Ms Barbara Nolan:

I thank the Chairman and members for inviting the Commission to address them on the subject of the Commission's work programme for 2015. I am pleased to be back and am also pleased Members of the European Parliament are here to give us their reaction to the Commission's work programme.

The work programme is the European Commission's plan of action for the next 12 months. From our perspective, we have a big year ahead. President Juncker has underscored that we are making a new start. He has also made it clear that he is determined that the Commission should work better, decide better and be more open and democratic. We are into a new situation and President Juncker has tried to mark a break with the past.

President Juncker first flagged this new approach at the European Parliament in July 2014 before he took office but, of course, after we knew the results of the European Parliament elections. He outlined the ten specific political priorities on which the new Commission's mandate to 2019 would be based. I will not go through them because I hope members have received the green table which lists the specific ten priorities and the different actions contained in each one. I hope it is legible because the type is quite small. Mr. Juncker reiterated these priorities at the European Parliament in October, which was immediately prior to him taking office formally on 1 November.

President Juncker has made it clear that the Commission will only commit to launching initiatives on which it can deliver. In other words, he does not want a whole list of promises that will not be fulfilled. He wants to list things that we will actually do in 2015. As members will see in the hand-outs, the work programme sets out 23 new initiatives, which is fewer than in all the preceding five years. This is our 12-month to-do list. Just to be clear, these are the new initiatives for 2015. Obviously, business continues on actions agreed over the past number of years and actions under negotiation with the European Parliament and Council. We will leave those aside for the moment but these are the new initiatives.

I appeared before the committee at the end of last year to discuss the European investment plan. President Juncker set the ball rolling at the end of his first month in office to deliver on that ambitious agenda for jobs and growth. The €315 billion investment package was launched in close co-operation with the European Investment Bank. Implementing this plan is the first priority for 2015. Vice-President Katainen is doing a sort of roadshow in every member state and will be in Ireland in May to try to engage with bankers and others who can contribute to getting viable projects off the ground and contribute to triggering the additional funds we hope to see coming on stream once we get these projects up and running. It would be very welcome if members were interested in coming to one of the various events we will plan for that visit.

Another priority is an ambitious digital single market package. This is about creating the conditions for a vibrant digital economy and society by complementing the telecommunications regulatory environment, modernising copyright rules, simplifying rules for consumers making online and digital purchases, enhancing cyber-security and mainstreaming digitalisation. That is another package which would be of much interest in Ireland once launched.

The work programme also emphasises European energy union and the need to stake steps to ensure energy supply security, further integrate national energy markets, reduce European energy demand and decarbonise the energy mix. That package is in preparation at the moment.

A fairer approach to taxation is also a priority. There will be an action plan on efforts to combat tax evasion and tax fraud, including measures at EU level in order to move to a system on the basis of which the country where profits are generated is also the country of taxation. This will include automatic exchange of information on tax rulings and stabilising corporate tax bases.

We will also have a European agenda on migration. This is about developing a new approach on legal migration to make the EU an attractive destination for talent and skills and improving the management of migration into the EU through greater co-operation with third countries, solidarity among the member states and fighting human trafficking which has become a scourge in some member states.

Finally, I would like to flag steps to deepen economic and monetary union. This work is about continuing efforts to promote economic stability and attract investors to Europe. Banking union is necessary because of interdependence of banking systems in euro area countries.

I would like to underline that President Juncker has repeatedly said that the EU needs to be bigger and more ambitious on big things but it must recognise where the member states are best placed to act and in those cases, it must be smaller and more modest. It shows the Commission has been listening carefully to the message it is getting back from the member states to sort of butt out of the nooks and crannies of daily life and to try to focus on the bigger picture issues that can only be solved by collective action. This is not new in that the principle of subsidiarity has been around for some time but there is a big renewal in the commitment to actually apply the principle, which I would like to stress.

Cutting red tape and improving existing legislation will also form an important part of the Commission's work during its mandate. In another break with tradition, the 2015 work programme includes a significant clearing of the decks. We have reviewed around 450 proposals, which remained on the books after the hand-over from one Commission to another and have identified 80 which do not match with the ten overall priorities, which need to be reworked in light of changing objectives and contexts or which are simply taking too long to work their way through the institutions.

The bottom line is that the Commission does not want to waste time on proposals that have no chance of being accepted, that will not deliver the results we want to see on the ground, or which can be achieved in a more effective and less bureaucratic way. In many cases, the Commission remains strongly committed to the objectives we sought to achieve with those proposals but proposals are of no use if they are simply sitting dormant on a negotiating table or are so watered down in negotiations that they can no longer achieve their original purposes. I have a few examples which members will see in the red hand-out that was circulated. The anti-counterfeiting trade agreement, or ACTA, proposal is still on the pending proposal list despite being rejected by the European Parliament. The Commission wishes now to withdraw it officially. On the so-called "circular economy", which focuses among other things on boosting recycling, the Commission plans to present a new proposal with a broader approach to meet the ambitions in a more effective way. The Commission proposes to withdraw the energy tax directive because the Council has watered it down so much that it no longer meets the environmental objectives of taxing fuel in a way that reflects real energy content and CO2 emissions. I pick those three examples to provide the committee with the reasons we propose to withdraw the proposals.

To ensure overall coherence, we have a new position in the Commission of First Vice-President. That job is with Vice-President Frans Timmermans who is taking on the role of co-ordinator in implementing the work programme and who also has the task of scrutinising very carefully the different proposals that come from the various departments and Commissioners to ensure that subsidiarity and better regulation become a reality. A major snipping job was carried out by Vice-President Timmermans before the work programme saw the light of day. Commissioners had to defend - in some cases successfully but not in others - the various proposals they wanted to put forward from their departments. It is an extra layer of scrutiny and a job that was previously done by the Secretary General. Now, we have the First Vice-President doing it, which shows the importance we place on the issue of subsidiarity. Mr Timmermans has also been tasked with fighting excessive bureaucracy. He has the authority to stop proposals coming from individual Commissioners which do not match the overall policy coherence of the Commission's work.

There is a tough programme of work ahead of us and I have not even mentioned some very important ongoing issues, like TTIP. It will be vital that the institutions work together to implement the work programme. On foot of the way the Parliament was instrumental in selecting the President of the Commission on this occasion, there is much improved interaction, engagement, relations and co-operation between the institutions in recent months. This bodes well for the years ahead. Finally, I emphasise the role of national parliaments in the process. The new Commission has been clear on the need to deepen the existing political dialogue with national parliaments and I look forward to continuing to work with this committee in that context and to bringing as many Commissioners as possible before it when they visit Ireland. The committee has undertaken a great deal of valuable work across a range of European affairs and I look forward to building on our close co-operation.