How can Europe keep fundamental rights protected as societies undergo profound change? A new report from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) explores the transformations that could shape fundamental rights by 2040. A companion guide outlines practical ways of integrating fundamental rights in foresight exercises. Together, the products show how foresight can help anticipate risks and keep fundamental rights safeguards effective and enforceable in the years ahead.

The report ‘Fundamental rights in an uncertain future: Strategic foresight for Europe 2040’ examines how people’s rights could be affected by technology, the climate crisis, economic transformation, democratic and security challenges, and preparedness policies and measures. It considers how these developments interact and what they could mean for public decisions, institutions and access to justice.

It then explores six pathways for a rights-based future for Europe, with practical examples of how safeguards and institutions could respond to emerging risks:

• Embedding fundamental rights in decision-making: using fundamental rights impact assessments and rights-based budgeting to identify how policy and public spending affect people, and whether safeguards work in practice.
• Strengthening democratic participation and resilience: ensuring public participation feeds directly into decision-making; supporting civil society groups, community organisations, the media and educational institutions. Stress-testing democratic institutions against pressures such as disinformation and prolonged emergencies.
• Keeping oversight and remedies effective: strengthening monitoring, review and independent oversight to identify emerging harms to fundamental rights, support institutional learning and ensure safeguards remain effective as conditions change
• Aligning innovation with fundamental rights: involving affected communities in technology design, and ensuring testing and independent assessments to identify harms before technologies are widely deployed.
• Ensuring a fair and inclusive environmental transition: supporting people and communities affected by the climate change by sharing the costs, risks and benefits of climate and environmental measures so they do not deepen existing inequalities. Bringing the interests of future generations into today’s decisions.
• Preparing societies for disruption and change: keeping essential services such as healthcare, housing and social protection running when crises hit. Stress-testing whether fundamental rights safeguards and access to justice would hold up under pressures like cyberattacks, climate shocks or economic downturns. Making sure emergency measures remain lawful, proportionate, open to challenge and temporary.

The accompanying ‘Embedding fundamental rights in foresight: A guide for practitioners’ explains how to integrate fundamental rights considerations in foresight exercises. It sets out six principles, with practical examples of how to apply them. They cover legality, relevance, participation, equality and non-discrimination, reliability, and transparency and accountability.

The report and guide aim to help policymakers, human rights organisations and foresight practitioners identify emerging fundamental rights challenges, make more informed choices and prepare for change. They form part of FRA’s wider work on strategic foresight.

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O'Flaherty, conducted a visit to Norway from 19 to 23 October 2026. The visit focused on the human rights of older persons living in long-term care facilities, as part of the Commissioner's broader engagement on this issue across Council of Europe member states. The Commissioner also examined issues concerning the environment and human rights.

Meeting older persons’ evolving care needs, wherever they live

The Commissioner welcomes Norway’s efforts to support older persons to live at home, maintain their health and participate in society as the population ages, including through the provision of home-based care. However, he observes that stringent criteria for admission to residential facilities may delay access to appropriate care, notwithstanding the degree of care needs. In this regard, he welcomes recent budget proposals for additional round-the-clock care places and encourages the authorities to ensure timely access to adequate home-based or residential care for all those who require it.

Geographical disparities in the availability and quality of care, particularly regarding remote and sparsely populated areas, need to be further addressed. Municipal responsibilities for care provision should be matched by adequate resources, including through the appropriate allocation and use of block grants. Further capital investment is needed to develop and modernise relevant care facilities and adapt them to climate change.

Addressing staffing challenges, advancing culturally competent care and ensuring technology supports rights

The Commissioner was informed of commonplace staffing shortages, heavy workloads and high staff turnover, with vacancies often covered by temporary workers. Measures to ease workforce pressures and improve efficiency, including through the use of technology, should be carefully assessed to ensure that they do not compromise the quality or continuity of care, or affect rights, including the right to privacy. While he commends the strong tradition of volunteering in the care sector, the Commissioner notes reports of increasing reliance on families and volunteers, whose valuable contribution should complement, not substitute for, professional care.

The Commissioner encourages the authorities to ensure that long-term care services take account of the geographical, linguistic and cultural barriers that older Sámi persons may face. Further developing care staff’s cultural competencies and abilities to respond to individual needs and ensuring that technology also supports communication in Sámi languages can contribute to rights-compliant, person-centred care of Sámi people.

Safeguarding older persons’ dignity, autonomy and human rights

Concerning the protection of older persons’ dignity, autonomy and human rights in care homes, the Commissioner recalls the importance of:

• Strengthening safeguards and ensuring that care staff receive appropriate human rights related training;
• More regular inspections, adequate resources for independent oversight bodies, including the Parliamentary Ombudsman, and effective follow-up to their findings; and
• Effective access to justice for care home residents whose rights have not been respected.

Aligning environmental and climate policies with international commitments and human rights standards

The Commissioner welcomes Norway’s recognition of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment in its Constitution. He also takes note of the Climate Change Act as amended in 2025. Norway also plays a significant role in international climate and forest-protection initiatives, and leads in the use of renewable energy.

The Commissioner observes the tension between Norway’s position as a climate leader and its role as a major fossil-fuel exporter with the substantial carbon footprint that follows. He also notes concerns regarding the protection of the human rights of the Sámi people in the context of green transition projects. The Commissioner was informed of the high costs incurred by civil society organisations when litigating matters related to environmental and climate protection, as well as concerns regarding fines imposed on peaceful protesters.

