COMMISSION PUBLISHES 2026 WORK PROGRAMME
On 21 October, the European Commission published its 2026 Work Programme, outlining key legislative and non-legislative initiatives for the year ahead. Alongside the Work Programme, the Commission released the annual progress reports from each Commissioner, covering the period from January to July 2025.
The 2026 Work Programme aims to deliver on key priorities such as strengthening Europe’s Single Market, supporting strategic industrial sectors, defence and security, and enhancing Europe’s global partnerships, including with Ukraine and Moldova.
With regard to transport, the Commission announced its intention to update the EU ETS for maritime, aviation and stationary installations (Q3 2026), present a Fair Labour Mobility Package (Q3 2026), an Omnibus on taxation (Q2 2026), a Communication on the Defence Single Market (Q1 2026), and a legislative initiative to modernised rules to combat organised crime (Q3 2026).
In the annual progress report of Transport Commissioner Tzitzikostas, the ongoing work to stress-test the EU transport acquis to identify areas requiring revision or simplification was noted. This includes a fitness check of three EU legal acts governing access and service pricing at Europe’s airports (the EU Airport Package). In the area of sustainable transport, ongoing work aims to identify regulatory gaps and inconsistencies between the FuelEU Maritime Regulation, the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation, and the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation, as well as with other legislation forming part of the ‘Fit for 55’ package, drawing on feedback from industry stakeholders.
Source: European Commission