A plan presented in Brussels
On September 29, the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament presented a ten-point action plan aimed at making life more affordable for European citizens — an intervention that lands as the cost of living climbs back toward the top of the continent's political agenda.
The liberals' plan responds to citizens' calls for Europe to answer an escalating affordability crisis, with inflation set to peak in late 2026 as the Middle East conflict drives up energy prices. It is designed to work alongside the EU's medium-term objectives, such as phasing out fossil fuels, rather than against them.
"Our citizens and in turn our businesses are being crippled by excessive bureaucracy, gold-plating by Member State governments, and a cost-of-living crisis that is making life harder for families," said Renew Europe's First Vice President, Billy Kelleher of Ireland's Fianna Fáil party. "That is not the Europe our citizens want, and it is not the Europe that liberals and democrats will accept any longer. Affordable homeownership and a fair rental market must become the norm, and must once again become the bedrock of a strong European economic and society."
Danish liberal Sigrid Friis put the moral case more starkly: it is high time tackling the cost of living became the "number one priority" in Europe, she said, regretting that 20 million children in the EU are at risk of poverty and social exclusion.
Why inflation is back
The timing is no accident. Europe's inflation, which had been brought under control after the energy shocks of the early 2020s, is expected to peak again in late 2026. The driver is familiar: conflict in the Middle East has pushed energy prices higher, and those costs are flowing through supply chains into food, transport and household bills.
The Renew Europe text does not mince words about the external pressures either. "Too many European families, workers, and businesses are buckling under the weight of soaring costs," the group said. "While Europe cannot choose the American President, whose actions have deepened our challenges, we can choose to act."
It is an unusually direct reference to Donald Trump's tariff and trade policies, which European leaders across the political spectrum say are adding to the continent's economic strain. The message from the liberals: Europe's response must be its own.
What the ten points contain
Energy sits at the centre of the plan. Renew Europe wants faster integration of Europe's energy market, including speeding up the granting of permits for projects that interconnect national grids — the cross-border power lines that allow cheap renewable electricity to flow where it is needed. The group also wants investment on a massive scale in renewable energy, framed as both an affordability measure and a security one.
"Energy bills are taking up far too much of Europeans' monthly budgets," Friis said. "We have the responsibility to invest massively in renewable energy. We owe that to citizens, businesses and our security. By investing in renewables, Europe can break free from energy dependencies, strengthen our economy and take charge of our own future with homegrown, cheap energy."
She described the approach as a potential "win-win solution": bringing down prices, especially energy prices, while enabling the EU to decarbonise its economy. In a notable aside on the role of data centres in rising energy consumption, Friis argued that priority must first go to citizens — noting that, in her view, Denmark is doing the opposite — while Kelleher suggested data centres could also deliver technological solutions in energy efficiency, provided production capacity grows alongside demand.
The plan also takes aim at the EU's internal trade barriers. Member state leaders are invited to present, at the next European Council, "a list of national trade barriers they commit to remove" — a push to make the single market work harder for consumers. Other measures include the urgent mobilisation of the European Social Fund+ to help the most vulnerable households, and swift implementation of the EU's action plan on affordable housing.
Housing: the other half of the crisis
Housing is the plan's second pillar, and it builds on earlier Renew Europe work. In September the group welcomed the EU's Affordable Housing Act package as an important step, while arguing that new rules must form part of a broader drive to increase supply and bring down costs. The framework would give national, regional and local authorities greater legal certainty to act in areas facing severe housing pressure, with common criteria for identifying housing-stress areas and clarified powers to address short-term rentals and other non-primary uses of residential homes.
But managing demand is not enough on its own, the group argues: Europe must make it quicker and easier to build and renovate homes, bring vacant and derelict properties back into use, and mobilise public and private investment to increase supply.
"Finding somewhere affordable to live has become one of the biggest barriers facing young Europeans," said Ciarán Mullooly, the Irish MEP who vice-chairs the European Parliament's special committee on the housing crisis. "These measures must be fair, proportionate and based on clear evidence. But managing demand is only part of the answer. We also need to build more homes, bring vacant properties back into use and help people overcome the immediate barriers to finding somewhere to live."
The political calculus
Renew Europe is positioning itself deliberately. The group's leaders argue that the affordability crisis is where elections will be won and lost — and that the far right is already exploiting it. At a Paris strategy meeting earlier in September, the group warned that the far right is gaining ground, as shown by the recent election in Saxony-Anhalt, and that "simply condemning is not enough — people need real answers and a credible vision for the future."
The ten-point plan is designed to be that answer: concrete, deliverable, and framed around kitchens and pay packets rather than institutional abstractions. It also puts pressure on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, whom Renew has been pressing to turn European ambition into visible results on energy bills, housing and the cost of living.
The group's September plenary priorities set the same agenda: lowering energy bills through clean power, modern grids and reduced import dependence; easing single market barriers; increasing affordable housing supply; and backing a stronger EU budget to match the ambitions.
What happens next
An action plan from a parliamentary group is a starting gun, not a finish line. The real tests will come in the Commission's response, the Council's willingness to name and remove national trade barriers, and the speed at which permitting and housing measures move from paper to practice.
But the politics are clear. With inflation forecast to peak within months and 20 million children at risk of poverty, affordability has become Europe's defining domestic issue — and the party that owns the answer may own the next electoral cycle. "A Europe where parents skip meals to feed their children is not the Europe we accept," Renew Europe said. The question now is whether Brussels can act fast enough to change it.
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