The European Parliament, Commission and Council jointly introduced the “One Europe, One Market” initiative at the end of April 2026 to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and safeguard prosperity, security, global influence and independence. By the end of 2027, the EU aims to deepen the Single Market, diversify trade relations and strengthen its industrial capacities. The roadmap sets out 43 measures, including controversial proposals such as the planned agreement on “EU Inc.” by 2026.

On 3 June 2026, the European Commission presented the European Technological Sovereignty Package. It comprises two legislative proposals, the Chips Act 2.0 and the Cloud and AI Development Act, as well as the EU Open Source Strategy and a Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in Energy. The aim of the package is to increase the EU’s digital independence, expand its autonomy in key technologies and, at the same time, strengthen the Union’s competitiveness and resilience.

China is rapidly driving forward developments in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics. Within this framework, the government's development initiatives emphasize strategic planning, targeted assistance, and systematic execution.

Endless scrolling, autoplay, and push notifications are features that encourage prolonged use of social media, impacting users' well-being and health. On 5 March 2026, AK EUROPA and the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) hosted a public event to discuss addictive design and the proposed Digital Fairness Act.

AK EUROPA has joined a coalition of digital rights and consumer protection organisations – initiated by epicenter.works and European Digital Rights (EDRi) – in writing to the European Commission to raise serious concerns over the fourth batch of Implementing Acts under the eIDAS Regulation. The signatories warn that several provisions not only fail to resolve previously identified shortcomings, but risk to undermine core protections enshrined in the regulation itself.

A broad coalition of 86 consumer protection and digital rights organisations and 116 individual signatories has published a joint call urging the European Commission to develop an ambitious Digital Fairness Act (DFA).

The proposed Omnibus Package VII (Digital Omnibus) is much more than a mere simplification of existing regulations put forward by the Commission. Rather, this package proposes serious changes that threaten to lower the current level of consumer and data protection.

The Brussels Office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour (AK EUROPA) and the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) hosted the following event "Why the Digital Fairness Act needs to tackle addictive design".

Every day, an estimated 12 million parcels arrive in the EU by air. The rapid growth of e-commerce has a significant environmental impact and also leads to more and more non-compliant and dangerous goods arriving in the European market. A visit to one of Europe's most important cargo airports, organised by the European Consumer Organisation BEUC, highlighted how difficult it is in practice to monitor and impose sanctions on unsafe products, counterfeits, undeclared goods and fraud.

Amid geopolitical tensions and growing dependence on foreign tech giants, the idea of strengthening Europe's technological autonomy is gaining more prominence. EU legislation on digital markets, digital services and AI has been passed. Yet, strong concerns remain over the economic and social influence of non-EU tech giants. What are the risks associated with the current situation, and how can the EU achieve digital sovereignty? We spoke with digital transition expert Justin Nogarede.