On 5 November 2025, EU Commission Vice-President Raffaele Fitto and Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas unveiled plans to expand the high-speed rail network and encourage investment in sustainable fuels for air and maritime transport. The high-speed rail action plan was eagerly awaited, as decisive improvements for travellers and the climate are hoped for.

Since the beginning of the year, high-level dialogue forums at various levels have been discussing the future of the European automotive industry. As a result of intensive exchanges with the industry, the EU Commission announced, among other things, that it would review the controversial combustion engine ban from 2035 as early as this year – which is one year ahead of schedule. The CO2 emission targets for 2025 had already been relaxed. The industry is calling ever more vehemently for greater flexibility and is supported in this by politicians.

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.

The EU Parliament is currently engaged in intense negotiations on the Omnibus I, with which the EU Commission has proposed to significantly restrict the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). It is already becoming apparent ahead of the upcoming vote that the EU Parliament will vote for watering down the CSDDD. This is very unfortunate: As shown by a new study led by Prof. Johannes Jäger, the CSDDD would offer an opportunity to enforce human rights while strengthening the European economy.

On Wednesday, the EU Commission presented its long-awaited draft legislation for the 2040 climate target. As had already become apparent in recent weeks, maintaining the planned target – a 90 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels – was achieved by allowing more flexibility in how the target is met. According to the EU Commission's proposal, the last three percentage points should also be achieved through emission credits in third countries. But will that be enough to manage the necessary transformation?

Even before implementing this directive in the Member States, EU institutions have currently been working on ultimately reversing key elements of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive as part of the Sustainability Omnibus or Omnibus I. The potential impact of Omnibus I was discussed this week at a joint event organised by AK EUROPA, the ÖGB European Office, ETUC, ECCJ and FoEE.

Europe’s water resources are under pressure: as droughts, heat waves and floods become more frequent, water scarcity and quality degradation threaten to become a structural risk to health, the environment and the economy. On 4 June 2025, the EU Commission presented a new Water Resilience Strategy that focuses on one of the most pressing issues of our time: protecting and sustainably using of our water resources.

On 2 June 2025, the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) presented this year's edition of the Benchmarking Working Europe report at a joint event with AK EUROPA in Brussels. In light of the ongoing political discourse, the 2025 report highlights the importance of quality jobs for sustainable competitiveness. The critical examination of the concept of competitiveness was also a central theme of the event.

The European Commission carried out a consultation on the Clean Industrial State Aid Framework (CISAF). The new framework should allow for a more flexible interpretation of Art. 107 TFEU, adapted in the context of economic and environmental challenges. It seeks to serve as an instrument for defending and strengthening the EU's position in the global economy.

The European Union is facing complex industrial and transformation policy challenges. The CID is intended to address these issues. While the identification of key problem areas, including the innovation gap, high energy costs, limited fiscal leeway, and a lack of coordination, is fundamentally correct, there is a lack of effective measures to overcome these obstacles. A key issue is the fragmentation of industrial policy, with different policy goals often standing side-by-side yet unconnected.