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Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee – Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – New European Bauhaus – from vision to implementation (COM(2025) 1026 final)

EESC 2026/00440

OJ C, C/2026/4656, 23.9.2026, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/4656/oj (BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, GA, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/4656/oj

Date of document:: 17/06/2026; Date of vote
Date of vote:: 17/06/2026
Date lodged:: 24/02/2025

Author:: European Economic and Social Committee
Responsible body:: Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, EESC_TEN
Rapporteur:: Rudolf KOLBE
Form:: Opinion
Internal reference:: AVIS-SECTION 2026/0440 FIN, TEN/873
Session:: 606

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Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

Legal basis:

12016E304

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52025DC1026 ESC Opinion

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Subject matter:

General provisions

Directory code:

15.10.10.00 Environment, consumers and health protection / Environment / General provisions and programmes

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Official Journal
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C/2026/4656

23.9.2026

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – New European Bauhaus – from vision to implementation

(COM(2025) 1026 final)

(C/2026/4656)

Rapporteur:

Rudolf KOLBE

Advisor	Cornelia HAMMERSCHLAG (to the rapporteur)
Referral	European Commission, 24.2.2026
Legal basis	Article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
Section responsible	Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society
Adopted in section	26.5.2026
Adopted at plenary session	17.6.2026
Plenary session No	606
Outcome of vote (for/against/abstentions)	163/0/3

1. Conclusions and recommendations

1.1.

The EESC recognises the NEB’s added value in translating policy objectives into tangible, people-centred solutions, while fostering green innovation and enhancing competitiveness. It calls on the European Commission to develop KPIs for the horizontal cross-cutting implementation of the values and principles of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) in new and revised EU policies and regulatory acts and to ensure that NEB principles can be considered in mandatory proportionality tests (1) for national legislation.

1.2.

The EESC welcomes the imminent adoption of the Recommendation on the NEB and calls on the EU Member States to act on it as a bridge between the EU and regional/local level, as, in this context, coordinating measures at EU level can provide clear added value while respecting subsidiarity.

1.3.

The EESC calls on the Commission to stipulate that public authorities give precedence to life cycle and quality criteria for services shaping the built environment in the upcoming revision of the Public Procurement Directives.

1.4.

In view of the skills portability initiative and the upcoming revision of the professional recognition framework, the EESC calls on the Commission to enhance, not diminish, professional excellence, as it is a crucial basis for implementing NEB principles in and beyond the built environment. In this context, it also stresses the importance of easily accessible upskilling so that employees and businesses, particularly SMEs, can adapt to new job requirements.

1.5.

The EESC underlines the inseparability of the NEB and the Affordable Housing policies as well as the need for the next NEB implementation step to focus on investment in sustainable, affordable and quality housing and in implementing the NEB values and principles in the housing sector.

1.6.

The EESC calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that cooperation mechanisms aligning European and national competences in the housing sector are stable and long term, to deliver effective affordable housing solutions across the EU.

1.7.

The EESC stresses that the development of resilient neighbourhoods is key to ensuring high-quality sustainable living conditions and calls on the Commission to provide and disseminate in-depth data analyses on the impact of NEB transformation projects as soon as possible, including recommendations based on the outcomes.

1.8.

The EESC encourages the Commission and the Council to strengthen efforts to integrate NEB information and principles into national education programmes and curricula, in order to support transformation, ensure compliance with NEB values, and promote everyday circular practices that go far beyond purely technical approaches.

1.9.

The EESC sees an urgent need for further measures to ensure that funding is accessible to smaller entities and civil society groups lacking experience and resources. This requires appropriate measures such as simplified funding guidelines, lower administrative barriers, and proactive information and in-depth support from local experts, including planning professionals, social organisations and NEB national contact points.

1.10.

The EESC urges the Commission to implement KPIs for NEB participatory tools and processes in neighbourhoods that adequately cover civil society in all its diversity. The increasing use of digital tools must be reconsidered, as it can lead to age discrimination and also discriminate against other groups.

1.11.

In this context, the EESC urges the Commission to put more emphasis on making the NEB accessible and understandable to civil society groups not reached so far, and to develop more targeted communication tools using diversity-sensitive approaches, arts and culture, cooperation with civil society organisations, and a stronger focus on cultural heritage.

2. General comments

2.1.

The EESC recognises the essential role of the NEB initiative in addressing Europe’s societal challenges and stresses the need for a cross-cutting approach that embeds NEB values and principles across EU policies and legislative frameworks, shifting from isolated project-based interventions to systemic, scalable and territorially place-based transformation, following an in-depth assessment of NEB outcomes and multiplier effects, including funding. Greater emphasis should be placed on project replicability, integration into public policies and long-term territorial uptake.

