Public services refer to the state’s responsibility to provide fundamental, essential services and infrastructure for everyone. They are essential for social cohesion, social security, participation and quality of life. To mark the tenth International Day of Services of General Interest on 23 June 2026, AK EUROPA organised an evening event on 24 June 2026 dedicated to this topic.

At the end of April 2026, the European Commission published its communication, “A Simpler, Clearer and Better Enforced EU Rulebook”, setting out a new plan for how EU legislation should be adopted, applied and enforced in the future. Instead of offering genuine Better Regulation proposals, the Communication prioritises corporate interests and weakens democratic participation mechanisms.

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.

While the European Union and Member States are strengthening their defence capabilities, concerns are growing over the social implications of increased security spending. This should not come at the expense of social expenditure, emphasized Claes-Mikael Ståhl in an AK EUROPA interview. Instead, security spending should be tied to social conditionalities, trade unions should be involved in decision-making, and a broad understanding of security should be developed.

As geopolitical tensions rise, the European Union and Member States are taking steps towards strengthening their defence. Alongside other important questions, this also raises concerns about trade-offs between defence spending and other areas, such as social spending, at both EU and national levels. AK EUROPA spoke with Claes-Mikael Ståhl, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), about current EU defence policy from a workers’ perspective.

With its proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028–2034, the European Commission launched the important yet controversial debate on the EU budget in mid-2025. The focus is on increased investment in competitiveness, security and defence. However, the European Parliament considers the draft to be insufficiently ambitious and is calling for a larger budget. In particular, the planned consolidation of funding programmes and cuts in traditional policy areas have met with criticism.

In conjunction with International Women's Day on 8 March, significant activity took place in Brussels, with several thousand participants taking part in the ‘World March of Women’, as well as notable activities within the European Union. Particularly noteworthy is the publication of the new Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030. The Commission presented it on 5 March 2026, pointing out that at the current pace of change, it would take another 50 years for the EU to achieve full gender equality.

Both internationally and in Europe, workers' rights are coming under increasing pressure. This was the focus of this year's New Year's Reception hosted by AK and ÖGB. There was consensus that democracy, welfare policy, and trade union rights are all the more important in times of crisis and must be defended. The fact that Austria is one of the countries where labour law violations occur only sporadically in international comparison is due to the comparatively strong representation of workers and the leading position in collective agreement coverage across the country.

The debate on the EU's new multiannual financial framework frequently centres on spending. However, the EU Commission also presented proposals for new own resources to finance the EU budget. In fact, calls for new own resources have been heard for some time, but have so far largely fallen on deaf ears. The aim would also be to ease the burden on Member States, as the majority of the budget is financed through their national contributions. Overall, financing must also be socially fair.