European Commission work programme for 2026: Time to focus on socially sustainable competitiveness

Above all, CESI is glad to see a proposal for a legislative Quality Jobs Act in the work programme for 2026, which could be a major step forward for workers in Europe. As demanded by CESI in a previous consultation on a Quality Jobs Roadmap, it is central that the Act will tackle precarious work and in-work poverty, help ensure fair wages and decent conditions in all sectors, strengthen social dialogue and collective bargaining, and guarantee real opportunities for skills development and lifelong learning for young persons and workers alike. Above all, it must enshrine the principle that quality work is the foundation of Europe’s competitiveness and resilience.

Moreover, a fair mobility package comprising measures to introduce a European Social Security Pass, to strengthen the European Labour Authority and to pursue a skills portability initiative can be important tools to help achieve a more efficient freedom of movement of workers in the Single Market and thereby mitigate regional skills shortages.

The announcement of a new Public Procurement Act to revise EU public procurement rules is highly encouraging. CESI, along with other unions, has for long demanded binding social requirements such as the application of a proper collective agreement for workers in any company that wants to benefit from EU funding. If done correctly, new public procurement rules for the EU could thereby be a considerable lever for significantly improved employment conditions of tens or thousands of workers across Europe. Unfortunately, the Commission Work Programme does not yet foresee a similar initiative in the field of State Aid, which also represent public financial assistance for private enterprises.

In the area of women’s rights and gender equality, a new Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 is foreseen, as expected. As outlined by CESI previously, it will be important tie the Strategy to concrete outcomes and relate them to the Roadmap for Women’s Rights from earlier this year too.

In the field of education, a new Basic Skills Support Scheme and new 2030 Roadmap on the future of digital education and skills could offer new opportunities for training and lifelong learning. Unfortunately, a new EU Teachers Agenda which was originally foreseen for 2026 is no longer part of the European Commission’s work programme for the next year.

A new EU Delivery Act to revise or at least amend the EU Postal Services Directive and Cross-Border Parcel Deliveries Regulation could, ideally, strengthen universal service obligations in the postal sector and also extent this to the emerging parcels market, and thereby help secure decent employment for postal and courier workers across the Union.

A new dedicated EU directive on artificial intelligence (AI) at work as demanded by CESI is, unfortunately, missing. A new announced Cloud and AI Development Act and Digital Fairness Act for consumer protection do not seem to extent to the regulation of AI which fosters rather than dismantles employment and working conditions.

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger said: “New initiatives relate to policy fields which require improvements for workers across Europe, which we welcome. However, the detail will be in the devil. It will be vital that policies are made compatible with socially responsible competitiveness, not merely economic competitiveness.”

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