Getting EU member states out of the economic crisis tops the European Commission’s priorities in a “time to act” work programme for 2010 presented on Wednesday (31 March).

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The 43-page plan follows closely the political guidelines that José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, presented to the European Parliament last year when he was seeking reappointment. He vowed then to make economic recovery a top priority of his second term.

The work programme sets out 34 “strategic priorities” that the Commission is committing itself to implement this year, including proposing new regulations on financial services, boosting co-ordination on research and innovation, tackling youth unemployment and drafting a new biodiversity policy.

Four broad areas

Barroso described the to-do list as “ambitious but realistic”, but many of his plans will face a rough ride from both the Parliament and member states. The Commission divided its work programme into four broad areas: tackling the crisis, pursuing a citizen’s agenda on rights, building an “ambitious and coherent” EU foreign policy and modernising the way that the EU works.

On exiting the economic crisis, the Commission says it will present proposals to strengthen eurozone economic surveillance and co-ordination rules by the June European Council. It will also roll out numerous proposals to improve regulation of financial markets. It aims to have new regulatory measures in place by early 2011.

The Commission will also seek to update the EU’s single market, and to introduce plans for a single EU patent and a European transport policy meant to make the EU less dependent on fossil fuels.