From innovation and medicines to investment and resilience, health is increasingly tied to Europe’s wider political choices. Ahead of SOTEU, we had the chance to speak with MEPs about what comes next.
MEP Alex Agius Saliba (S&D, Malta) said the SOTEU is a crucial moment to assess what has been delivered during the first half of the European parliamentary term and what can be expected from the Commission in its second half.
He highlighted social policy and workers’ rights as key priorities, stressing that more needs to be done to deliver on commitments such as the Quality Jobs Act, which was intended to address telework, the use of AI in the workplace and the right to disconnect.
He also stressed the need for greater European resilience, including stronger links with other continents and continued engagement through trade agreements.
Agius Saliba said Europe needs to become “resilient when it comes to the whole digital ecosystem”, including having its own platforms, cloud infrastructure and digital capabilities. Without this resilience, he warned, Europe will “continue to end up buying and using AI, using platforms, using infrastructure that is not aligned with our values”.
He argued that certainty and predictability are essential to encourage investors and innovators to invest in new technologies, with legislation that is future-proof and gives them confidence that the infrastructure, software and AI they develop will remain in line with legislation in the coming years.
He stressed the importance of investing more in “digital sovereignty, especially when it comes to artificial intelligence”, so that European citizens have “an option to use ethical AI, an AI that works for the people and not against them.” He said that, at work, employees should be informed when AI is being used to monitor or assess them, while intrusive and unethical uses of AI should be prevented.
MEP argued that, in digital terms, Europe needs “a level of sovereignty, a level of resilience” and the development of European AI.
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15.09.2026.
