On 27 October, the European Commission has presented it working program " No time for business as usual" to the European Parliament during its plenary session in Strasbourg.

The EU Commission program contains 23 key initiatives and it is focus on the following issue: the Investment Plan, the Digital Single Market, the Energy Union, the European Agenda on Security, the European Agenda on Migration, the Capital Markets Union, the Action Plan for Fair and Efficient Corporate Taxation, the new Trade Strategy, the deepened and strengthened Economic and Monetary Union, and the Single Market Strategy. Furthermore, it includes as well measures for a sustainable Circular Economy, Labour Mobility and better management of our external borders.

Concerning the sawmill sector, the following legislative initiative are of interest:

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PACKAGE: The aim is to address economic and environmental concerns by maximizing efficiency in the use of resources, covering the whole value chain (including sustainable consumption, production, waste management) and through innovation, thereby enabling the development of new markets and business models. The package will consist of a broad action plan, including actions on monitoring effective progress, and a waste proposal with long-term targets.

ENERGY UNION PACKAGE: Following up on the Framework Strategy, the Package is composed of: legislative proposals on electricity market design and the regulatory framework, including the review of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), and the revision of the Regulation on security of electricity supply; the revision of the Regulation on security of gas supply and the revision of the Decision on inter-governmental agreements; the effort sharing decision and integration of the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry sector (LULUCF) into the 2030 climate framework; a renewable energy package (REFIT), including sustainability criteria for biomass, and an energy efficiency package, including energy efficiency for buildings (REFIT).

FOLLOW-UP TO THE TRADE AND INVESTMENT STRATEGY: Against the background of the Trade for All strategy for a more effective and transparent trade and investment policy based on values, the Commission will pursue the TTIP negotiations with the US, as well as make progress at WTO, engage strategically with Asia and ensure that EPAs are well implemented.

Copy of the EU Commission Working Program is available here: http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/pdf/cwp_2016_en.pdf

Copy of the legislations foreseen in 2016 is available here:http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/pdf/cwp_2016_annex_i_en.pdf