8 May 2026
On Wednesday 6 May 2026, Raffaele Fitto, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms, launched the work for the future Right to Stay Strategy. In a dedicated high-level with Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, Kata Tüttő, President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), Makis Keravnos, Minister of Finance representing the Cyprus Presidency of the Council, and Enrico Letta, EU Rapporteur on the Future of the Single Market, the Conference focused on setting the political context and underlining the strategic importance of Freedom to Stay for the completion of the Single Market and supporting regional competitiveness and resilience.
This moment marked a crucial step towards implementing Enrico Letta's report and the key concept of Freedom to Stay, highlighting the need to recognise citizens' right to live and thrive in their communities without being compelled to relocate in search of essential services, quality jobs, or decent living conditions. Accessible, affordable and high-quality Services of General Interest (SGIs), such as healthcare, education, energy, housing, water, transport, digital connectivity and local and regional authorities, are the foundation of the European social model and the practical enablers of the Freedom to Stay.
SGI Europe, together with partners from the SGIs Network, launched the Coalition for the Freedom to Stay in February 2026. The Coalition brings together enterprises, social partners, local and regional actors, policymakers and civil society organisations committed to a balanced European model that combines competitiveness, social cohesion and preparedness.
Contact: Benoît Cassorla
On 6 May 2026, the European Commission published its first-ever EU Anti-Poverty Strategy as part of the new Social Package, setting out the ambition to help eradicate poverty in the EU by 2050. The package also includes a proposal for a Council Recommendation on fighting housing exclusion under the future European Affordable Housing Plan.
SGI Europe welcomes the publication of the Strategy and particularly its recognition that tackling poverty requires more than income support alone. The stronger focus on access to quality jobs, labour market participation and effective access to affordable, accessible and high-quality services of general interest reflects many of the priorities consistently raised by SGI Europe in recent years.
The Strategy also places greater emphasis on the territorial dimension of poverty and social exclusion. In this regard, the announcement of future work on access to essential services and new poverty indicators could help move the discussion beyond purely income-based approaches and better reflect people’s real living conditions across regions and territories.
For SGI Europe, access to services of general interest remains a fundamental condition for people to live, work and thrive in the communities they call home. This is also why the links between the Anti-Poverty Strategy, territorial cohesion and the future “Right to Stay” agenda will be particularly important in the coming years.
SGI Europe will now analyse the various elements of the package in more detail and reflect on how services of general interest and their providers can best contribute to implementing the Strategy’s objectives. Given the essential role SGIs play in social inclusion, access to opportunities, and territorial resilience, there is clear potential for SGI Europe and its members to support the Strategy's delivery in practice.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On Tuesday 5 May, SGI Europe General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti joined the Implementation Dialogue on Energy Efficiency, organised by Dan Jorgensen, Commissioner for Energy and Housing.
Ahead of the 2027 review of the Energy Efficiency Directive (#EED), maintaining a direct and continuous exchange with the European Commission is essential. As the full implications of the 2023 recast are still unfolding, we must now move beyond legislative exercise and assess the implementation on the ground.
During the dialogue, we highlighted four core policy recommendations essential for a successful transition. First, we advocate prioritising decarbonisation over pure efficiency through a climate-efficiency-centric approach that treats isolated energy savings as subordinate to overarching greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. This strategic shift ensures that all investments remain guided by cost-effectiveness and the 2050 neutrality goal.
Furthermore, investment barriers must be addressed by revising the SME Recommendation (2003/361/EC), which currently excludes many local public service enterprises from vital funding, including RepowerEU funding, solely based on their public ownership. A level playing field is needed to unlock the large-scale efficiency measures these entities are tasked with delivering.
In addition, the untapped potential in District Heating must be unlocked: to achieve the 3% renovation rate and broader efficiency goals, the European Commission shall remove regulatory barriers preventing waste heat from incineration and industrial processes from contributing to renewable targets. Greater regulatory flexibility for district heating systems should help adapt to local conditions and integrate waste heat into energy system planning.
Finally, we emphasised the urgent need to close the green skills gap, as achieving mandated renovation quotas is physically impossible without a coordinated EU-level Union of Skills. We face a critical shortage of qualified workers and call for targeted support to train the technicians and engineers needed to deliver the energy transition on the ground.
SGI Europe remains committed to a socially fair and technically feasible energy transition. We look forward to contributing to the ongoing public consultation and reinforcing regular exchanges at this level to support Member States and essential service providers in meeting the EU’s climate ambitions.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
On Tuesday 5 May, the European Commission published its Report on competition policy for 2025, presenting the main policy developments, legislative proposals and enforcement actions that took place last year.
In the field of State aid, the Commission highlights the adoption of the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework as an essential measure to speed up and simplify support for decarbonisation, but also as a key step to recognise the role of States as strategic investors in net-zero technologies. Out of the 334 State aid decisions adopted in 2025, 8 were taken under the CISAF.
Additionally, the Commission revised the State aid rules for Services of General Economic Interest (SGEI), focusing on simplifying procedures and giving Member States greater flexibility in providing public support, particularly for social and affordable housing initiatives. It also published guidelines on how EU State aid rules apply to public support for critical medicines and launched the revision of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), which is expected to be adopted by the end of 2026.
The Commission also initiated the revision of the antitrust procedural framework and of both the Horizontal and the Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines to adapt to new market realities, such as rapid digitalisation and the competitive advantages linked to control of digital data or Artificial Intelligence. Moreover, through a public consultation, the Commission assessed the early impact of the Digital Markets Act. This input will inform the first review report, which will be presented by the end of May 2026.
Finally, in 2025, the Commission held 37 meetings of the European Competition Network to discuss new and ongoing investigations and developments in case law with National Competition Authorities.
Contact: Raquel Carro-Andollo
On Monday 27 April, Commissioner Jessika Roswall met with the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) for a structured exchange focused on the upcoming Circular Economy Act (CEA) and the EU’s Water Resilience agenda.
During the dialogue, Commissioner Roswall announced that the Commission will publish a targeted amendment to the waste management system this week. This quick fix is designed to maintain high standards and protect local waste management services while simplifying administrative burdens.
On chemicals, the Commissioner affirmed that protecting health and the environment is a priority. She aims to propose a PFAS framework by year-end, focusing on consumer products and clean-up efforts. Addressing REACH, the Commission will not reopen the regulation for now, opting instead for simplification and modernisation via comitology to ensure regulatory stability and a level playing field.
This dialogue comes at a critical time for SGI Europe’s advocacy for recognising Services of General Interest as the backbone of a resilient circular economy. SGI Europe argues for reimagining wastewater as a vital source of critical materials like phosphorus and biogas. To succeed, they call for the "polluter-pays" principle to fund recovery infrastructure and harmonised End-of-Waste criteria to ensure secondary materials can compete effectively with virgin resources. SGI Europe will further develop these legislative contributions during its Sustainability Board meeting on 27 May 2026.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
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