European Economic
and Social Committee
NEWS ON OUR ACTIVITIES: The EESC TEN section’s achievements and upcoming challenges
Over the past five years the EU has experienced the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, mounting energy prices and inflation rates, and an increase in energy poverty. The transport sector has been one of the hardest hit by the crisis (supply chain disruptions, steep falls in travel and tourism, reduced connectivity). During the COVID-19 crisis it was popular to criticise electricity markets, with ‘radical’ reforms proposed either to preserve short-term markets or to complement them with long-term instruments to guide investment. The EESC's section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society (TEN) has been an ally to the European Parliament, European Commission and Council in achieving a balance and ensuring that the views of civil society organisations, workers and businesses are borne in mind. My efforts as section president have been supported by the hard work of our dedicated members as well as by the section’s very effective bureau and secretariat, to whom I am grateful.
Consensus is the essence of our Committee’s activities, and an approach we have consistently applied in the section. Our work has always demonstrated the goodwill of our members and their groups. Building consensus also means working with other sections and sharing work and events, as we have done for example in our cross-cutting work on energy transition during the energy crisis, the Blue Deal and the cost-of-living crisis. Universal access to high-quality drinking water and sanitation at affordable prices should be regarded as a service of general interest, and in view of that the TEN section contributed to the EESC’s EU Blue Deal project with an opinion focusing on water infrastructure (EESC opinion TEN/804).
Persistently high consumer prices are dangerous as they erode purchasing power, lead to a deterioration in the social situation of households and negatively affect living standards. The cost-of-living crisis continues to weigh heavily on people’s lives across the European Union, and the TEN section has therefore produced an opinion looking at the question of how a comprehensive housing policy can reduce the cost-of-living crisis in the EU (EESC opinion TEN/841).
Reconciling all of these different tasks has not been easy and we have certainly done our best to ensure that the TEN section has operated smoothly over the last five years. I want to stress how important it is, in view of our role as representatives of the EESC, to work while bearing in mind that we have to provide an example for EU citizens, for taxpayers, for men and women whose trust and faith in EU institutions is challenged every day by difficult times. I will never be tired of renewing the message that we need to treat each other with mutual respect and empathy, since, despite the different views we may have, we are all working for the same cause – Europe!
Baiba MILTOVIČA (Latvia)
President, TEN section, EESC
Board Member, Latvian National Association for Consumer Protection (LPIAA)
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