Europe's new direction test for summit
As Europe's new decision-makers sit down for their first formal meeting since their appointment, today's summit gives us an opportunity to gauge the direction they intend to pursue in the year to come.
The new European Commission's presentation of its streamlined work programme for 2015 shows the withdrawal of eighty pending proposals, and no more than 23 new initiatives.
While it was made clear we are not in for an era of deregulation, prioritisation and self-restraint appear to be the new bywords for Brussels.
The Work Programme's priorities focus on its investment plan, the digital single market, steps towards a European energy union, fairer taxation, migration and deeper economic and monetary union.
We await specific content for the laudable packages. But to deliver, what the Commission terms as an “agenda for change” will need, as it knows, to make a real difference for jobs, growth and investment and bring concrete benefits for citizens.
As for the summit, expectations are not high. But new Council president Donald Tusk, the successor to Herman Van Rompuy, may not have an easy task dealing with a Commission with momentum and a new, clearer direction, made stronger by European Parliament approval.