One hundred days go by fast in Brussels.

Monday marks the European Commission's self-imposed deadline to deliver on a host of policy promises laid out when the executive took office on December 1.

There’s been a flurry of plans in areas ranging from climate to artificial intelligence to cancer to Africa. But how do they match up to what was promised?

President Ursula von der Leyen says the Commission has “made a good start.” POLITICO took a look at her political guidelines, her instructions to commissioners and early scheduling plans to make its own assessment.

European Green Deal

What was promised? The Green Deal was the Commission’s most prominent 100-day pledge — a full vision to make Europe the first continent to become climate-neutral by 2050 and radically revamp the way the bloc produces, consumes and uses resources.

What was delivered? A comprehensive strategy aimed at giving the EU economy a competitive edge over its global rivals, especially China and the United States, while helping to stem global warming. But the to-do list is endless.

How did it go down? The bold pledge captured headlines around the world. But the strategy includes 50 policy measures that won’t be easy to pass.

Wow factor: 5/5. If implemented for real, the EU’s economy — everything from agriculture to transport to energy — will be radically different in three decades’ time.

Survival chances: 2.5/5. Expect divisions between the greener western half of the Continent and the coal-dependent east, between industry and NGOs, and between the EU and its trading partners.

Conference on the Future of Europe

What was promised? Von der Leyen pledged a “Conference on the Future of Europe” aimed at remodeling the EU. She indicated it should be radical, potentially changing the way the Commission president is elected and allowing transnational candidates in future European Parliament elections. “I am ... open to Treaty change,” she wrote.

What was delivered? The Commission laid out its vision for the exercise as promised in January but has already walked back on some of von der Leyen’s ambition — taking out a mention of “proposals for treaty change.”

How did it go down? The Parliament accused the Commission of bowing to pressure from EU countries. There is little enthusiasm in the Council for an exercise that might lead to what many countries see as unnecessary and potentially problematic efforts to change the underlying EU treaties.

Wow factor: 2/5. There hasn’t exactly been a clamor to get on board with the Commission’s plan for lots of Euro-chat.

Survival chances: 2/5. There is general agreement that more involvement of EU citizens is important. Yet many officials are reluctant to create another entity to add to the plethora of institutions, assemblies and agencies the EU already has.

Sustainable Europe Investment Plan

What was promised? The financial firepower to back the European Green Deal’s goals. The Commission estimated that even meeting current climate targets would require €260 billion in additional investments per year by 2030.

What was delivered? A grand promise to leverage €1 trillion over the next decade. But the money actually on the table — which still needs the green light from EU governments as part of ongoing budget negotiations — is limited to a €7.5 billion Just Transition Fund. The rest is a reshuffling of existing funds and loan guarantees meant to attract private capital.

How did it go down? Underwhelming. The venture was greeted as “creative accounting and financial adventures” by Johan Van Overtveldt, a former Belgian finance minister and the current chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets.

Wow factor: 0/5. It caused a scramble among EU countries for a very small amount of money.

Survival chances: 4/5. The proposed €7.5 billion Just Transition Fund is likely to become a budget line. However, the allocation methods and strings attached to this money will be the subject of heated negotiations both in Parliament and Council.

Fair minimum wage

What was promised? “Within the first 100 days of my mandate, I will propose a legal instrument to ensure that every worker in our Union has a fair minimum wage,” von der Leyen said.

What was delivered? Jobs Commissioner Nicolas Schmit in January launched a consultation to fight “wage dumping” across the bloc, but that’s a far cry from concrete legal proposals. The Commission will first consult with governments and social partners whether action is needed and then, potentially, come up with legal acts later this year.

How did it go down? It’s drawn criticism from Nordic countries, which fear the initiative could undermine their long-established systems of collective bargaining. Schmidt tried to assure Denmark, Sweden and Finland that their system would be protected.

Wow factor: 1/5. While the Commission hopes to use the consultations to get countries on board, the difficult steps — coming up with concrete proposals and getting them adopted — lie some way ahead.

Survival chances: 3/5. If Schmit succeeds in giving the Nordic countries sufficient reassurances, and also convinces Italy, which doesn’t have a minimum wage, the initiative has a good chance. Nordic countries dislike being undercut by workers from countries such as Bulgaria, where the monthly minimum wage is a mere €312, or Latvia, where it’s at €430. But opposition could instead come from big companies like German carmakers, which save money by producing parts in Eastern Europe.

