Draft Opinion on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the safeguard measures provided for in the Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Iceland (codification)
Download — Safeguard measures provided for in the Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Iceland
The EESC welcomes the Commission Communication on "European film in the digital era – Bridging cultural diversity and competitiveness" (COM(2014) 272 final), and emphasises that there needs to be an appropriate balance between the audio-visual sector's value in a business and commercial sense and its value to Europe from a cultural heritage perspective. Intrinsically these two aspects cannot be dealt with separately.
It is high time that one or more innovative business models for the sector be openly discussed with a view to taking up opportunities existing within the digital world. The EESC therefore encourages the sector, the Commission and also national governments to be open and willing to discuss and promote such business models.
One common rule to apply in all Member States can be much simpler and more efficient than a complex web of varying rules. However, the challenge is to keep this legislation simple by making use of withdrawals, amendments and repeals.
The European packaging sector comprises five main sub-sectors. "Paper and board" (including paper bags and cartons) is the largest consumer packaging category with a~34% share of the total packaging market. "Rigid plastics" (tubs, pots and jars etc.) is the second-largest packaging category with a ~27% share and is one of the faster‑growing categories, forecast to grow above real GDP (~4% per year) until 2015.
Download — Industrial changes in the European packaging sector
In order to maximise the benefits offered by wood products in the carbon balance and to enhance the competitiveness of the European woodworking industry and its capacity to drive innovation, the European Economic and Social Committee has drawn up the following recommendations...
Download — Contribution of the woodworking sector in the carbon balance
The EESC proposes to reduce and standardise the range of different taxes, extend tax bases, align tax rates more closely, and strengthen cooperation and information exchange mechanisms in order to combat fraud and evasion.
Tax should be captured where the economic substance is located. Feeding into the current political discussion, the EESC equally calls to urgently eliminate practices used in the Member States to grant selected corporations special tax privileges. The Committee wants to involve citizens in combating the black economy, tax evasion and tax fraud by encouraging instruments such as service vouchers and forms of electronic payment that leave a trace.
The objective of the own-initiative opinion is to analyse the state of affairs of civil society in Russia and to elaborate recommendations on how the EU and EU civil society organization can contribute for improving the working conditions for civil society organizations in Russia and for the strengthening of genuine civil and social dialogue.
The Europe 2020 strategy's main problems can be seen in the areas of governance, the targets set, civil society participation and its implementation. The architecture of the strategy's governance has formalised a structural distortion in which economic aspects take precedence over social and environmental governance, subordinating the Europe 2020 targets to the macro-economic priorities of the European Semester. It is worrying that the Europe 2020 strategy does not involve organised civil society adequately, at either national or European level.
Download — EESC opinion on Taking stock of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth
At the Vilnius Summit, which took place on 28-29 November 2013, it was expected that Ukraine, as the first of the EaP countries, would sign the Association Agreement, including Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, with the European Union. However, the Ukrainian Government, rather unexpectedly, took the decision to temporarily suspend the process of preparations for signature of the Association Agreement. This decision caused political turmoil and instability in the whole country, with, to this day, far-reaching political consequences.
Download — Situation of Ukrainian civil society in the context of European aspirations of Ukraine
This opinion aims at exploring the obstacles to overcome and the conditions for developing quality services for the family in order to create decent and attractive jobs.
Previous work on the professionalisation of domestic work and on a family policy that tackles the challenge of demographic change need to be continued and updated by: revealing and describing the nature of the obstacles currently blocking the development and professionalisation of these jobs which; and making known positive experiences and good practices being implemented today in a number of Member States and major companies.
