The EESC underlines that youth participation mechanisms need to be transparent and that the interests and concerns of young people need to be considered at each stage of the policy-making cycle. It proposes that guidelines are set up to support the monitoring and dissemination of the EUYD (EU Youth Dialogue) outcomes and impact and that an online repository be set up where collected documents would be made available. It calls on the Commission and the Member States to support long-term, sustainable and well-functioning management of the EUYD, including the establishment of institutional memory and capacity building processes.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) was asked by the upcoming Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU to produce an exploratory opinion on paving the way to EU accession for the Western Balkans, underlining the benefits of the future enlargement to the region from a holistic point of view.
Consumers are increasingly mindful of environmental and social issues when buying products, emphasizing the importance of information on product origin and distribution in their decision-making process.
EESC with this Resolution, calls on the Member States of the European Union and its leaders, the European institutions and the EU citizens, to safeguard and protect the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the EU according to Article 174 of the TFEU.
The fundamental principle of cohesion policy, according to which ‘no one should be left behind’, remains sound and valid. Civil society partners are ready to continue working towards it by means of a solid EU investment policy.
Download — Udvalgets udtalelse: How to ensure the social, environmental and economic sustainability of the EU agri-food sector with future enlargement?
On 27 February 2024, the European Commission published a Communication setting out a European strategy to ensure industrial leadership in advanced materials. Advanced materials are an important factor for the competitiveness of European industries and constitute crucial building blocks for the EU’s resilience and strategic autonomy. The EESC will provide input to the European Commission on how to create a dynamic, secure and inclusive ecosystem for advanced materials in Europe that ensures our continent's leadership in this area and supports the competitiveness of EU industries.
On 13 June 2023 the EC proposed a Council Recommendation on developing social economy framework conditions and noted that taxation policies can have "a significant role in fostering the social economy and ensuring that social economy entities can afford to operate alongside mainstream businesses, creating a more equitable business environment while contributing to social inclusion and improved access to employment". Given the wide and general approach of EC proposal – including inter alia references to the role of State aid, public procurement, and European funds – the above-mentioned taxation aspects need to be analysed and considered by the EESC.
The EESC supports the proposal’s objective to ensure that all forms of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, including those enabled or facilitated by technological developments, are criminalised. It underlines the importance of having common minimum standards for the definition of criminal offences and the severity of related penalties in order to prosecute offenders effectively and to ensure the protection of victims across the EU. The EESC calls for the international exchange of data relating to child sexual abuse and exploitation to be specifically regulated and for the possibilities for data retention to be expanded in all Member States with the development of an EU Research Centre.
