The European Centre’s 2026 Annual Report reflects a year of transition and consolidation amid challenging geopolitical, social and environmental conditions. A milestone was the management transition in March 2026, when Anette Scoppetta became Executive Director and Sonila Danaj Deputy Director. Between October 2025 and August 2026, the Centre completed or continued work on 23 projects, covering core areas of comparative social policy research such as poverty and inequality, ageing, long-term care, labour mobility, social inclusion, disability policy and EUROMOD.

The Centre also continued to expand its Bridge Building role across the UNECE region, particularly in the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries, and launched a new thematic seminar series in June 2026 for its members, starting with monitoring child poverty. The thematic seminars aim at an exchange of experiences and perspectives on key topics of interest to our members by reflecting their respective contexts. Participants of the 2026 thematic event jointly reflected on how monitoring can be strengthened to better support policy and improve outcomes for children. For the first time, the Annual Report also includes visuals such as maps on our Partners. Read more and download the report here.