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.

The EU Commission’s new European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) Action Plan is expected in July 2026. The Executive Vice-President of the EU Commission responsible for this area, Roxana Mînzatu, emphasised its significance given the importance of strong social rights in challenging times. AK regards this as a crucial step, proposes a series of key measures and calls for concrete action.

Due to a shortage of affordable and sustainable housing, Europe is facing a housing crisis. Over the past ten years, rents in the EU have risen by more than 20 per cent on average, whilst residential property prices have increased by more than 60 per cent. In view of this precarious situation, the EU has taken action: shortly before Christmas, the Commission presented its plan for affordable housing, and in mid-March the final report of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on the Housing Crisis was adopted in plenary.

As announced, the European Commission has presented its proposal for the 28th regime. The aim of EU Inc. is to create a Europe-wide limited liability company form that will enable businesses to be set up within 48 hours, for less than 100 euros and without minimum capital requirements. From the standpoint of employees, the EU Inc. proposal has received considerable criticism, especially due to insufficient provisions for safeguarding workers and facilitating their involvement in organizational decision-making processes.

The health and care sectors will require more staff in the future, which means public spending will increase. However, these expenses should not be viewed only as a financial burden. As the sectors expand, they also generate important economic and social benefits. Therefore, when evaluating costs in health and care, their positive impact on society and the economy must also be considered.

Strengthening social rights in the EU is an essential goal for substantially improving working and living conditions. This approach is also vital for achieving the social goals outlined in the EU Treaties and is crucial to maintaining and strengthening the trust of EU residents in European Union institutions. Following the first Action Plan for implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) in 2021, the Commission is expected to present the second Action Plan in July 2026.

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.

As part of its 2021 Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights, the European Commission set the target of reducing the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million by 2030. From today's perspective, this target is likely to be missed by a wide margin, and there is still no concrete strategy for achieving improvement in this area. The European Commission will present the first EU Anti-Poverty Strategy in May.

On 6 February 2026, the successful Öko-Booster model was presented to an expert audience in Brussels at a morning event attended by AK President Renate Anderl. Since 2023, as part of a collaboration between AK Vienna, the Vienna Employment Promotion Fund (WAFF) and the Public Employment Service Vienna (AMS Vienna), young people without a completed education have been trained to become skilled workers in the energy transition. This initiative was met with great interest at the event held at the Vienna House in Brussels.

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.