On 20 January 2020, the Commission published its Work Programme for the year 2020. The first annual Work Programme is entitled “A Union that strives for more” and sets out the most important Commission initiatives in the programme’s first year, including commitments for the first 100 days. The Work Programme is based on the headline ambitions presented in the Political Guidelines issued by Commission President von der Leyen. It reflects the main priorities for the European Parliament and those in the European Council’s Strategic Agenda for 2019-2024.

In the security context, the Work Programme outlines the Commission’s intention to put forward a new Security Union Strategy. This strategy shall define the areas in which the EU can offer added value to support Member States in their efforts to ensure security. Security areas include:

• Combatting terrorism and organised crime;
• Preventing and detecting hybrid threats;
• Cybersecurity;
• Increasing the resilience of critical infrastructure;
• Strengthening Europol’s mandate in order to reinforce operational police cooperation.

Further priorities in the field of criminal law under the Work Programme include plans for an EU Strategy enabling a more effective fight against child sexual abuse and a new Action Plan on anti-money laundering.