2.2.

The EESC fully supports the NEB’s transdisciplinary, innovative and participatory policy approaches, as well as the NEB community, which gathers over 2 000 civil society, business, research, public authorities and other organisations across Europe, reaching and uniting millions committed to positive change (2); it stresses the role of civil society organisations as multipliers and bridges to marginalised and vulnerable groups.

2.3.

The EESC welcomes the Commission Communication NEB – From Vision to Implementation, which sets out the NEB’s objectives for the coming years and a framework to foster innovation, resilience and sustainability. It particularly welcomes the fact that the Communication was published as part of the Affordable Housing Package, underlining their close interconnection, and believes that the next phase of NEB implementation should focus more on sustainable, affordable and quality housing investment and on applying NEB values and principles in the housing sector.

2.4.

The EESC sees the Council Recommendation as a crucial step to ensure national implementation of NEB values and principles and effective delivery on the ground. Since many housing competences fall within national remits, close cooperation is essential. Thus, an EU recommendation allowing non-binding coordination, guidance, cross-fertilisation, policy coherence, peer learning and EU support and funding is far more effective than isolated national action.

2.4.1.

The Council Recommendation highlights Member States’ key role in advancing the NEB and reducing the environmental impact of the built environment, showing how education, training, arts and culture can drive innovation and sustainability. It also stresses that knowledge sharing and coordinated action at EU, national, regional and local levels will accelerate the transformation of neighbourhoods and industrial sectors.

2.5. Embedding NEB values and principles

2.5.1.

The EESC strongly supports the Council Recommendation to mainstream NEB values and principles into national policies and funding instruments, as key for effective delivery on the ground and a bridge between EU and local levels. It also calls for synergies with LEADER and relevant Local Action Groups to support place-based local development, especially in rural, coastal and peripheral regions.

2.5.2.

Embedding NEB values and principles in legislative frameworks, policy measures and education systems is the most effective way to ensure practical delivery. KPIs for horizontal cross-cutting implementation would be helpful, as would the consideration of NEB principles in mandatory proportionality tests (3) for national legislation.

2.5.3.

The Public Procurement Directives are a key example, as they should stipulate that public authorities must give precedence to lifecycle and quality criteria, particularly for services shaping the built environment. Authorities should set clear, measurable performance targets, enabling successful bidders to propose equivalent alternatives and thus foster innovation. Circularity targets could, for example, include the use of secondary materials recycled from construction waste, such as sand, cement and aggregates.

2.5.4.

Such quality requirements are, in general, equally relevant in other areas, such as building legislation, the EU Taxonomy and professional qualification requirements. Professional excellence is an important lever for enhancing NEB values and principles.

2.5.5.

The NEB is a complex, evolving initiative that requires clear and precise communication. Its success depends not only on flagship projects, but also on everyday local implementation, targeted information and funding campaigns for local authorities and civil society organisations, supported by local NEB partners and National Contact Points. Urban and spatial planning professionals are key partners in bridging the gap between policymakers and communities and in turning NEB values and principles into concrete, systematic approaches.

2.6. Financing issues

2.6.1.

The NEB Facility, as a cross-cutting funding instrument, provides a balanced interim solution through its horizontal structure and mix of tools reflecting the NEB’s broad, bottom-up approach. The EESC stresses the need to secure dedicated, sustainable funding beyond 2027 for both NEB R&I and roll-out components, given the NEB’s strategic importance for the next multiannual financial framework. This should be based on an in-depth assessment of NEB funding outcomes and multiplier effects, while streamlining funding to avoid duplication and strengthen cooperation, for example with the Cities Mission.

2.6.2.

Improving access to funding for civil society organisations leading regional and local grassroots projects is essential, as these initiatives shape living environments, mobilise communities and engage diverse groups. The EESC urges the Commission to provide simplified, more easily accessible small-scale funding with lower administrative barriers, and stresses the that practical local support is essential, for example by planning professionals, social organisations and NEB national contact points.

2.6.3.

The EESC underlines the value of the NEB Investment Guidelines as practical tool for investors, developers and project owners to deliver high-quality NEB-aligned projects, and encourages their further development to include methods to measure social value, simplified tracks for small and rural municipalities and other improvements to enhance impact.

2.7. Assessment and evaluation

2.7.1.