Stability and Growth Pact

What was promised? “An economy that works for people,” starting with “full use of the flexibility” in the Stability and Growth Pact intended to prevent countries from spending beyond their means. The Commission pledged “a more growth-friendly fiscal stance in the euro area while safeguarding fiscal responsibility” — hope for the likes of Italy and France of a boost in investment but with assurance of discipline for budget hawks Germany and the Netherlands.

What was delivered? The curtain rose February 5 with the formal opening of the review. The Commission spoke not just of flexibility but of simplifying the rules — and potentially relaxing budget constraints on certain "green" investments.

How did it go down? Mixed reception, along the lines of the eurozone’s north-south divide. Opponents have been meeting in private to hone their defense before finance ministers sit down to start haggling in April.

Wow factor: 4/5. The green finance element jolts a predictable debate into new territory.

Survival chances: 4/5. Some form of new environmental flexibility plus a dose of rule simplification looks likely, perhaps sold to the hawks with sharper enforcement powers. But that optimism reflects the early-stage lack of specificity in the plans.

Enlargement

What was promised? Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Várhelyi was tasked with revamping the accession process for countries seeking to become EU members. Várhelyi’s main job was to deal with objections from French President Emmanuel Macron, who complained the process couldn’t be suspended or reversed. The Commission hopes a rejig will persuade EU leaders to give Albania and North Macedonia the green light to begin membership talks.

What was delivered: Pretty much what Macron asked for. The Commission presented a revised process that can be suspended or reversed. It also promised to make the accession process more political and predictable. It wasn’t a revolution but that wasn’t what anyone expected.

How did it go down? Macron said the Commission did “a remarkable job.” Other EU members seemed generally content. But the new plan has not yet been approved by the Council of the EU.

Wow factor: 2/5. The rejig was not a huge surprise. And it remains to be seen whether France and other enlargement skeptics such as the Netherlands and Denmark will give Skopje and Tirana the green light.

Survival chances: 4/5. The revamped process is expected to be adopted by the Council. But it’s difficult to gauge whether there will be tweaks because ambassadors haven’t discussed it yet.

Artificial intelligence

What was promised? Von der Leyen promised to “put forward” legislation on AI within her first 100 days in office — despite intense lobbying from the tech industry and warnings that a rush to regulate would throw Europe further behind in the field. It was an orchestrated move after Germany’s Angela Merkel said the EU should regulate AI with rules similar to GDPR, Europe’s tough data privacy rules.

What was delivered? The Commission failed to initiate an actual legislative process within the 100-day deadline and instead released a “white paper” spelling out preferred options for laws.

How did it go down? Comme ci, comme ça. The intention is that by moving early, Europe will set a global standard for AI regulation. But others, including Donald Trump’s White House, which promotes a more hands-off approach to regulating AI, have made clear they won’t just watch from the sidelines.

Wow factor: 3/5. U.S. decision-makers have taken notice that, at least for now, Brussels is staying true to its promise to come up with tough rules for “high-risk” AI such as facial recognition technology. But the white paper isn’t binding and officials will only start drafting legislation after feedback from industry, governments and activists.

Survival chances: 3/5. It seems pretty certain the first hard laws will be initiated by the end of year. But the fine print — including key questions such as what would qualify an application as “high-risk” — is far from decided.

Data strategy

What was promised? Plans for a European data strategy were added to Frenchman Thierry Breton’s portfolio as a last-minute bonus. It was tipped as a way to help Europe reap financial benefits from the vast troves of data its industrial giants are sitting on, and especially to promote innovation in artificial intelligence to build “technological sovereignty.”

Almost everyone agrees Europe needed a data strategy, but lots of technical questions remain.

What was delivered? A strategy setting out plans for nine sector-specific “data spaces,” a new Data Act and a boost for European cloud providers. It earmarks €6 billion to build a single market for data.

How did it go down? Almost everyone agrees Europe needed a data strategy, but lots of technical questions remain. Industry doesn’t want to be forced to share data, and Germans in particular worry about privacy; Big Tech is wary of what “technological sovereignty” really means.

Wow factor: 2/5. The strategy builds on the idea of “common European data spaces” that has been floating around in Commission communications for years. Bonus points for the move to give individuals more power to control their personal data.

Survival chances: 4/5. This is a priority for the Commission. Success is dependent on convincing European industry that this is good for them; helping Europeans build up the kind of digital skills that will let them use the data; and most importantly, securing funding. Breton can kiss his passion project goodbye if countries and industry decide they don’t want to cough up the necessary euros.

