3 October 2025
On 29 September, SGI Europe General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti met - together with the EU cross-sectoral Social Partners - with European Commission Executive Vice-President Roxana Minzatu to discuss the priorities of the upcoming Commission Work Programme 2026.
SGI Europe highlighted its priorities around two guiding principles for the European Commission's upcoming Work Programme: resilience and preparedness, as well as simplification. On preparedness, Valeria Ronzitti underlined that essential services of general interest – such as energy, water, health, housing, transport and waste management – form the backbone of Europe’s resilience. She called for preparedness to be embedded by design across climate, cohesion and industrial policies, supported by targeted EU investment in areas such as climate-adaptive infrastructure, cybersecurity and secure communication networks. SGI Europe also emphasised the importance of social partners’ involvement in the Preparedness Social Partners Summit, to co-design solutions for workforce planning, training, and service continuity, ensuring citizens have the “freedom to stay” in their communities.
Upon simplification, SGI Europe reaffirmed its support for reducing administrative burdens, while insisting that this must not come at the expense of Europe’s social, environmental, and internal market objectives. Valeria Ronzitti also emphasised that initiatives such as the Quality Jobs Roadmap, procurement reform and upcoming Omnibus initiatives should remain enabling, practical and proportionate. Crucially, SGI Europe reiterated its call for Implementation Dialogues where social partners are systematically involved, as agreed in the Pact for Social Dialogue, to ensure EU legislation works on the ground.
EVP Minzatu confirmed that the Commission’s 2026 agenda will include a Quality Jobs Roadmap (accompanied by an Act), the first-ever EU Anti-Poverty Strategy, a VET strategy, the Teachers’ Agenda, and a Fair Mobility Package that reinforces the mandate of the European Labour Authority. She also showed openness to strengthening social partner involvement in the implementation dialogues, a move welcomed by SGI Europe.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
On Monday 29 September, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER) and the consultancy Ramboll hosted a structured stakeholder consultation on the Revision of the EU Energy Security Framework in Brussels. This workshop is a key step in updating the Gas Security of Supply and Electricity Risk-Preparedness Regulations to reflect lessons from the 2021-2023 energy crisis and create a forward-looking, dynamic architecture.
SGI Europe was invited to participate in this discussion alongside other stakeholders from energy and industry associations, including those focused on gas, heat pumps, renewables, as well as DSOs and TSOs. The meeting's purpose was to gather feedback on six policy "building blocks", including storage, diversification, and crisis management, to inform the Commission's impact assessment. SGI Europe’s core message is centred on ensuring the continuity of essential services and advocating for a multidimensional resilience approach. SGI Europe supports a framework that prioritises critical infrastructures, such as energy, transport, water and waste management, healthcare and housing. In discussions on 'protected customers,' SGI Europe insisted protection should focus on these essential functions regardless of the energy carrier. The association strongly supported a long-term diversification strategy but opposed mandatory EU-wide targets on the energy mix, favouring national flexibility under the principle of subsidiarity.
Furthermore, SGI Europe urged simplification of crisis rules through more precise guidance for SGI operators. It supported extending the solidarity mechanism beyond energy to include the sharing of equipment and competent staff to secure supply chains. The overall push aligns the new security rules with the broader goals of the EU Energy Union and the practical implementation of National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs).
Contact: Henriette Gleau
On 30 September, SGI Europe took part in the Commission’s consultation on the Autumn Package of the European Semester 2026. The Commission set the tone with three key messages: persistent labour and skills shortages across Member States, weak productivity growth compared to the US and China, and the need to preserve public investment in green, digital, and social infrastructure despite rising pressures, such as an ageing population and defence needs. It also announced the preparation of the first EU Anti-Poverty Strategy, aiming to eradicate poverty by 2050.
SGI Europe welcomed this diagnosis but underlined key points from the perspective of SGI providers. SGI Europe stressed that shortages are most acute in healthcare, education and utilities, directly threatening resilience and the green transition. Solutions must include more substantial support for SMEs to train workers, faster recognition of qualifications, and investment in education and care. On fiscal policy, SGI Europe insisted that productive and social investment must be safeguarded and that defence spending must also strengthen civilian infrastructure. Finally, we called for meaningful involvement of social partners in national fiscal-structural plans to make reforms realistic and deliverable.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
Ministers held a policy debate on the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), one of the key elements of the 2028-2034 long-term EU budget, which is the forthcoming multiannual financial framework (MFF). Member states welcomed the ECF as a key instrument that could help bridge the current investment gap, provide financial support to companies, leverage private capital, and mitigate investment risks.
This was followed by another political discussion on simplification measures, following the presentation by Executive Vice-President Séjourné of the first progress report on this issue. While efforts are being made to reduce administrative burdens (namely with the so-called omnibus packages), new legislative proposals still pose significant costs to businesses. Ministers reflected on the right balance between necessary new legislation and unnecessary administrative burdens for businesses, and the role of the Competitiveness Council to ensure that new rules are proportionate to the objectives of the legislation. Most ministers welcomed the simplification report and the omnibus approach to reducing existing burdens, although some interventions noted that simplification does not necessarily mean deregulation.
Ministers also exchanged views on the single market strategy. Enrico Letta, former Italian prime minister and author of the report on the future of the “EU Single Market”, took part in the discussion. Ministers expressed their views on digital initiatives to deliver a burden-reducing digital shift tailored to companies’ needs, as well as the implementation of ambitious digital initiatives across member states and businesses.
Contact: Benoît Cassorla
Join us, stay informed
Subscribe to have all the latest news and developments delivered straight to your inbox.