In Europe
Following the 2024 European elections, the Austrian government nominated Brunner as the country's European Commissioner serving under President Ursula von der Leyen. Some journalists made Brunner in part responsible for the handling of Austria's desolate finances and concluded that he was the wrong choice for the position as European Commissioner.
In July 2025, Brunner was among several European officials declared "persona non grata" by the Government of National Stability in eastern Libya after he and the said officials held an earlier meeting with officials of the rival Government of National Unity in Tripoli.
As European Commissioner, Brunner has advocated for "return hubs" in countries outside the EU for migrants who have been ordered to be deported from the EU. In 2026 he stated: "People who do not have the right to stay in the European Union must be returned effectively. (…) This is what EU citizens expect, and that is what we must deliver."
In his capacity as EU Commissioner, Brunner has been involved in the implementation of the EU–India comprehensive framework of cooperation on mobility, signed in January 2026 as part of the India–European Union Free Trade Agreement. The framework facilitates legal pathways for skilled workers, young professionals, and seasonal workers seeking employment in labour-shortage sectors across the European Union. In February 2026, the European Commission established the European Legal Gateway Office in New Delhi to connect Indian talent with EU employers, a move Brunner described as a "new level of mutually beneficial cooperation." In May 2026, Brunner met with India's Minister of State for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, on the margins of a United Nations forum in New York to review bilateral cooperation and discuss migration and mobility governance under the framework.
Brunner oversaw the entry into application of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum on 12 June 2026, describing the comprehensive reform as the beginning of a broader operational implementation process. He emphasized strict compliance with the new rules, noting that the pact establishes a comprehensive and legally binding European framework for all member states, with the European Commission supporting and monitoring national implementation plans.
In June 2026, amid the Ukrainian conscription crisis, Brunner presented a European Commission proposal to extend the Temporary Protection Directive, an emergency mechanism granting collective asylum to displaced persons fleeing the Russo-Ukrainian War, until March 2028. The proposal would exclude newly arriving Ukrainian men aged 23 to 60 subject to mobilization from automatic temporary protection, at the request of the Ukrainian government. Brunner stated: "This is what Ukraine has asked us to do, and this is what we are doing."
