Economy, jobs & the environment

Our Working Group on the Economy, Jobs and the Environment deals with some very wide-ranging questions: from the future of the Economic and Monetary Union in the EU, the euro and financial stability to energy supply and security, climate policy, environmental protection and air quality. The Digital Single Market, telecommunications, research and development, support for SMEs, the social pillar of the EU and food safety also fall within the remit of this Working Group.

We have always been a driving force behind change, achieving significant results in many different areas. We abolished mobile roaming charges inside the EU. We mobilised nearly €200 billion of private investment in Europe and created more than 300,000 jobs through the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). And we pushed hard for the creation of a European Defence Union, securing €500 million of EU funding for joint R&D defence research.

Our priorities for the future are equally broad and noteworthy: reforming the eurozone, increasing the budget given to research and development in the upcoming Horizon Europe research and innovation framework programme, and strengthening the industrial defence programme.