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.

Besides the 27 national design rules, the EU Commission also intends to launch an optional EU-wide regulatory framework for companies, referred to as the 28th regime. While businesses promote the facilitation of Europe-wide activities and better access to risk capital, employees urgently caution against the erosion of important protection standards, for example in the areas of labour law or corporate co-determination. Hence it is vital that the interests of employees are taken into account.

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 Commission plans to propose a 28th legal framework for companies by the first quarter of 2026, which is to comprise a uniform EU-wide set of rules, including all relevant aspects of company law as well as insolvency, labour and tax law. A consultation was held on its design.

At the end of last year, the EU Parliament set up a special committee on the housing crisis in the EU. The draft of the decisive report is now available. It aims to propose solutions for decent, sustainable and affordable housing. Whether the current version will succeed in doing so is questionable. As the Commissioner responsible, Dan Jørgensen, recently noted at an event in the EU Parliament, the first draft is controversial.

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.

The European automotive industry has fallen behind technologically – both in terms of automated driving and electromobility. To counter the resulting crisis, the European Commission launched the Industrial Action Plan for the European Automotive Sector on 5 March 2025. With the action plan, the Commission aims to future-proof the European automotive industry through innovation, decarbonisation and digital transformation.

EU single market strategy must not be at the expense of employees and consumers

In a recent dossier published by Social Europe, a group of industrial policy and innovation scholars analyse the current challenges facing EU industrial policy. They highlight the conceptual and practical shortcomings of the current approach to industrial policy and set out their vision for an EU industrial policy that is based on social inclusion and effective governance. To mark the publication of the dossier, AK EUROPA, in cooperation with the Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE), organised a large public event in Brussels on 15 September 2025.

On 10 September 2025, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered the annual State of the European Union speech, whereby she focused on the topics of security, defence and competitiveness. Both, the war in Ukraine and the humanitarian situation in Gaza were given extensive attention. Social policy issues such as the inflation crisis, the quality of jobs and strategies for combating poverty were mentioned, but relatively brief and without providing much detail.