While acknowledging the complex geopolitical context and Europe’s current energy security needs, the Commissioner notes that these considerations must not come at the expense of human rights obligations, including the principles laid out by the European Court of Human Rights in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland and the International Court of Justice in its Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change, as well as the obligation to respect and protect Sámi people’s human rights. Although states enjoy a wide margin of appreciation in determining the operational means through which they implement climate policies, this discretion is not unlimited. Climate protection must be accorded considerable weight when balancing competing national interests. The Commissioner encourages Norway to further strengthen its role in combating climate change and the adverse effects thereof, including by considering supporting the development of a binding Council of Europe instrument that recognises the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

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During the visit, the Commissioner met with the Minister of Climate and Environment, Sigrun Aasland; the State Secretary of the Ministry for Health and Care Services, Usman Mushtaq; the State Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Agnete Masternes Hanssen; the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Astrid Bergmål; and the State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, Ole Martin Stenberg Slyngstadli. He also met with members of the National Delegation of Norway to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; the President of the Sámi Parliament, Silje Karine Muotka; the Director of the National Human Rights Institution (NIM), Kai Spurkland, and NIM experts; representatives of the Parliamentary Ombud and the Oslo and Akershus Patient and User Ombud; research centres, civil society organisations, and a representative of the Council of Elders of the Sámi Parliament.

He visited the 'Carpe Diem Dementia Village' in Bærum and the 'Lørenskog Nursing Home', where he also engaged with staff, family members of residents, and representatives of the local authorities. He delivered a lecture at Oslo University, hosted by the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights. He thanks all his interlocutors for their openness and constructive engagement.

Ombudswoman Anjinho has asked the European Commission to further strengthen accountability and transparency in the use of AI by external experts evaluating applications for EU funding programmes.

The Ombudswoman recognised the recent update to the Commission’s Code of Conduct for evaluators, which now specifies that AI should be used for ancillary tasks only and documented, as an improvement but noted that it needed to go further.

She asked the Commission to explore more detailed recording by evaluators, including whether AI was used, for what purpose, and what its specific contribution was. To ensure better oversight, this information should be proactively provided alongside the evaluators’ reviews to the relevant EU funding bodies.

The Ombudswoman’s suggestion followed a complaint by a company whose application for a grant was refused. The complainant contested the outcome, arguing that the evaluation was carried out by AI.

The Ombudswoman found that the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) gave clear and reasonable explanations in response to the complainant’s arguments, including that the limited use of AI in evaluating the complainant’s proposal was acceptable. 

However, the Ombudswoman decided that it was important to inquire into the overall use of AI by experts who advise the Commission, EISMEA, and other agencies. She asked the Commission for information on this matter as it supervises EU funding programmes and sets the rules for external experts.

The inquiry noted that the current situation where relevant experts are asked for documentation of their AI use only in response to a specific complaint may not be sufficiently reliable.

The Ombudswoman has asked the Commission to reply to her findings by the end of April 2027, outlining any actions it has taken in response to her suggestion.

Background

The European Innovation Council’s ‘Accelerator’ programme is a funding programme under Horizon Europe that offers support to start-ups and SMEs.

The complainant applied for funds under this programme in 2023 and their application was refused in 2024. Dissatisfied with EISMEA’s replies to their complaints, the complainant turned to the Ombudsman Office in October 2025.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), Paul McFadden, has today published the SPSO annual report for 2025-26, reporting a further record rise in complaints about public services and highlighting increasing strain on the complaints system.

The Ombudsman has reported an unprecedented 31% rise in complaints compared to the year before, with the number of people seeking SPSO’s help increasing to a historic high of 6,500. 

Nearly three quarters of complaints received relate to health, social care and local authority services. However, for the first time in recent years, complaints about local authority services accounted for the largest proportion of complaints, making up around 33% of all complaints received.

The SPSO has continued to meet this growing demand through large increases in efficiency, streamlined and proportionate approaches to complaints, and improvements in how it explains decisions. 

Across 2025-26, the organisation increased the number of its complaints decisions by 17% compared to the previous year, following similar levels of increase in recent years. This brings the increase in its output to nearly 50% over 6 years.

Whistleblowing concerns and contacts from NHS staff also increased by a third, to their highest levels since the Independent National Whistleblowing Service was established in 2021. Whistleblowing investigation times reduced by around a quarter. 

Despite these achievements, the accelerating growth in complaints continues to outstrip the organisations’ ability to investigate and respond to complaints in a timely way. The Ombudsman has highlighted his concerns over a substantial and growing gap between demand and capacity and SPSO’s ability to sustain levels of service. 

He also comments on the drivers of increased complaints, with growing numbers reflective of public service pressures and a consistent pattern seen by other Ombudsman throughout the UK. 

The increasing use of Artificial Intelligence tools to generate complaints is a significant contributing factor, bringing changes in the number, nature and complexity of complaints. While these tools can help citizens articulate concerns, understand their rights and access complaints processes more easily, they are also, more often, generating submissions that are longer, containing information not relevant to the circumstances of their complaint, or taking the complaint away from the root issue.

Reflecting on the year’s performance, Paul McFadden, Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, said:

"SPSO has responded effectively to the challenges placed on our service, delivering record levels of complaints decisions and demonstrating significant resilience and agility to continue to change and evolve how we deliver our service. 

However, the upward trend in complaints is continuing through 2026-27 and brings risks to delivery and growing wait times.

As these pressures increase, we continue to evolve how we work, focusing our resources and new technologies where there is the greatest need, the most significant public interest and the highest risk of injustice.

In the midst of these pressures, we must not lose sight of SPSO’s wider value to public service improvement with insights from complaints having an essential contribution to make to prevention and seeking to retain the trust and confidence of the public.”