Work Programme 2026

Research, Technology & Industrial Capacity

Europe’s competitiveness in the green and digital transitions will depend on its ability to develop, produce and deploy next-generation materials at scale. To achieve this, the Commission will propose an Advanced Materials Act establishing clear framework conditions for the entire value chain; from fundamental research and prototyping to manufacturing and market uptake. The Act will focus on accelerating industrialisation, de-risking private investment and securing resilient supply chains for materials critical to clean technologies, energy, defence and space. By providing a coherent strategic framework, it aims to reduce dependencies, boost technological sovereignty and position Europe as a global leader in advanced materials innovation.

Research, Technology & Industrial Capacity

As a cornerstone of the EU’s Life Sciences Strategy, the law will make Europe the most attractive place for biotech by 2030 by speeding approvals and risk assessments without compromising safety, unlocking risk-tolerant finance and biomanufacturing scale, building EU-wide clusters/infrastructure, closing skills gaps, and enabling trusted AI/data use (incl. supercomputing and EHDS links). It tackles single-market fragmentation across health, agri-food, industrial and marine biotech, strengthening competitiveness and economic security. Expected impacts of the law includes faster time-to-market, deeper investment pipelines, resilient supply chains and environmental benefits, supported by strong EU governance.

Research, Technology & Industrial Capacity

It will create horizontal, Single-Market-wide conditions to accelerate deployment and diffusion of innovation. The law will (i) simplify and make rules more innovation-friendly (incl. regulatory sandboxes), (ii) unlock IP-backed finance and improve access to EU/national funding, (iii) open research & technology infrastructures to companies, (iv) make public/private procurement more supportive of novel solutions, (v) improve commercialisation of publicly funded R&I (i.e. IP, standardisation, certification), (vi) enable talent attraction/retention (e.g. employee ownership schemes), and (vii) establish EU–Member State coordination of innovation policy, helping to close the EU’s innovation gap.

Research, Technology & Industrial Capacity

The Act Act will realise a “fifth freedom” by enabling the free movement of researchers, knowledge and technology across a single EU R&I market, anchored in TFEU Articles 179 and 182(5). It will (1) secure national commitments and new mechanisms to reach the 3% of GDP R&D target; (2) align EU–national investments and priorities around strategic technologies; and (3) upgrade framework conditions—attractive careers and mobility, open science and data access, a stronger legal basis for research infrastructures, and better knowledge valorisation. The Act will safeguard fundamental values, bolster research security, and clarify cooperation with third countries.

Research, Technology & Industrial Capacity

The Act will make the Quantum Europe Strategy operational, fixing fragmentation by aligning EU and national programmes around a shared RTI agenda and targets. It sets EU-level governance and extends the Chips Joint Undertaking’s remit to quantum technologies, coordinating investments across EU programmes. It anchors a three-stage pipeline—Discover; Lab-to-fab via pilot lines, design tools and standards; Apply & use in lead sectors, while scaling pan-European infrastructures in quantum computing, secure communication (EuroQCI) and sensing. The Act backs skills and industrialisation, strengthens supply chains. It also drives standardisation and interoperability and fosters talent attraction.

Infrastructure & Strategic Resources

This law will close Europe’s compute gap by tripling data-centre capacity within 5–7 years and meeting economy-wide needs by 2035, underpinning AI development and sovereign cloud services. It will harmonise cloud policy, set minimum criteria (including for a narrow set of highly critical use cases run on highly secure EU-based cloud), and streamline permitting, site designation and access to energy/water, ensuring geographically balanced rollout. The Act will spur R&I in resource-efficient data centres, enable targeted support consistent with State-aid rules, and complement AI Factories/Gigafactories and the Chips Act ecosystem.

Infrastructure & Strategic Resources

This plan will accelerate cost-effective, system-friendly electrification to lower energy costs, boost competitiveness and cut emissions. It tackles supply and demand across industry, transport and buildings, and will run in parallel with a Heating & Cooling Strategy. Delivery focuses on reliability and flexibility, expanding and digitalising grids, scaling storage and demand response, deepening cross-border integration, and encouraging new demand near clean generation. Policy levers will improve the electricity-to-fossil price ratio (i.e. energy taxation, network tariffs, removing non-energy charges) while mobilising financing, manufacturing capacity and skills along the value chain. Progress will be tracked using KPIs, including raising electricity’s share of final energy toward 32–33% by 2030.

Infrastructure & Strategic Resources

The EU will deepen its Energy Union to deliver affordable, clean energy through stronger governance and integration. Therefore, the Commission will launch an Energy Union Task Force, publish a White Paper on electricity-market integration, revise the Governance Regulation, and present a Clean Energy Investment Strategy, a Nuclear Illustrative Programme (PINC), and a Fusion Strategy. It will table an Electrification Action Plan, a Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in the Energy Sector, and a Heating & Cooling Strategy to accelerate electrification, flexibility and efficiency. A revised energy-security framework will enhance stability and resilience, informed by lessons from the energy crisis.

