Page contents Page contents Every year, the European Commission produces strategy documents in a cycle known as the strategic planning and programming cycle.The Commission conducts this cycle to ensure that it is on track to achieve the political priorities determined by the President of the Commission at the beginning of their five-year term. Latest documents Political guidelinesThe EU’s overall political strategy is developed jointly by its institutions: the European Parliament, European Council, Council of the European Union, and European Commission.Following exchanges with the other institutions, the President of the Commission determines the political priorities for its mandate. At the beginning of a new Commission term, the President of the Commission sets out the priority areas for that term in the political guidelines.Read the current political guidelines of the Commission Commission work programmeThe annual work programme sets out the Commission’s plan for the year ahead. It is adopted after the President’s State of the Union address and outlines how the Commission’s political priorities will be turned into concrete actions.Read the 2026 Commission work programme Single strategic planThe strategic plan is the planning document describing how the Commission will support the broader political priorities and establishes the long-term impact indicators to measure progress towards the objectives set for the five-year period.Read the 2025-2029 strategic plan Management plansManagement plans outline each Commission department’s activities for the year and explain how these will contribute to meeting the objectives that were set out in its strategic plan.Read the current and previous management plans Executive agencies’ annual work programmesThe annual work programmes of the executive agencies outline how they plan to implement their spending programme, as well as the priorities of their respective parent departments.The executive agencies also use their annual work programmes to report their performance based on predefined indicators. These indicators are determined over the course of the long-term EU budget.Read the 2025 annual work programmes of the executive agencies Annual activity reportsAnnual activity reports present the progress that Commission departments have made in achieving the objectives set in their strategic and management plans.Read the current and previous annual activity reports Annual management and performance reportsThe annual management and performance report provides an overview of the results achieved by the EU budget and explains how the budget was managed and protected. Read the current and previous annual management and performance reports The strategic planning and programming cycle At the beginning of a new Commission term, the President of the Commission sets out the priority areas for that term in the political guidelines. The cycle begins with the annual Commission work programme which outlines what the Commission plans to achieve in the year ahead.Each Commission department (except the executive agencies) sets multi-year strategic plans at the beginning of a new Commission term. The strategic plans, along with the Commission work programme, form the basis of each department’s annual management plans. These plans (or an annual work programme, in the case of the executive agencies) define the department’s main objectives for the year ahead and explain how they will contribute to the Commission's overall priorities. At the end of the year, all departments produce an annual activity report (or an annual work programme, in the case of the executive agencies) which details the progress they have made towards achieving their objectives for that year. These annual activity reports are the basis for the Commission’s annual management and performance report, which explains how the EU budget contributed to the Commission’s achievements during that year. Through the annual management and performance report, the College of Commissioners takes political responsibility for the overall management of the EU budget in a given year.
