11.4 The 2024–2029 Agenda: Political Guidelines, Competitiveness, Defence & Simplification

11.4 The 2024–2029 Agenda: Political Guidelines, Competitiveness, Defence & Simplification

Why this matters: The EU knowledge test covers "the EU, its institutions, procedures, and the main policies". The Publications Office's EU careers: study materials page, which EPSO describes as guidance only and not the official source list, includes Highlights from the first year in office: The von der Leyen Commission 2024–2029 and the State of the Union 2025. Expect questions on the current political agenda and on who holds which office, not only on treaty mechanics.

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Who Holds the Top Posts (2024–2029 Cycle)

The second von der Leyen College has six Executive Vice-Presidents. Their portfolios signal the priorities: Teresa Ribera (clean, just and competitive transition), Henna Virkkunen (tech sovereignty, security and democracy), Stéphane Séjourné (prosperity and industrial strategy), Kaja Kallas (HR/VP), Roxana Mînzatu (people, skills and preparedness) and Raffaele Fitto (cohesion and reforms). For the first time there is a Commissioner for Defence and Space (Andrius Kubilius).

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The Political Guidelines "Europe's Choice" (July 2024)

Presented to Parliament before the 18 July 2024 vote, the guidelines set seven headline priorities:

1. A new plan for Europe's sustainable prosperity and competitiveness
2. A new era for European defence and security
3. Supporting people and strengthening our societies and social model
4. Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature
5. Protecting our democracy and upholding our values
6. A global Europe: leveraging our power and partnerships
7. Delivering together and preparing the Union for the future, including enlargement and reform

The Commission President reports on progress in the annual State of the Union address to Parliament each September.

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Competitiveness: From the Draghi and Letta Reports to the Compass

Two reports framed the agenda. Enrico Letta's Much more than a market (April 2024) argued for deepening the single market. Mario Draghi's The future of European competitiveness (September 2024) diagnosed an innovation and productivity gap with the US and China and called for large-scale investment.

The Commission's response was the Competitiveness Compass (29 January 2025). It rests on three pillars:

Horizontal enablers include the Savings and Investments Union (March 2025, built on the earlier Capital Markets Union) and simplification. From February 2025, successive "omnibus" packages trimmed reporting and compliance rules, starting with sustainability reporting and due diligence. The stated aim is to cut administrative burdens by at least 25%, and by at least 35% for SMEs.

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Defence Readiness: ReArm Europe / Readiness 2030

Russia's war against Ukraine and doubts about the transatlantic security guarantee pushed defence up the agenda.

• White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030 and the ReArm Europe Plan (March 2025) aim to mobilise up to about €800 billion of defence spending.
• SAFE (Security Action for Europe), a Council regulation adopted in May 2025 under Article 122 TFEU, provides up to €150 billion in EU loans for joint procurement of defence capabilities.
• Member States could activate the Stability and Growth Pact's national escape clause so that extra defence spending (up to 1.5% of GDP) does not count against the fiscal rules (see Section 10.3).
• The Preparedness Union Strategy (March 2025) extends the "readiness" logic to civil protection, stockpiling and crisis management. The proposed 2028–2034 MFF includes a defence and space window of about €131 billion (Section 9.3).

Defence remains mainly a national competence. The EU acts through industrial policy, joint procurement and financing (Articles 173 and 122 TFEU), CSDP (Articles 42–46 TEU) and the European Defence Fund, not through a common army.

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Other Recurring Themes

• Support for Ukraine: candidate status since June 2022 and accession negotiations opened in June 2024. The €50 billion Ukraine Facility for 2024–2027 was created in the February 2024 MFF revision, alongside successive sanctions packages against Russia.
• Enlargement as a geopolitical investment: there are nine candidate countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine. Kosovo is a potential candidate. Montenegro and Albania have advanced furthest in the cluster-based negotiations (Section 11.3). In April 2026, EU ambassadors set up an ad hoc working group to draft Montenegro's accession treaty.
• Democracy and values: rule-of-law reporting, the budget conditionality regime (Section 6.2) and measures against foreign information manipulation.
• Migration: the Pact on Migration and Asylum applies from 12 June 2026 (Section 11.2).

Exam tip: agenda questions usually test which instrument serves which priority, who proposed or adopted it, and which treaty basis applies. Link every new initiative back to competences (Section 6.2) and procedures (Chapter 9).