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As the world sees tectonic shifts, the European Union must rise to new and unprecedented
challenges to ensure our competitiveness and security.

The events of the last weeks make that
clearer than ever. Our Union needs to be more independent, more autonomous, and more able
to defend itself against any threats.

In the first 100 days of its mandate, the von der Leyen Commission has already made important steps towards those goals. The Commission launched many initiatives to boost the EU’s competitiveness, strengthen its defence capabilities, and increase its level of preparedness.

Make Europe more competitive

• The Competitiveness Compass provides a roadmap to boost Europe’s competitiveness and secure its prosperity.
• The Clean Industrial Deal and the Action Plan for Affordable Energy will support and strengthen European energy-intensive industries and clean tech companies, while we continue our path towards climate neutrality by 2050.
• Two packages to simplify EU rules were adopted, to boost competitiveness and mobilise additional investments. They will bring total savings in annual administrative costs of around €6.3 billion and mobilise an additional investment capacity of €50 billion.
• Two strategic dialogues were launched with the automotive sector and the steel sector and specific initiatives will be laid out on that basis, to make sure together the future of these industries is made in Europe.
• An Industrial Action Plan for the European Automotive sector was already adopted, setting out concrete measures to secure global competitiveness for our automotive industry and maintain a strong European production base.
• A Union of Skills, an Action Plan on Basic Skills, and a STEM Education Strategic Plan will support the development of human capital and make sure that European companies have access to the skills they need to scale up and be more competitive.
• 23 commissioners have held Youth Policy Dialogues so far and by day 100, all of them would have had their exchanges with young people.
• Seven consortia were selected to establish the first AI factories across Europe, representing €1.5 billion in national and European funding. This is a major step to build an environment to train advanced AI models. Furthermore, with the new InvestAI initiative we will mobilise €200 billion for investment, including €20 billion for AI gigafactories.
• A Critical Medicines Act will be presented in the following days to ensure that our Union counts on a resilient and uninterrupted supply of critical medicines even in times of crisis.
• A Savings and Investments Union initiative will be launched shortly to provide incentives for risk capital and ensure investments flow seamlessly across the European Union.

Security action for Europe

• With REARM Europe, the Commission aims to mobilise up to €800 billion to drive a major increase in European defence spending. The proposals include the activation of the national escape clause, €150 billion in loans to accelerate the joint procurement of pan-European defence capabilities (SAFE), flexibility in the voluntary use of cohesion policy programmes for defence spending.
• The White Paper on the Future of European Defence will be presented shortly and will lay out further investment needs and possibilities to bolster European defence.
• Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been fully disconnected from Russian and Belarussian networks and joined the European continental electricity grid. This comes after 18 years of investments and preparations, involving 40 infrastructure projects and over €1.2 billion in European funding.
• A wide range of actions were introduced to enhance security of submarine cables, including prevention, detection, response, recovery, and deterrence.
• The Vision for Agriculture and Food sets out a roadmap to support European farmers, protect
  our food security, and ensure the future of farming and food in Europe.
• A dedicated Action Plan to bolster the cybersecurity of hospitals and healthcare providers.

Continue our unwavering support for Ukraine

• Three years after the start of Russia’s war of aggression, President von der Leyen and the College visited Ukraine and met President Zelenskyy and his government in a show of unwavering commitment and solidarity.
• The Commission is fully engaged politically and diplomatically with partners around the world to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine in which the interests of our Ukrainian partners are upheld.
• Disbursed to Ukraine €3 billion under the exceptional assistance programme to be repaid with proceeds from immobilised Russian assets.
• The Commission has offered a new support package to secure Ukraine’s energy system and enable its full integration within the European energy market.
• Agreement on the legal foundations for the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.
• Adoption of the 15^th and 16^th package of sanctions against Russia and its enablers.

Engage with the world in win-win partnerships

• Ambitious partnerships were concluded with Mercosur, Switzerland, and Mexico. Trade negotiations with Malaysia were also relaunched and an interim trade agreement with Chile entered into force.
• President von der Leyen and the College travelled to India to reinforce ties with the largest democracy in the world. They met Prime Minister Modi and his government to discuss a new Strategic Agenda and held the second meeting of the EU-India Trade and Technology Council.
• Signature of the EU-Jordan Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership.
• President von der Leyen strengthened ties with the Caribbean region during the CARICOM Summit in Barbados.
• The College held meetings with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, and with the President of the World Bank Group, Ajay Banga, to discuss cooperation and synergies.
• The EU-South Africa Summit will take place in Cape Town in the coming days to strengthen our bilateral cooperation.

For the months and years ahead, we will once again need to shift gears to crisis mode. This Commission stands ready to answer these new challenges with exceptional actions at unprecedented scale, scope and speed.