The European Commission will focus on implementing existing laws rather than new proposals next year, according to its 2017 work programme, out on Tuesday (25 October).

The 21 new initiatives outlined in the document are mainly about economic and social issues, the single market, migration, defence, and external policy.

The commission also pledged to continue reform of EU law-making.

The programme is down from 23 initiatives in 2015 and 2016 each to 21 next year “reflecting the priority focus this year on agreeing and implementing the proposals already on the table from previous years,” it said in statement.

“It’s a focused agenda, centred on the big things,” the commission’s first vice-president Frans Timmermans told MEPs in Strasbourg.

The context is different compared to previous years, with the commission under pressure due to Brexit, its failed asylum seeker relocation plan, and its failed Canada trade deal.

Calls by some EU leaders in Bratislava last month to take powers back from Brussels in response to Brexit have also weakened Timmermans’ hand.