On 3 June 2026, the European Semester 2026 Spring Package was published by the European Commission. The macro-level process coordinating Member States’ policies reached its stage of annual country-specific recommendations (CSRs). The following day, Social Platform and its delegation of members presented its views at the bi-annual meeting of the Social Protection Committee and the Employment Committee on the European Semester.
Key points
The Spring Package this year had a stronger emphasis on social fairness and cohesion, naming them an economic priority.
This year’s sharper focus on the social dimension is partly due to the Council Recommendation on Human Capital, launched as part of the Autumn Package and since then adopted in Council. The Recommendation aims at promoting skills and education to tackle skills shortages on the labour market. We highlighted that the departure point for investing in our social model needs to be the European Pillar of Social Rights, taking a broader scope than skills development for the labour market.
The overall objective of the European Semester remains boosting competitiveness and maintaining fiscal sustainability, with the Competitiveness Compass remaining its guiding framework. Fostering upward social convergence was missing in this declaration of intent in the Communication on the Spring Package, albeit the implementation of the Pillar of Social Rights is cited.
This year, 10 Member States have been identified to undergo the excessive deficit procedure. In this respect, it is important to highlight that fiscal tightening must not come at the cost of Europe’s social foundations – especially as households continue to buckle under severe cost-of-living and housing pressures.
The integration of the Social Convergence Framework into the Semester process has proven beneficial. It helps shift the focus more to social inclusion and social rights, which can still be further strengthened to give equal weight to social convergence as macroeconomic imbalances procedures.
A new element of the Package concerns energy systems, due to the crisis in the Middle East. Similarly to the aim of enhancing the EU’s defence readiness last year, in 2026 the European Semester opens up additional fiscal space for Member States to include measures to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels under the National Escape Clause.
Some thematic aspects of the package
Poverty & Social Exclusion
There are 16 CSRs calling for addressing poverty in some way, similarly to last year. In many cases however, another recommendation for the same Member State will point to the “fiscal sustainability” of social protection/pension systems, which could be interpreted as a reduction of social investments.
The recently launched EU Anti-Poverty Strategy has had a positive impact on the European Semester. The new Employment Guidelines, also part of the Spring Package, specifically call on Member States “to ensure anti-poverty policy frameworks”. Social Platform welcomes this and has been asking for national anti-poverty strategies to be encouraged by EU policies.
Housing continues to feature prominently in the Semester, in particular increasing housing supply. Preventing and tackling homelessness, including through integrated support services, must be seen as a central issue of the housing agenda and more attention paid to supporting the lowest income households.
Discrimination, in particular intersectional discrimination (discrimination on multiple grounds) could have been better addressed in the Spring Package. It is mentioned as an issue in some country reports but not in the country-specific recommendations. The discrimination of certain groups in particularly vulnerable situation, such as the Roma, are not addressed specifically in the CSRs.
Skills & Quality Jobs
The narrative that skills contribute to competitiveness is prominent in the 2026 Spring Package. We welcome the recognition that “further efforts are needed to better integrate underrepresented groups into education, training, and the labour market”. The Employment Guidelines specifically promotes the development of social economy and Work Integration Social Enterprises to this end.
Education and learning across the lifecycle, from early childhood education and care to skills for older age groups are seen as foundational investment in human capital, and as such key for future economic productivity. Whilst we welcomed the investments into ensuring that initial socio-economic disadvantages do not solidify into permanent skills gaps, we emphasised the role of education system and services as a means to a more equal society, beyond a stepping stone to the labour market.
We welcomed the projected initiatives announced in the Social Package from 6 May 2026 on the possible direction of EU action to support the activation of persons excluded from the labour market; and the proposal for a Council Recommendation to support easier and integrated access to services.
The link to the MFF
It is confirmed by the Spring Package, as well as the regulations establishing the next Multiannual Financial Framework, that the 2026 Semester cycle will be very relevant for the next programming period. It is vital, that – precisely due to the short and sometimes conflicting messages in the CSRs – programming under the next National Regional Partnership Plans and the European Social Fund expenditures are not just underpinned by the CSRs, but also by the deeper analysis of the country reports, the social scoreboard and Social Convergence Framework findings, as well as the Pillar of Social Rights 20 principles and the recently published Social Package.
We note that the Social Package of 6 May includes deeper guidance as to the design of national anti-poverty strategies, strengthening the Child Guarantee, fighting housing exclusion and the implementation of the EU Disability Strategy, all of which civil society is expecting to be reflected in setting priorities for social investment through the next MFF.
Civil dialogue
The Package calls on Member States to implement the CSRs in cooperation with civil society. Civil dialogue at all levels is a priority that Social Platform continues to raise with regard to the implementation of the European Semester throughout the whole process.
Next steps
The Council will adopt the Spring Package documents in the coming weeks, following which Member States will start implementing the recommendations. Social Platform will continue its engagement with decision-makers, including the European Commission, on the social dimension of the European Semester and the involvement of CSOs in the process.
Find out more about the European Semester and Social Platform’s work to monitor, analyse and input into this important process.
