24 October 2025
At the Tripartite Social Summit of 22 October 2025, SGI Europe President Pascal Bolo and Secretary General Valeria Ronzitti reaffirmed that Services of General Interest (SGIs) remain the backbone of Europe’s cohesion, competitiveness and resilience.
In his final address at a TSS as SGI Europe's President, Pascal Bolo recalled how Europe has faced the pandemic, the consequences of the war in Ukraine and major transitions with courage and collective ambition. He underlined that making Europe stronger in a changing world means investing in the stability of services of general interest such as energy, water, housing, health, education, and transport, which enable both economic productivity and social fairness. He also called on EU leaders to keep the climate transition at the heart of the Union’s growth strategy, warning against any loss of ambition in the Green Deal.
Valeria Ronzitti built on this message by inviting the Council and the Commission to go one step further: to make SGIs a genuine European policy priority. She proposed developing an Action Plan for Services of General Interest, connecting existing EU initiatives to deliver accessible, high-quality services in every territory as the foundation of a firm and fair Union.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On 22 and 23 October 2025, SGI Europe took part in the conference “Supporting migrants’ integration into the labour market”, organised by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) under the framework of the LABOUR-INT III project.
The event brought together trade unions, social partners, public authorities, and civil society representatives from across Europe to discuss the challenges and best practices for promoting the integration of third-country nationals (TCNs) into European labour markets, with particular attention to the situation in Belgium. The agenda included exchanges on cooperation with the European Labour Authority, the role of labour inspections, and the protection of migrant workers from exploitation and undeclared work.
As part of the session “Integration in practice – supporting migrants locally”, Sonja Šarac, Project Manager of LABOUR-INT III in Slovenia, shared insights from Slovenia’s national implementation. She also discussed the Global Classroom network, which contributes to the project's objectives by supporting the successful integration of migrants into the labour market in Slovenia.
Through its coordination of LABOUR-INT III, SGI Europe continues to promote partnership-based approaches to integrating migrants and refugees into the labour market.
Contact: Astrid Nordberg
On Tuesday 21 October 2025, the European Commission published its Work Programme 2026 (CWP 2026), titled “Europe’s Independence Moment”.
Framed by the Political Guidelines and the mission letters sent by the President to each College Member, this work programme outlines the Commission's main initiatives for the second year of its mandate. As anticipated, the CWP 2026 is heavily influenced by the simplification agenda, in a tense context marked by geopolitical, security, economic, and prosperity challenges. It is presented along the priority areas identified by President von der Leyen for this 2024-2029 term:
In the different annexes, the European Commission is specifically planning to propose 38 new policy initiatives, and includes 20 initiatives in its Annual plan on evaluations and fitness checks. It also puts forward the 111 proposals currently pending approval, as well as 25 proposals for withdrawal and one proposal for repeal next year.
Accompanying today’s Commission Work Programme publication, the European Commission also published the first Annual Overview Report on Simplification, Implementation and Enforcement. A first annual overview report summarising the main results of the Commission’s work towards a simpler and more agile Europe across three key components: simplification, implementation, and enforcement. It covers the period from 1 January to 31 July 2025.
Contact: Benoît Cassorla
On Wednesday 22 October, the Plenary of the European Parliament rejected the decision to open interinstitutional negotiations for the simplified rules for sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements, also known as the Omnibus I package, based on the mandate adopted by the Legal Affairs Committee on 13 October. The JURI mandate was rejected by 309 votes in favour, 318 against and 34 abstentions.
The EPP backed the JURI position, Renew, and most S&D MEPs, while the rest of the groups opposed it. Some of the significant disagreements were about the extent to which the rules should be scaled back and the need for companies to have a transition plan outlining how they will meet the emissions-reduction objectives set out in the Paris Agreement.
Following the result of the vote in the Plenary, MEPs will now have the opportunity to present amendments, which will be subject to another vote at the next Plenary session on 12-13 November. Based on the resulting text, the Parliament will then be ready to start trilogues with the Council, which already adopted its position on 23 June.
The goal is to reach an agreement between both institutions on Omnibus I before the end of 2025.
Contact: Raquel Carro-Andollo
On 16 October, the European Commission and the High Representative published their EU Global Climate and Energy Vision communication paper, an international strategy to secure Europe's place in global markets by leveraging diplomacy, promoting clean transition standards, and addressing new security threats. This vision extends the Clean Industrial Deal's external dimension, aiming to position the EU as a leading industrial powerhouse supplying clean technology and adaptation solutions globally and setting a target to reach 15% of the global clean tech market.
The strategy focuses on strengthening existing and forging new, mutually beneficial partnerships, emphasising the continued commitment to the Paris Agreement goals and a rules-based international order. Key actions include boosting EU clean tech businesses, scaling up climate-resilient investments, and expanding networks for resilient clean value chains. The EU also reaffirms the crucial role of carbon pricing in achieving global climate goals and commits to supporting its international promotion.
SGI Europe underlines that for the EU to achieve its ambitious global goals, the internal framework must reinforce the role of SGIs as essential enablers of the transition to climate neutrality by 2050. A new framework that can be reinforced via the upcoming Grid Package and the Electrification Plan should emphasise decentralisation, granting Member States and local authorities greater flexibility to tailor emission reductions to regional contexts, which is crucial for effective climate action. Furthermore, SGI Europe calls for maintaining a technology-neutral approach, which would support diverse low-carbon technological solutions on a level playing field with renewables.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
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