The EESC notes that the NEB has already developed accessible, broadly applicable tools to align projects with its core values and principles, including the NEB Checklist for quick, user-friendly self-assessment of smaller projects and the NEB Compass as general guidance for decision-makers and project developers. Greater synergies with other relevant frameworks – such as Level(s), the European framework for sustainable buildings, and the Davos Baukultur Quality System – would be desirable.

2.7.2.

As the NEB is still relatively young, the EESC notes a lack of comprehensive data and evidence on user and resident experiences in NEB-aligned projects and calls for more data collection on improvements in wellbeing, safety, inclusion and participation. It also stresses the need to assess whether actions are sufficiently targeted and benefit those most at risk of marginalisation, and therefore welcomes the strong research focus on these issues.

3. Specific comments

3.1. Affordable housing

3.1.1.

Access to affordable, high-quality, sustainable, accessible, inclusive and resilient housing is both a social need and a social right and a key principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights. Housing is far more than shelter and has a major social dimension (4): the EESC therefore stresses the need to closely link affordability with the NEB values of sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion. The Affordable Housing Plan’s approach of encouraging national reforms on spatial planning, social housing, taxation and combatting the causes of the housing crisis such as shifts in demand, limited housing supply, rising construction costs and persistent productivity gaps is important, as in this context, coordinating measures at EU level can provide clear added value while respecting subsidiarity.

3.1.2.

Overcoming fossil fuel dependence and improving access to renewable energy sources is a major basis to make housing more affordable. The crucial role of the EPBD and the Renovation Wave in effectively implementing the NEB in the context of affordable housing and energy efficiency cannot be overstated.

3.1.3.

High-quality affordable housing aligned with NEB values and principles requires innovative approaches that are often hindered by excessive standardisation, which can also drive-up housing costs. It is therefore important to increase the acceptance and legal certainty of equivalent deviations from standards. Regulatory simplification is also essential to enable market access for many construction SMEs that lack the necessary administrative capacity.

3.1.4.

Housing cooperatives – e.g. co-ownership and mixed-tenure cooperatives – play an important role in tackling the EU housing crisis (5) and need to be included as key stakeholders in NEB activities.

3.1.5.

The EESC welcomes the NEB’s approach to promoting AI-powered analytics. In particular, patterns in tenant behaviour and in homelessness, data to identify individuals or families at risk, AI allocation of (social) housing and sustainability issues such as AI-powered optimisation of energy and land consumption could provide further solutions to help achieve sustainability, affordability and equal access to housing.

3.2. Circularity, sustainability resilience and innovation

3.2.1.

The EESC welcomes the NEB’s strong focus on fostering innovative, sustainable solutions and the many good practices developed in NEB Labs and projects and recommends a platform for easy public access to analyses and data. Greater attention, and funding, needs to be given to water resilience, biodiversity, land use, climate adaptation, resilience and nature-based solutions.

3.2.2.

Developing and scaling up new construction products and processes together with the professions shaping the built environment and the construction industry must remain a key focus, including through new cooperation models covering the whole-life-cycle, recyclability, reduced environmental impact, renewable energy, etc. Innovation approaches such as ‘renovation trains’, which bundle renovation works by area, housing type or type of work, also benefit public and private housing by reducing delays and costs and simplifying project management through pooled procedures under local authority supervision.

3.2.3.

The EESC stresses that better building maintenance and more efficient use of vacant or under-occupied buildings are important measures to save resources, avoid construction waste and provide affordable housing. It also calls for a stronger focus on reuse, recycling and upcycling techniques and processes.

3.2.4.

The EESC welcomes the Commission’s focus on a competitive, sustainable circular and bio-based economy, and calls on the Commission to explicitly frame the NEB as a strategic instrument for competitiveness and the Clean Industrial Deal, making its potential for green economic development more visible.

3.3. Transformation of neighbourhoods

3.3.1.

The EESC emphasises that neighbourhood resilience is key to the human right to quality living conditions. Human flourishing depends on wellbeing and a sense of belonging in social, cultural, political and economic communities (UN ICESCR Article 11(1)), protection from poverty, illness and disability, participation in public life and benefit from scientific progress. Links to historical built heritage and ecological functionality with a focus on climate adaptation are equally essential to a healthy living environment.

3.3.2.

An increasing number of cities, disproportionately affected by climate hazards, are struggling to meet these requirements. The conversion of residential areas into investment properties, rising rents, inflation and widening economic disparities are fuelling segregation and gentrification, pushing disadvantaged groups out of high-quality living spaces and to the margins of cultural, social, political and economic life.