European Climate Law

What was promised? The EU’s first climate regulation to enshrine the bloc’s pledge to become climate-neutral by 2050 into law within 100 days.

What was delivered? The EU’s first climate regulation to enshrine the 2050 goal into law. Nothing more — which was the problem.

How did it go down? Brussels wanted applause for its plans to add legal weight to what it sees as an ambitious promise; instead it was showered with criticism. Legislating on climate and environment proved as ever an ungrateful task: Campaigners thrashed the proposal for not being ambitious enough, while national politicians criticized it for overstepping. Anyone who may have had something positive to say kept quiet.

Wow factor: 0/5. There were no positive reactions. It brought Greta Thunberg to visit but not the PR the Commission would have wanted.

Survival chances: 3/5. The law will be passed but the question is how much of the proposal will survive. First reactions indicate plans to give the Commission new powers to ram through emissions cuts are unlikely to make it past EU countries; the European People’s Party, von der Leyen’s own group, also said it will fight the idea.

Beating Cancer Plan

What was promised? Von der Leyen called for a wide-ranging plan to tackle cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment, life as a cancer survivor, and palliative care, although there was no suggestion that it would come within the first 100 days.

What was delivered? A road map published February 4 promised a full plan by the end of the year. Yet it pointed mostly to other planned initiatives: the Green Deal, the Farm to Fork strategy, Horizon Europe’s Cancer Mission and a rewrite of the bloc’s pharmaceutical regulations.

How did it go down? Private grumbling by groups working on other diseases about the focus on cancer quickly bubbled to the surface, prompting Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides to promise that the cancer plan would also improve the prognosis for other infectious diseases. Cancer experts praised the EU’s ambition, but absent details, they cautioned, it’s hard to tell if this is a serious effort.

Wow factor: 4/5. A celebratory World Cancer Day event in the European Parliament’s plenary to kick off the deliberation period was high on drama — including two choirs and deeply personal remarks from von der Leyen about her kid sister’s cancer death — but low on details.

Survival chances: 2/5. “We have heard many say that maybe we are aiming too high, that maybe we will disappoint,” Kyriakides said. “Yes, this is an ambitious plan, but now is the time to be ambitious.” Yet with no benchmarks for success, the Commission’s ambitions remain unclear — and the fact that member countries make their own health policy is a major hurdle.

Biodiversity strategy

What was promised? A new 2030 biodiversity strategy with new standards to protect and restore biodiversity, cutting across sectoral policies including trade, industry, agriculture and the economy. It was penciled in for publication late February.

The draft doesn’t contain a legally binding ecosystem restoration target — a key demand of the European Parliament and environmental groups.

What was delivered? The strategy is now expected March 25, amid an “epic battle” between the Commission’s environment and agriculture departments. A draft version called for a 2030 target to slash the use of pesticide and fertilizers by 30 percent — but not everyone agrees that’s a good idea.

How did it go down? Farmers lobbies are pushing to water down any mandatory pesticides target. Plus the draft doesn’t contain a legally binding ecosystem restoration target — a key demand of the European Parliament and environmental groups.

Wow factor: 5/5. That's if pesticide targets are included.

Survival chances: 1/5 when it comes to mandatory pesticide and chemical reduction targets, given the lobbying power of industries such as farmers and pharmaceutical companies. 4/5 for the rest of the strategy: The current one expires at the end of the year and the EU needs a new position to take into global biodiversity talks.

Gender equality

What was promised? “In the first 100 days of my mandate, I will table measures to introduce binding pay transparency measures,” von der Leyen said.

Green MEP Alice Bah Kuhnke said that while she welcomed the strategy, “we’ve been let down by weak language and a lack of new legislative proposals.”

What was delivered? A gender-equality strategy. It mainly features existing legislative plans that are blocked in the Council of the EU, including on women on boards (which was first proposed in 2012) and on tackling gender-based violence (which dates from 2014). “Binding measures” on pay transparency are now promised “by the end of 2020.”

How did it go down? Green MEP Alice Bah Kuhnke said that while she welcomed the strategy, “we’ve been let down by weak language and a lack of new legislative proposals,” accusing the Commission of having “wasted” an opportunity.

Wow factor: 2/5. It would have been 5/5 if the Commission had proposed binding measures on pay transparency.

Survival chances: 3/5. There will be pressure from all sides to deliver results, and the #MeToo debate has made things more urgent.

Industrial strategy

What was promised? A vision for the future of EU industry, to make sure it will survive and thrive on the double shift to go digital and go green. It was penciled in for March 4.

