In its yearly opinion on the State of the Energy Union, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) takes stock of the progress made so far and calls on the European Commission to focus more on social aspects.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) calls on the Commission to reflect in more depth on policy options that help both to reduce greenhouse gases and thus fight climate change and to maintain competitiveness. The goal must be to better protect and promote the EU's resource and energy-intensive industries (REII), otherwise Europe runs the risk of losing jobs to less clean economies and missing its goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

In times where the impact of climate change can already be felt in agriculture, it is very likely that environmental degradation will also put pressure on our food system.

The European Union has already realised this challenge and has come up with proposals to meet these challenges on time. Food 2030 and Food 2050 are key proposals for what needs to be done in the next legislature 2019-2014.

An EESC hearing points to the need to embrace a human rights-based approach to disability in news and entertainment programmes, to build a more inclusive society that sees the person, and not the disability