EU puts AI and jobs at the centre of its 2027 Social Summit

The European Union will put artificial intelligence and its effects on jobs and society at the centre of its 2027 Social Summit. European Council President António Costa announced the theme on November 13 after an informal meeting of EU leaders in Dublin hosted by Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin. He said the leaders would return to AI on February 5, 2027, at their retreat in Alden Biesen, Belgium.

At the Social Summit, unions and employer organisations will have a chance to discuss changes to hiring and working conditions with EU leaders. The date of that summit is still to come.

Worker and employer groups will join the discussion

The 2027 summit will mark a decade since the European Pillar of Social Rights, a set of 20 principles that includes access to education and training throughout working life. The European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission jointly proclaimed it in Gothenburg, Sweden, in November 2017. At the October 2026 Tripartite Social Summit in Brussels, participants raised the likely impact of AI on jobs and businesses during a discussion centred on the EU budget and single market. The European Trade Union Confederation and BusinessEurope were among the groups represented there.

Geoffrey Hinton, a joint recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, joined the Dublin discussion on societal impacts and safety. In a note circulated before the meeting, the European Council asked leaders how to prepare labour markets for AI, protect fundamental rights and limit AI-enabled interference in elections. Its account after the meeting also records discussion of international safeguards for advanced AI.

Algorithmic management can include assigning shifts or using software to assess performance. The European Commission had already sought views on AI at work for its proposed Quality Jobs Act. Its second consultation with unions and employers ran through September 28. It asked how to make automated management decisions easier for workers to understand and how to prevent excessive monitoring. The Commission’s timetable places a legislative proposal at the end of 2026. That process was underway before the Dublin meeting.

The Commission’s July plan for implementing the Pillar called for a group of experts to examine the effects of AI on employment. It said the Commission would consider ways to help workplaces use software responsibly when assigning or evaluating work. The plan asks the experts to look at long-term employment scenarios and ways to give policymakers, businesses and unions earlier indications of changes in jobs.

A survey by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training gives a measure of the training issue. In 2024, the agency interviewed 5,342 wage and salary workers in 11 EU countries. Some 61% expected to need new skills or knowledge to deal with AI at work in the following five years. Just 15% reported taking part in AI-related training in the previous year.

The investment talks covered electricity as well as models

Arthur Mensch, co-founder and chief executive of France’s Mistral AI, joined the earlier discussion on competitiveness. The November 3 briefing identified dependence on suppliers outside Europe for advanced models, computing, semiconductors and cloud infrastructure. It asked leaders to consider how smaller businesses and public bodies could adopt AI at scale and what role demand from public institutions might play in attracting investment.

Costa said after the meeting that Europe would need public and private money for its own models, greater control over its supply chains and access to affordable clean power. He singled out the proposed European Competitiveness Fund, part of the next long-term budget, as a potential source of support.

The European Commission proposed the fund for the 2028–2034 budget cycle. Its proposal sets aside €51.5 billion for a digital policy area that covers strategic technologies including AI. The proposed fund would support startups, smaller businesses, larger companies and research institutions through stages from research to production and deployment. Any funding would depend on the budget negotiations.

The European Council calendar says it will post agenda highlights for the February 5 retreat about a week before the meeting.