The 2024-2029 priorities: the seven chapters of the Political Guidelines

What the Political Guidelines are

The cover reads "Europe's Choice: Political Guidelines for the next European Commission 2024-2029". The 31-page document was presented by the candidate for Commission President in Strasbourg on 18 July 2024, and it is the master document of the third content area of the internal test: the Commission's current mandate and policy priorities for 2024-2029 (the Commission's guidance to candidates names this area; confirmed).

The Guidelines say they draw on consultations with the democratic forces in the European Parliament and on the European Council's Strategic Agenda for 2024-2029. They also say what they are not:

The introduction groups the priorities into four areas: "Defence and security. Sustainable prosperity and competitiveness. Democracy and social fairness. Leading in the world and delivering in Europe." Those four phrases are a summary, not the chapters. The structure that the Commission uses everywhere else is the seven chapter headings below.

The seven chapters, verbatim and in order

The headings are copied from the Guidelines. The short label and the one-line description come from the Commission's priorities page, read on 26 October 2026.

What is not a chapter: the European Green Deal

None of the seven headings is the European Green Deal, and the phrase does not appear on the Commission's priorities page at all. The Guidelines mention it in three passages: in the introduction, in the "A Clean Industrial Deal" sub-section of chapter 1, and once in chapter 6, on partners affected by EU legislation. Each time it is a set of goals already agreed, not a new priority:

The press statement on the College of 17 September 2024 adds one nuance: the Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition is to "ensure that Europe stays on track for its goals set out in the European Green Deal". That is a portfolio task, not a chapter. In a "which is NOT a 2024-2029 priority" question, the Green Deal is the classic correct answer; see how to handle NOT questions and the other common traps.

What each chapter promised, and what was delivered

Questions on the priorities rarely stop at the headings. They name the initiatives inside each chapter. The middle column quotes names from the Guidelines; the right column gives the document that followed, with the date on its own first page. The Guidelines promise several items for "the first 100 days of the mandate".

Two of these are spokes of their own: the Clean Industrial Deal and the Preparedness Union Strategy. The full dated list is in the 2025 packages.

The College that delivers them

On 17 September 2024 the President presented the structure of the new College to the Parliament's Conference of Presidents (press statement IP/24/4723). The mission letters carry the same date: the letter to the Executive Vice-President-designate for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition is dated Brussels, 17 September 2024. The statement gives four testable points:

• Six Executive Vice-Presidents, "four women, two men", counting the High Representative and Vice-President among the six.
• No layer of ordinary Vice-Presidents: "Leaner structure, more interactive and interlinked."
• 11 women in the College, "That is 40%".
• New portfolios: Trade and Economic Security (which "also includes customs policy"), the Mediterranean, Preparedness and Crisis Management, and the "first ever Commissioner for Housing" inside Energy and Housing. Implementation and Simplification is a second role held by the Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, who reports directly to the President on it.

The Working Methods of the Commission, P(2024) 5 of 1 December 2024, then fix the six coordinating fields. Each is steered by an Executive Vice-President, or by the High Representative for field 4:

Field 5 was announced in September 2024 as "People, Skills and Preparedness"; the Working Methods use the longer wording above. The same document lets the President set up Project Groups, chaired by a lead Member of the Commission, to steer cross-cutting initiatives. More on the College's rules is in how the Commission takes decisions.

How the priorities flow into the work programmes

Each year's Commission work programme is the step between the Guidelines and the individual packages. The Commission's work-programme page calls it "a key vehicle to deliver on commitments outlined in the Political Guidelines and the mission letters".

• 2025 work programme, COM(2025) 45, Strasbourg, 11 February 2025, "Moving forward together: A Bolder, Simpler, Faster Union". Its Annex I lists 51 new initiatives under all seven chapter headings, starting with the Competitiveness Compass.
• 2026 work programme, COM(2025) 870, Strasbourg, 21 October 2025, "Europe's Independence Moment". It says it is "structured along the main headlines set out in the Political Guidelines", "updated for today's new realities". Its Annex I has 38 policy objectives under six of the seven headings: "Delivering together and preparing our Union for the future" has no heading of its own in that annex. See the 2026 work programme.

The 2026 programme's own section titles also drift from the Guidelines. Chapter 3 becomes "Supporting people and strengthening Europe's social model", chapter 5 "Upholding democracy, the rule of law and protecting our values", and chapter 7 "Preparing for the Union of tomorrow". When a question quotes a heading, check which document it comes from.

Testable numbers at a glance

The Guidelines themselves contain no 25% or 35% figure. The targets and the EUR 37.5 billion goal come from the simplification communication; see simplification and the omnibus packages.

Position at each cut-off

The Commission's guidance to candidates excludes publications released after the start of the application period (confirmed). Every document on this page is dated between 18 July 2024 and 4 November 2025, so all of it is in scope at each 2026 cut-off: AD5 on 29 May 2026, AST3 in mid to late June 2026 and AD6 and AST2 on about 5 to 6 October 2026 (all three cut-off dates are our estimates; see the content cut-off explained). The priorities page is undated, so cite the Guidelines for its seven headings. For EPSO's AD5 Part 2, EPSO publishes its own source list about two months before the test (EPSO's FAQ).

Our free 30-question test mixes questions on the Guidelines with the other two content areas, each with its source. The full mocks run under Commission or open-competition rules, with AD or AST timing, in English, French or German.