What was delivered? The grand plan is now due to be delivered Tuesday. Judging from drafts obtained by POLITICO, it will be a lot of strategic thinking with very few new measures. At the core is a tension between ensuring EU industry can be globally competitive while keeping a competitive single market enabling smaller players to thrive — not to mention with the bloc’s environmental and climate goals.

How did it go down? There is significant skepticism it will deliver on the Green Deal’s promises. “If you look at the recent draft ... the focus of the industrial strategy of [Internal Market Commissioner Thierry] Breton is competitiveness and protectionism. And it doesn’t have a green core in it,” said Henrike Hahn, a Green MEP from Bavaria.

Wow factor: 2.5/5. The final strategy may significantly change, but the initial draft was underwhelming to many observers.

Survival chances: 3/5. In the past such industrial strategies would have sailed through unchecked but the politics have changed. Any commitments such as reviewing competition rules and supporting strategic industries will be closely monitored.

Circular economy

What was promised? A circular economy plan 2.0, building on a 2015 strategy to reduce, reuse and recycle while adding new industries such as textiles and tech. Originally set for March 4, the Commission pledged the plan would “feed into the new industrial strategy.”

What was delivered? It’s not yet been published, and the release has been pushed back to Wednesday — a move officials say is designed to avoid conflict with the industrial strategy. A draft version obtained by POLITICO showed ambitious plans to make electronics repairable and to set bloc-wide waste reduction targets.

Germany and France have already come up with their own circular economy plans, but countries running behind on existing targets aren’t so excited.

How did it go down? NGOs are pretty impressed with the draft, but with the caveat that they want the final version to include a target to halve the EU’s so-called “material footprint” by 2030.

Wow factor: 4/5. The draft is something both industry and NGOs are happy with.

Survival chances: 3/5. Germany and France have already come up with their own circular-economy plans, but countries running behind on existing targets aren’t so excited. There are also concerns over who’s going to meet the costs — the EU, national governments or industry.

SME strategy

What was promised? Von der Leyen promised to “strengthen the backbone” of the EU economy — small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) — by making it “easier for small businesses to become large innovators,” with access to finance and less red tape. The plans were set to arrive March 4.

Initial reactions to the SME draft were not very positive. The scope, scale and concreteness of the plans weren’t exactly jaw-dropping.

What was delivered? Publication has been pushed back to Tuesday. According to two draft versions obtained by POLITICO, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton’s masterplan will lay out a promise for a “single integrated guarantee facility” to loan money to SMEs; and for support services to help tech start-ups value their technology and IP. There could be €300 million “at least” to encourage businesses to go green.

How did it go down? Initial reactions to the draft were not very positive. The scope, scale and concreteness of the plans weren’t exactly jaw-dropping, and left SME-lovers with a feeling the EU is all about champions. Let’s see what the final version looks like.

Wow factor: 1/5. The Commission seems to be willing to try to cut red tape by adding… more red tape.

Survival chances: 2/5. Von der Leyen will create a public-private fund specializing in initial public offerings of SMEs, and appoint a Commission envoy in charge of SMEs. There are concerns this will not be enough.

Strategy with Africa

What was promised? Von der Leyen visited the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia during her first week in office, promising to make the EU’s southern continental neighbor a top priority of her self-proclaimed “geopolitical” Commission.

What was delivered? So far, mainly all talk. Earlier this month, von der Leyen led a delegation of 20 commissioners to Addis Ababa to meet with their African Union counterparts. And on Monday, the Commission publishes its new Strategy with Africa — a list of policy plans intended to help frame EU-Africa relations for years to come.

How did it go down? Too early to say. African leaders clearly appreciated the intensified interest, but are looking for concrete investments in their own priorities — without strings attached.

Wow factor: 4/5. For effort, von der Leyen and her team get top marks. Thanks to her political muscle so early in the mandate, the EU has effectively executed a sharp pivot toward Africa, with Council President Charles Michel and foreign policy chief Josep Borrell helping to reinforce the message.

Survival chances: 2.5/5. Lots of work remains to be done if this pivot will amount to anything more than a symbolic gesture.

Kalina Oroschakoff, Maïa de La Baume, Paola Tamma, Hans von der Burchard, John Rega, Andrew Gray, Janosch Delcker, Melissa Heikkilä, Louise Guillot, Thibault Larger, Eline Schaart, David M. Herszenhorn and Sarah Wheaton contributed reporting.

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