The starting point of the EESC opinion on the 2026 European Semester – Autumn Package, unanimously adopted by the EESC's Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion on 5 February, is that Europe's main liability is its chronic lack of investment. This gap undermines productivity, innovation and, ultimately, the continent's strategic sovereignty.
The starting point of the EESC opinion on the 2026 European Semester – Autumn Package, unanimously adopted by the EESC's Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion on 5 February, is that Europe's main liability is its chronic lack of investment. This gap undermines productivity, innovation and, ultimately, the continent's strategic sovereignty.
While acting with appropriate foresight is urgent, the EESC regrets that, for the second consecutive year, the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey (ASGS) is absent from the package, despite being an integrated and forward-looking analytical tool that the EU desperately needs.
In the opinion, which contains 18 recommendations on the 2026 European Semester Autumn Package, the EESC outlines a united European response to multiple crises, from geopolitical instability and the climate crisis to Europe's increasingly dramatic technological and digital gap, as well as the demographic challenges.
Our 18 recommendations can be condensed into five key political priorities that must anchor an ambitious reset of EU economic governance:
Large-scale investments ─ Europe needs a common fiscal capacity, supported by targeted European debt issuance, and permanent macroeconomic stabilisation instruments modelled on the success of the SURE instrument. Without a significant leap in investments in infrastructure, technologies, welfare (including housing policies) and human capital, Europe will not be able to compete.
Integrated capital markets ─ Financial fragmentation is a political and economic obstacle. The Committee proposes a radical solution: it calls on the Commission to assess whether a regulatory framework like the US National Securities Markets Improvement Act (NSMIA) of 1996 could be a model for simplifying cross-border access, reducing regulatory fragmentation and, finally, creating a true single European capital market, instead of 27 siloed systems. Only in this way can European savings finance European investments.
Strengthened economic and social governance ─ The EU's response must combine competitiveness and social equity. The Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP) and the debt sustainability analysis (DSA) methodology must be reviewed, the Social Scoreboard strengthened and well-being indicators introduced, as proposed by the Joint Research Centre. Governance structures must treat social convergence and investment on an equal footing with fiscal surveillance. Regulatory simplification must not overlook the benefits of the European social model and must avoid jeopardising 'green' investments, which are so crucial for collective competitiveness and resilience.
Human capital as strategic infrastructure ─ The EESC views the new recommendation included in the Commission's package very positively because training, skills and mutual recognition of qualifications are not optional – they are a strategic necessity. However, it is time to move from words to action, providing clear binding investment guidance to Member States in next spring's country-specific recommendations.
European cooperation on defence ─ Strengthening autonomous defensive capability is essential, but uncoordinated national spending risks inefficiency, dependence on non-EU suppliers and, ultimately, more unsustainable debt. The EESC calls on the Commission to strengthen conditionalities for collaborative procurement, prioritise truly European projects, and anchor defence investments within a cohesive EU governance strategy, beyond the temporary escape clause for a few Member States.
Finally, the Committee underscores once again the need for a more democratic European Semester: social partners and civil society must not be passive observers, but active architects of the strategic reforms Europe needs. They must truly sit at the table ─ not be on the menu.
The EESC declares itself ready to fully support a European Semester worthy of our common ambitions – competitiveness, resilience and social and territorial cohesion – for a European sovereign sustainability.