Infrastructure & Strategic Resources

The Commission will propose legislation to interconnect Member States’ next-generation critical communications used by police, civil protection, emergency medical, border and security authorities. EUCCS will set harmonised requirements for operational mobility, strong resilience and strategic autonomy, enabling secure cross-border voice/data, priority services and roaming, including satellite back-up via IRIS². It will modernise national systems, ensure interoperability and encrypted communications, and support crisis coordination from terrorism to large-scale disasters. Governance will link with the Preparedness Union’s all-hazards approach and ERCC, with EU-funded pilots building capabilities using European providers.

Competitiveness, Innovation & Strategic Investment

As part of the Savings and Investments Union, the Commission will assess whether to revise the Shareholders Rights Directive to make it easier and cheaper for investors, intermediaries and issuers to operate across borders. The review would target fragmentation in shareholder identification, voting and corporate-action processes, reduce duplicative requirements, and support a more integrated market for listed equity. By improving participation and lowering administrative costs, the initiative aims to deepen liquidity, broaden access to public markets for growth companies and strengthen EU competitiveness, complementing measures on listings, funds distribution and market infrastructure.

Human Capital, Skills & Talent Mobility

The Commission will present the first EU-wide strategy to embed long-term, intergenerational perspectives across policymaking. It will: (1) strengthen intergenerational democratic participation and scrutiny; (2) tackle cross-cutting challenges (i.e. climate, housing, fiscal sustainability, skills and lifelong learning) through an intergenerational lens; and (3) empower all ages, combating ageism and protecting children’s rights. The strategy is being co-created via a 2025 four-phase process and may include a monitoring tool for intergenerational fairness. It will align with the Union of Skills agenda and related education actions, ensuring no generation is left behind. It will propose metrics and mainstream youth participation.

Human Capital, Skills & Talent Mobility

Developed with EU social partners in 2025, the Quality Jobs Roadmap will set a coherent EU strategy to raise job quality alongside competitiveness. It will back fair wages, high health-and-safety standards, decent working conditions, work-life balance, gender equality and wider collective bargaining; strengthen enforcement of work-related rights; and support access to training and fair job-to-job transitions, drawing on the European Pillar of Social Rights. It will align with the Competitiveness Compass, Union of Skills and the Clean Industrial Deal so decarbonisation creates attractive jobs and regional cohesion, and may announce targeted legislative and non-legislative actions with robust monitoring and evaluation.

Human Capital, Skills & Talent Mobility

The initiative will remove barriers to cross-border work by making skills and qualifications usable across the Single Market. It will consider a legislative proposal to ease mobility and promote common EU formats for interoperable digital credentials, building on EQF, Europass and ESCO. Recognition in regulated professions will be expanded and modernised using digital tools, while simpler common rules will be explored to recognise third-country nationals’ skills. In parallel, the EU will develop a framework for automatic recognition of qualifications and learning periods in school, VET and higher education, and examine accession to the Lisbon Recognition Convention.

Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

It will create an optional, EU-wide corporate framework—digital by default—to let innovative firms set up, operate, and raise capital seamlessly across borders. The proposal may rely on TFEU Article 352 or a harmonised national form via Articles 50/114, with a progressive, modular design. It targets 48-hour incorporation and “once-only” data sharing via BRIS, EUID, and an EU Company Certificate, leveraging the European Business Wallet. Investment-friendly options under consideration include simpler capital increases, flexible share classes, and standard private-equity terms. Complementing the European Innovation Act, it cuts failure costs, fragmentation, and compliance burdens.

Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

The Commission will present a comprehensive EU approach to prevent, detect and respond to cyberbullying, with a primary focus on minors and youth. It will set a common EU definition, promote national strategies and focal points (e.g. trusted flaggers), and prioritise vulnerable groups including girls and women, LGBTIQ youth, migrants and persons with disabilities. Actions span prevention and digital well-being, safer product design, streamlined reporting and takedown (scaling good practices like France’s App 3018), victim support, and proportionate responses to perpetrators. Delivery will leverage and enforce the DSA, BIK+ and victims/VAW directives, with progress monitored through Safer Internet Centres, BIK policy reports and DSA enforcement.

Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

The Commission will revise Regulation (EU) 1/2003 and its implementing act to make antitrust enforcement faster, digital-ready, coherent. Options include stand-alone data-preservation orders; inspection powers covering all business records regardless of storage; the ability to summon individuals; streamlined interim measures and time-bound commitment proceedings; and a modernised access-to-file regime via confidentiality-bound external advisors. The review may harmonise complainant and third-party participation and strengthen coordination where Member States use stricter unilateral-conduct laws, safeguarding single-market consistency. The initiative seeks effective application of Articles 101/102 while reducing administrative burden, incorporating case law, and clarifying rules.

Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

The Commission will run the AVMSD ex-post evaluation under Article 33 by 19 December 2026, followed, where appropriate, by proposals to review the Directive. Council conclusions (May 2025) suggested key reform priorities: clarify scope (incl. influencers/professional creators), ensure coherent interplay with DSA/EMFA, strengthen protection of minors and rules for VSPs, safeguard prominence/access to general-interest content and major events, and improve cross-border enforcement through the new European Board for Media Services. The exercise should keep the Single Market as the anchor (country-of-origin), avoid overlapping obligations, and de-risk regulatory fragmentation via clear definitions and digital-by-default, once-only procedures.

Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

The Act will create a true Single Market for waste and secondary raw materials, boosting supply and demand for quality recyclates at competitive prices. It will harmonise end-of-waste criteria, simplify and expand extended producer responsibility (including a one-stop producer registry), and revise e-waste rules to recover critical materials, while aligning with the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products framework. Public procurement criteria, incentives for scrap use, and digitalised demolition permits will accelerate circular design and recycling. Strong enforcement—including for e-commerce channels—will ensure compliance.

Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

Based on a fitness check of EU consumer law in 2024, the Commission plans to propose a Digital Fairness Act that curbs manipulative design (“dark patterns”), addictive features and subscription traps; clarifies rules for influencer and AI-driven marketing; strengthens protections for minors; and streamlines information duties so consumers face less overload and can cancel easily. Options include amending the Unfair Commercial Practices and Consumer Rights directives or proposing a new regulation, ensuring coherence with the DSA, DMA and the AI Act. It will drive harmonised, high-impact enforcement with clear duties for platforms and advertisers, easy redress for consumers, and deterrent penalties.

Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

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Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

To protect consumers and fair competition, the Commission will explore an EU authority that coordinates national enforcers, pools capacity, and targets highest-risk flows. Today, e-commerce accounts for 97% of customs declarations, overwhelming border controls; EU-level governance is needed to act swiftly and uniformly against unsafe, counterfeit, or non-compliant products. Working with the planned Customs Authority and EU Customs Data Hub, it would run joint, risk-based operations and close gaps where national action is insufficient. In tandem, the review of the New Legislative Framework and deployment of Digital Product Passports would provide machine-readable conformity data to boost traceability, speed recalls, and strengthen cross-border enforcement.

Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

The Commission will overhaul the EU procurement framework to make public spending a strategic lever for competitiveness, security and innovation. The revision will enable sustainability, resilience and European-preference criteria in strategic sectors, while staying consistent with EU and international commitments. It will simplify and digitise procedures, embed once-only data reuse, curb overspecification, and promote innovation-friendly tools (e.g. outcome-based/R&D purchases, clearer IP clauses). Rules will be consolidated across legislation to ease use by all administrations and open tenders to startups and SMEs. Defence and security procurement will be modernised and cross-border aggregation strengthened to create lead markets and scale.

Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

The Commission will modernise EU product rules to enable faster, coordinated action when risks emerge, set clear, time-bound requirements for notified conformity assessment bodies, and clarify the responsibilities of economic operators in circularity to extend product lifecycles. It will fully digitise compliance via the Digital Product Passport and harmonised digital labelling (QR-code based), replacing paper dossiers and easing SME burden. Enforcement will be strengthened in light of surging e-commerce imports and a fragmented market-surveillance landscape. A progressive rollout of the DPP (potentially included through the NLF review in Q2 2026) will anchor instant, trusted access to essential product information across the Single Market and support consistent application of EU product law.

Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

The Commission will overhaul the Standardisation Regulation to make harmonised standards faster, more flexible and inclusive (bringing SMEs, startups, civil society and academia fully into the process) while improving access to standards and hard-wiring closer links with research and innovation. It will mandate structured, machine-readable formats and provide training to cut compliance costs and make standards easier to use, reinforcing the EU’s role as a global standard-setter and supporting the effective functioning of EU product legislation at the heart of the Single Market. Implementation will prioritise AI, semiconductors, clean tech and advanced materials, with clearer governance and faster mandates so EU standards swiftly become interoperable market rules.

Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation

The Commission will set milestones to finish the Single Market where it matters most (i.e. capital, services, energy and telecoms) while advancing a 28th regime and a ‘fifth freedom’ for knowledge and innovation. The roadmap will tackle the “Terrible Ten” barriers, codify digital-by-default procedures, and use the Competitiveness Coordination Tool to align national reforms and EU investment. A delivery scoreboard will track progress, backed by faster infringement action and “once-only” data sharing for firms. Measures include deepening the Capital Markets/Savings & Investment Union, grid and interconnector build-out, the Digital Networks Act, and service-sector opening, turning commitments into measurable outcomes.

External Strategy, Economic Security & Democratic Resilience

The Commission will table a dedicated initiative to digitalise Member States’ return case management, as part of a new common approach on returns. COM(2025) 101 sets a common return system and, in Art. 42(1)(d), makes national digital systems for return/readmission/reintegration a core component; a separate act will specify interoperability, once-only data flows and statistics. The Commission’s Political Guidelines commit to digitalising case management; von der Leyen’s 17 March letter signalled presentation by end-2025. A 2026 consultation under the Work Programme will prepare governance and implementation, aligning with SIS/Eurodac and digital-by-default delivery while ensuring uniform practice across the Union.

Implementation, Simplification & Better Regulation

Just like the EU’s rules, its better regulation framework must be simplified to enable a simpler and faster Europe. The Commission will therefore apply a more rigorous and structured application of the proportionality principle in better regulation and put forward a communication to that effect in the first half of 2026.