The European Commission has decided to review its 2020 work program due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While climate policies remain mostly on track, other initiatives considered “less essential” have been dropped.
The pandemic has put the staff of the commission under enormous pressure to deal with the “urgent, new and existing COVID-19 related files, a report by EURACTIV has said. The commission is also working on an updated work program for 2020 which is likely to be published on April 29.
As per an EU spokesperson, “Given the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Commission is currently reviewing its work program for 2020.”
“A new program will be published in the coming weeks,” he added, while speaking to EURACTIV.
The commission is currently trying to find out whether new policy initiatives can be postponed since they are not directly related to COVID-19 and are considered “less essential for delivery on the absolute key priorities”.
Among priorities that will remain unchanged, the document has mentioned “in particular targeted priority files related under the ecological and digital transitions”.
