Europe in transition: skills, AI and jobs at the heart of SOTEU 2026

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" - this is how European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen began her 2026 State of the European Union (SOTEU), addressing members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, 16 September 2026. The SOTEU annual address by the President of the European Commission takes stock of what has been achieved over the past year and highlights main priorities of the Union for the year ahead. 

The Dickensian comparison is very much spot on and, by all means, not random: Europe today finds itself in the midst of turbulent times, marked by the unprecedented speed of digital and frontier technology and an increasingly-uncertain, rapidly-changing geopolitical landscape. 

Investing in innovation: key to the future 

The key for investment in frontier technologies, innovation and research is not to let is stall. For every €1 invested in Horizon Europe, the EU economy will gain up to €11 by 2045.

Europe’s ability to act independently and remain competitive depends on ensuring that these technologies are not only deployed in Europe, but also designed, developed and manufactured here. President von der Leyen highlighted several ongoing Commission-backed initiatives that already work to translate this into practice: 

• The InvestAI initiative is projected to mobilise €200 billion in public and private investments. 
• The ApplyAI strategy aims to support European companies so they can adopt and benefit from AI in key sectors: from advanced manufacturing to healthcare. 
• Building an EU-centred digital infrastructure to enable global participation: 19 AI factories have already kicked off, and a call to establish Europe's first AI Gigafactories closes at the end of September 2026. The AI Gigafactories will expand the computing infrastructure required to train frontier AI models and support innovation scale-up. 

Upskilling and reskilling: cracking the puzzle 

President von der Leyen highlighted that in Europe, economic progress and social rights have to go hand by hand. Past (and future) initiatives of the European Commission therefore aim to boost not only economic prosperity - but also human capacity to respond to the challenges brought about by the digital era. 

• NextGenerationEU - the European Union's largest budget ever launched, has succeeded in disbursing funds of over  €440 billion, placing over 3.5 million Europeans in employment as a direct consequence of the initiative. 
• The Union of Skills strategy, launched by President von der Leyen, has resulted in over 10 million people benefitting from upskilling and reskilling initiatives alone. For 2025 only, this figure stands at 3.9 million. Going further, the Skills Guarantee will help workers to reskill and move away from sectors touched by the disruptive impact of the digital transition into more strategic sectors where skills shortages point to demand. 
• This means more investment  in upskilling and reskilling and helping companies adapt jobs as they adopt AI. 
• The Quality Jobs Roadmap represents another step in that same direction. The aim of the Roadmap is to support fair wages, good working conditions, strong health and safety standards, and smoother transitions between jobs and sectors. The Quality Jobs Act will build on this work and help ensure that competitiveness and workers’ protection continue to reinforce one another and thereby strengthening overall resilience. 

Skills formed part of a much broader agenda for a stronger and more independent Europe: von der Leyen also focused on competitiveness and industrial capacity, investment and innovation, affordable clean energy, stronger European technological capabilities, security and defence, support for Ukraine, climate resilience, migration, housing and the protection of democracy and fundamental rights. Across these priorities, the speech connected Europe’s capacity to compete and adapt with its ability to ensure that technological transformation translates into opportunity for people and regions.

© European Commission - EC Audiovisual Service