At the end of July 2026, the European Commission adopted a new Communication on the European Pillar of Social Rights, renewing its commitment to Social Europe ahead of the Pillar’s 10th anniversary in 2027. Building on the 2021 Action Plan, the Communication takes stock of progress towards the EU’s 2030 social targets and sets out new priorities on affordability, artificial intelligence, and equal opportunities.
The Communication is not focused on LGBTQIA+ rights specifically. But it embeds them where they belong: inside the wider Union of Equality framework, alongside strategies on gender equality, disability rights, anti-racism and Roma inclusion. The Commission explicitly commits to monitor the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy through regular reporting, and reaffirms the Employment Equality Directive (2000/78/EC), which prohibits workplace discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Member States are called on to ensure that sanctions for discrimination are effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
For EPBN, several other elements of the Communication carry particular weight. The Commission recognises that AI systems used in hiring, promotion and workforce management can reproduce or amplify bias, and points to the AI Act as the framework to safeguard against algorithmic discrimination. It commits to guidance on inclusive hiring practices through the EU Platform of Diversity Charters. And it explicitly names civil society as a key partner in shaping inclusive employment policy.
EPBN’s engagement, and where our position was reflected
The Communication follows a broad consultation process in which EPBN participated. Building on our meetings in 2025 and 2026 with Mario Nava (Head of DG Employment) and Katarina Ivankovic Knezevic (Director for Social Rights and Inclusion DG Employment), we submitted a formal contribution to the public consultation last spring, setting out our priorities for the new Action Plan (see full contribution attached below).
In that contribution, EPBN identified workplace discrimination as the single most relevant barrier to equal opportunities in the EU, ranked the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy among the three most impactful initiatives of the 2021 Action Plan, and flagged the growing risks posed by AI-based monitoring and surveillance tools for LGBTQIA+ workers. Each of these concerns is visible, in one form or another, in the Commission’s new text.
“This Communication confirms something important: LGBTQIA+ inclusion is not an add-on to Social Europe. It is embedded in it,” says Lucia Urciuoli, EPBN Advocacy Manager. “The progress since 2021 is not sufficient, but it is not insignificant either. What matters now is that the Commission turns commitment into enforcement, and that Member States match the ambition of the framework with real action on the ground.”
What still needs to happen
The Communication does not go as far as EPBN and many of our partners called for. In our consultation submission, we asked the Commission to propose a European Directive on DEI that would require Member States to transpose common minimum standards into national law, and to oblige employers, tailored by size and sector, to adopt, report on and enforce DEI measures. We also called on the Commission to reconsider the withdrawal of the Equal Treatment Directive proposal, or to introduce a new proposal to close the critical gaps in EU anti-discrimination law. Neither is yet on the table.
Protections in EU law also still do not explicitly extend to gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. Closing that gap remains a core objective of EPBN’s Advocacy Programme, together with our members and partners across Europe.
The Communication is a step. The direction is right. The work continues.
Read: Communication on the European Pillar of Social Rights and EPBN Action Plan to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights.
