical barrier at the Lithuanian-Belarus border. Members of the Seimas raised questions about the Commission’s political approach to strengthening the protection of the EU’s eastern external border and plans to further discuss on the Commission agenda measures to finance the construction of a technically effective physical barrier at the border with Belarus. Committee members also discussed the application of a car pollution tax in the EU Member States and the clean up of the Baltic Sea.
The European Commission adopts its work programme every year. It sets out the main initiatives that it intends to implement in the coming year. The work programme informs the public and the legislators about the Commission’s political commitment to present new initiatives, withdraw pending proposals and review existing EU legislation. This programme does not cover the permanent activities of the Commission in the performance of its duties as guardian of the Treaties and in ensuring the implementation of existing legislation or its initiatives adopted on a regular yearly basis.
