Teleworking has the potential to support work-life balance and should be a means of promoting gender equality. For this, the burden of the unpaid care and domestic work performed by women must be fully shared with men. Then, the rules applying to the workplace must be applied to the home office, including on health and safety and protection against harassment and violence. As there is no consolidated European framework on telework, it is necessary to assess existing rules' effectiveness. Social partners should review the 2002 Framework Agreement on Telework and give it a new impetus.
Download — Udvalgets udtalelse: Teleworking and gender equality - conditions so that teleworking does not exacerbate the unequal distribution of unpaid care and domestic work between women and men and for it to be an engine for promoting gender equality
The EESC shares the Commission's view on the strategic importance of payments and that further work is needed to enable payment transactions within the single market using new home-grown, pan-European payment solutions. It also supports the view that the Commission should act as a political catalyst, whilst it is the private sector that should design the innovative digital payment solutions. The EESC believes that relevant market players should be subject to appropriate legislation, supervision and oversight, ensuring a level playing field among those offering the same services and activities.
Download — Udvalgets udtalelse: Retail payments for the EU (Communication)
Batteries placed on the EU market should become sustainable, high-performing and safe all along their entire life cycle. This means batteries that are produced with the lowest possible environmental impact, using materials obtained in full respect of human rights as well as social and ecological standards. Batteries have to be long-lasting and safe, and at the end of their life, they should be repurposed, remanufactured or recycled, feeding valuable materials back into the economy.
Download — Udvalgets udtalelse: Sustainability requirements for batteries in the EU
In September 2020, the European Commission presented the Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials, which also contains the 2020 List of Critical Raw Materials.
Download — Udvalgets udtalelse: Critical Raw Materials Resilience: Charting a Path towards greater Security and Sustainability
The EESC stresses that ensuring balance in dealing with asylum applications should not have to be the responsibility of individual Member States alone, but should be managed by the EU as a whole. It recognises the importance of the proposals having the legal status of a regulation – as opposed to a Directive. The EESC is pleased that the regulations invoke the principles of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, but this burden is not sufficiently balanced. Solidarity needs to be binding, in the form of mandatory relocations.
Download — Udvalgets udtalelse: Asylum and migration management regulation and crisis and force majeure regulation
The EESC welcomes the new action plan on Capital Markets Union (CMU) and approves all of the 16 actions proposed by the Commission, but stresses the importance of prioritising and coordinating the initiatives (with concrete milestones to measure progress), emphasises those that it deems most essential and makes targeted complementary proposals. The EESC argues for two key priorities: 1) to improve the efficiency of the CMU by creating the European Single Access point, by applying a single rule-book and by simplifying withholding tax relief at source procedures and 2) implement proposals aimed at facilitating a shift long-term savings towards long-term investments.
Download — Udvalgets udtalelse: A Capital Markets Union for people and businesses – new action plan
