Solidarity à la carte, too strong a focus on border controls and too little emphasis on legal and labour migration pathways are among the main faults found in the New Migration Pact, with few tangible achievements in Member States’ negotiations on how to deliver a comprehensive policy that can successfully rise to the challenge of effectively managing migration to the EU
We need to halt the growing gaps between rural and urban areas and better coordinate policies to bridge them. The new CAP alone will not be sufficient to rebalance these interrelated areas. For Europe to truly tackle inequalities, we need to put in place a wider set of policies and financing instruments.
Equal pay for men and women or for work of equal value is one of the fundamental rights and principles of the EU, but on average women are still paid 14% less per hour than men, with pay differences present in all sectors and widening with age. Although welcomed as a much-needed step to close the gender pay gap, the Commission's proposal on pay transparency is receiving a mixed response, an EESC hearing found.
The EU has some of the strongest regulations in the world on the use of plant protection products (PPPs – pesticides) and other chemicals in agriculture. However, there is still room for improvement to achieve greater regulatory convergence to reduce the risks of using PPPs, and to guarantee a healthy and safe food supply for an ever-growing world population.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) proposed by the European Commission to curtail the ever growing power of digital giants in Europe are fit for purpose, in the EESC's view, provided they go hand and hand with the taxation of tech companies, better working conditions for platform workers and data governance.
Having learnt from the shortcomings of the previous EU Roma frameworkover the past decade, the European Commission is determined to achieve the headline targets of the new Roma strategic framework, closing the gap of discrimination and socio-economic exclusion by at least half by 2030. However, the role of the Member States in delivering tangible results is pivotal. Without effective national strategies and pragmatic measures, the new framework risks failing in the same manner as its predecessor.
All across Europe, LGBTIQ individuals suffer from discrimination which affects their educational performance, job prospects, wellbeing and even the exercise of their fundamental rights, such as freedom of movement within the EU. To tackle this situation, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted an opinion at its April plenary session calling for non-discriminatory regulation of the concept of family at EU level.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) welcomes the proposed new package of EU cybersecurity measures but points to weaknesses in addressing Europe's huge cyber skills gap. Critical entities also need streamlining, simplification and clearer application guidelines, in the EESC's view.
Έπειτα από την αναστολή μίας από τις θεμελιώδεις αξίες της ΕΕ επί ένα και πλέον έτος, το ψηφιακό πράσινο πιστοποιητικό ανοίγει πλέον το δρόμο για την ελεύθερη και ασφαλή κυκλοφορία εντός της Ευρώπης στη μετά COVID-19 εποχή. Η ΕΟΚΕ εκφράζει την ικανοποίησή της για την καθιέρωση του ψηφιακού πράσινου πιστοποιητικού ως εξαιρετικού κοινού προτύπου που αποσκοπεί στην ελαχιστοποίηση της πολυπλοκότητας για τους μετακινούμενους και στη διευκόλυνση της κυκλοφορίας τους, υπό την προϋπόθεση ότι τηρούνται πλήρως τα θεμελιώδη δικαιώματα και οι απαιτήσεις περί προστασίας των δεδομένων.
With recent surveys showing that 66% of Europeans would like the EU to have more say over health-related matters, and more than a half in favour of public health becoming the EU's top priority in terms of expenditure, the EU should start playing a more active role in protecting the health of its citizens. The EESC thinks that the Commission's recent package on an EU Health Union is a step in the right direction.
