Top Ten Issues to Watch in the New Year: EU Policy Agenda and Focus of Public Debate

Key Chapter Title List

1. Balancing Scale and Innovation to Enhance Productivity
2. Setting 2040 Climate Targets
3. The Next Step Towards European Economic Security
4. Shaping the Future Fiscal Landscape of the EU
5. Strengthening Future Investment Capacity
6. Gearing Up: The European Electric Vehicle Industry
7. Enhancing EU Competitiveness in the Field of Artificial Intelligence
8. Strengthening the European Defense Industry
9. Accelerating the Process of Returning Irregular Migrants
10. Rebuilding Trust in the Public Sphere

Document Introduction

This report is the ninth edition of the annual series of publications by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), focusing on ten key issues and policy areas likely to occupy a significant position in the EU public debate and political agenda in 2025. With the commencement of the new 2024-2029 political cycle, the EU faces multiple challenges including the evolving geopolitical landscape, intensifying global competition, and deepening climate crisis. These topics reflect both the three pillars of the competitiveness compass proposed by the second Von der Leyen Commission and cover specific policy focuses such as industrial transformation, migration governance, and public trust.

The core issues of the report revolve around EU economic development and competitiveness. These include balancing the contradiction between corporate scale expansion and innovation-driven growth, strengthening future investment capacity to meet the demands of green and digital transitions, and shaping the post-2027 long-term budget framework. Among these, economic security, as an emerging policy direction, has become a core tool for addressing threats such as supply chain vulnerabilities, technology leakage risks, and economic coercion. The EU is gradually building a more robust economic security system by refining tools like foreign investment screening, export controls, and critical raw material security.

Climate and industrial transformation issues hold significant weight. The report provides a detailed analysis of the rationale, implementation pathways, and impact on industrial decarbonization for setting the 2040 climate target (a net emissions reduction of 90% compared to 1990 levels). It also explores the development dilemmas and policy adjustment directions for the European electric vehicle industry amidst challenges such as subsidy phase-outs, cost pressures, and insufficient infrastructure. Artificial intelligence and the defense industry, as key areas of global competition, focus respectively on how the EU can enhance its industrial competitiveness given its current state of regulatory leadership but developmental lag, and on the pathways and funding needs for strengthening the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Migration policy and trust in the public sphere are crucial issues concerning EU social cohesion. The report points out the current low rate of returns of irregular migrants and explores policy optimization directions under the EU's Pact on Migration and Asylum framework. It also analyzes the public trust crisis caused by factors such as information manipulation in the digital age and the influence of social media, as well as the EU's efforts to address this crisis through regulations like the Digital Services Act and the Artificial Intelligence Act.

Based on the professional research of policy analysts, solid data support, and rigorous case analysis, this report provides decision-making references for EU parliamentarians and staff. It also offers an authoritative perspective for understanding the direction of EU policies, strategic priorities, and implementation challenges in 2025. All analyses are grounded in the EU legal framework, policy documents, and market realities, objectively presenting the complexity of each issue and diverse potential solutions.