A critical medicines act and a new multiannual budget. What’s for 2025 in the EU legislative agenda

2025 will teem in with a number of legislative proposals at the EU level as the newly installed European Commission has pledged to deliver many in the first 100 days of its mandate. A first draft of the European Commission work programme includes among them a Critical Medicines Act aimed at tackling severe shortages of essential medicines such as antibiotics, insulin and painkillers and a revision of the air services regulation that will introduce standardize EU-wide hand luggage policies and address the issue of different cases of tickets.

The long-awaited Clean Industrial Deal will also be counted among the first initiatives of the new EU Executive. This legislative package will consist of an action plan for affordable energy, an “Industrial decarbonization accelerator Act”, a regulation establishing a European Competitiveness Fund, a new set of rules on the chemical industry and an industrial action plan for the automotive sector.  

As part of the proposals in the industrial field, the European Commission will adopt new rules to boost the artificial intelligence factories project and a white paper on the future of European defence.

In the energy field, the roadmap to end energy imports from Russia should also be proposed in the first 100 days. A new vision for agriculture and food which will be fed by the findings of the recently concluded Strategic Dialogue, a roadmap for women’s rights and the launch of the first annual Youth policy dialogue. The latter shows up to be a tool for structural consultation on the youngest generation for future policies.

A new proposal on multiannual budget

In the first half of 2025, the European Commission’s program includes the approval of the first group of strategic projects under the Critical Raw Materials Act, an evaluation of the standardisation regulation, a pact for European social dialogue, the revision of the pre-enlargement policy, a communication campaign to increase awareness and acceptance of aquaculture in the EU, reports on the revision of the regulation on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments and on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations. The first half of next year should also see the light of day on new Important Projects of Common European Interest and an initiative on nuclear competences.

By June, the European Commission will carry on the work on a single market strategy. The EU Council approved a set of non-binding conclusions in June 2024 to provide the European Commission with guidelines on the matter. It will propose new guidelines on the protection of children under the Digital Services Act, the ratification law of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty, the European Ocean Pact, and the revision of the route-based approach for returns under the Migration and Asylum Pact.

By July 2025, the European Commission should approve the revision of the Interinstitutional Agreement on the Parliament, Council and Commission Transparency Register as set out in the text currently in force and adopted in May 2021. Other initiatives expected to be presented are an EU-Ukraine Trade Liberalisation Framework and an EU Space Act. The end of July is the deadline also to submit a proposal on the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the programming period 2028-2034.

By November, the Commission is expected to approve a communication outlining the EU’s overall climate and energy vision, a report on Member States’ efforts to eliminate illegal/pirated sports content, and an evaluation of the Digital Services Act.

Some proposals by the end of the year

Many measures are expected by the end of the year. The long-awaited revision of the Regulation on the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (REACH) is also on the list. This is about the main EU law to protect human health and the environment from the risks that chemicals can pose.

The EU Executive will also deal with the review report on the Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), a revised gender equality strategy, an action plan implementing of the European Pillar of Social Rights, a report implementing the minimum wage recommendation, a report on the effectiveness of the existing regulatory framework on export controls, an online information scoring system for plant-based products.

Over those months the EU Executive will be studying identifying barriers to the integration of trading and post-trading and scaling up of investment funds investing in innovative and growth companies. In the same period a recommendation of model contract clauses for data sharing and cloud computing is expected to be proposed.

Then it will be the turn of a regulation on single digital reservation and ticketing, a report on the implementation of the European Declaration on Cycling, and a a new European Biotechnology Act, which will follow the Communication proposed in March 2024.

The Commission will also aim at making progress on a new strategy for European life sciences, an investment plan for sustainable transport, an energy transition roadmap for carbon neutrality of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in 2050, and an evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy. Among the new proposals emerge a scientific study on marketing techniques that negatively influence children’s purchasing behavior in online games, a revision of the medical devices regulation, and simplification proposals that will follow the Omnibus Simplification Regulation adopted in the first months of the mandate.