Written by Noah Azzouzi

Published on October 07, 2024

When Ursula von der Leyen (VdL) became President of the European Commission (EC) back in 2019, the economic situation was more stable than in previous years, enabling the Commission to look ahead and set targets for the coming decades. However, there were also significant challenges, such as Euroscepticism, Brexit, migration or global geopolitical tensions. Five years later, in 2024, VdL got reelected for a second term as President of the EC. Has the Commission really delivered on its promises over the past five years? How far, or how close, is the Commission to its objectives? How do the new priorities relate to the previous ones? Are they coherent or contradictory? Are they realistic or unattainable?

In order to comprehensively assess the coherence of the European Commission's strategic priorities over two consecutive mandates: “2019-2024 - A Union that strives for more” and “2024-2029 - Europe's choice”, our analysis will be divided into two sections. The aim of the first part is to analyse the work carried out during the 2019-2024 period. The first article will begin by briefly explaining the geopolitical context in 2019. Then, the six priorities of the 2019-2024 mandate will be examined separately, looking at the work done to achieve the objectives set, as well as their respective success and shortcomings. In the second part of our analysis, the new priorities for the 2024-2029 mandate will be covered. The objective is to assess the coherence of Von der Leyen’’s back to back mandates. Each of the five priorities will be discussed. The findings of the first part of our analysis will be used to assess the consistency of the two political agendas, by searching for continuities, but also contradictions and incoherences.

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