3.3.3.

The EESC sees the NEB as a key initiative for addressing these challenges by promoting sustainable, inclusive and beautiful spaces, products and ways of living, while linking the human right to adequate living and access to essential services and opportunities with high-quality architectural spatial planning solutions for climate resilience. It also stresses the need to strengthen social diversity in neighbourhoods across Europe to promote social cohesion and prevent stigmatisation based on identity, culture, language, religion, gender, age, profession or education.

3.3.4.

The EESC therefore appreciates that numerous NEB-aligned projects have been developed. It is important for the new NEB Hub for Results and Impacts to systematically collect and analyse results and transfer the knowledge gained to all relevant stakeholders as an important step towards the necessary transformation from project-based to systematic NEB approaches.

3.4. Enhancing participation

3.4.1.

The EESC welcomes the NEB Council Recommendation on enhancing participation, local democracy and digital co-design tools in sustainable urban and neighbourhood development and particularly stresses the need for capacity-building and appropriate resources in regional and local authorities. Accessible funding and support are essential to boost participation, especially among disadvantaged groups often unable to engage in participatory processes. In this context, it should be noted that digital co-design tools often risk excluding vulnerable groups.

3.4.2.

The EESC fully supports gender-sensitive approaches. As women remain the main carers in society, better inclusion of women can broaden perspectives and help identify needs relevant to many other groups, including families, young children and young adults, older people and those requiring care.

3.4.3.

In this context, the EESC stresses the need to ensure that participation truly reflects the full diversity of civil society and neighbourhoods in terms of identity, culture, language, religion, gender, age, profession, education and more. It is therefore essential to support innovation and develop participatory tools that reach far beyond the educated middle class.

3.5. Education, arts and culture to boost creativity and innovation

3.5.1.

The EESC acknowledges the transformative power of education, arts and culture in fostering creativity and innovation, and their great potential to reach out to people and thus increase the participation of groups that are otherwise difficult to reach. Embedding NEB values and principles also in national and regional cultural policies is therefore essential.

3.5.2.

The EESC especially welcomes the efforts to integrate NEB values and principles into educational programmes and curricula as this is a very efficient way to achieve change and transformation based on awareness and knowledge and to enhance the broad dissemination of circular approaches.

3.6. NEB community

3.6.1.

As already noted, the EESC sees the NEB community as a major success factor and an excellent vehicle for dissemination, motivation, innovation and exchange of best practices.

3.6.2.

It fully supports efforts to further expand and diversify the community beyond the EU and particularly stresses the importance of including Ukraine, as has already occurred in several NEB Labs. This cooperation matters now and will become even more important during reconstruction.

3.7. Capacity-building

3.7.1.

The EESC sees education, continuous professional development, capacity-building, upskilling and reskilling – at different levels and for a range of topics and target groups – as key to delivering the NEB’s objectives successfully.

3.7.2.

Especially professions involved in shaping the (built) environment are at the forefront of a green transition rooted in NEB values and principles and therefore need continuous professional development, underpinned by high-quality education within the EU’s Union of Skills. The EESC also calls for flexible training pathways, including tailored support for vulnerable groups, to help people move to green and digital jobs.

3.7.3.

Constant upskilling and reskilling are needed across the construction sector but also beyond and must be continuously updated to keep pace with rapid, innovative technical and sociocultural developments, particularly in terms of sustainable and inclusive solutions.

3.7.4.

In this context, the EESC also highlights the important role of NEB Labs as spaces for experimentation, exchange and the development of ideas and innovation, delivering a wide range of valuable results.

3.7.5.

The EESC acknowledges the NEB Academy’s key role as infrastructure for knowledge, research, experimentation, innovation and skills, welcomes its further development, and is pleased that its consolidated structure will facilitate access and navigation. Accessible data are essential for implementing NEB values and principles and replicating best practices.

Brussels, 17 June 2026.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Séamus BOLAND

(1) Directive (EU) 2018/958 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 June 2018 on a proportionality test before adoption of new regulation of professions (OJ L 173, 9.7.2018, p. 25, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2018/958/oj).

(2) See OJ C 275, 18.7.2022, p. 73.

(3) Directive (EU) 2018/958.

(4) See OJ C, C/2025/771, 11.2.2025, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/771/oj, and OJ C, C/2025/5153, 28.10.2025, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/5153/oj.

(5) See OJ C, C/2026/26, 16.1.2026, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/26/oj.

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/4656/oj

ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)

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