Uniform measures among the Member States should be adopted to ensure a level playing-field, except in those aspects relating to essential facilities or infrastructure.
welcomes the Commission's idea of setting up a European hydrogen bank and thus creating incentives for the emergence of a hydrogen market. It stresses that fossil energy sources must not be supported with EU funds. The principle "do no harm" must therefore also be applied to funds related to the hydrogen bank. Hydrogen may only be financed with EU funds if the electricity used is generated from sources that are compatible with the Taxonomy Regulation and are considered to make a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.
The EU needs to move beyond emergency fiscal responses and focus on structural changes to allow it to decouple from fossil fuels more quickly. To ensure its smooth and competitive economic development, the EU needs reliable and secure deliveries of affordable energy based on an integrated energy market with a large share of clean energy, which is resilient and able to face disruptions and shocks.
supports the adoption and early implementation of the proposed regulation, which ensures adequate sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards for a transparent, streamlined and safe supply of the market of Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK;
acknowledges the significant effort made to reconcile the facilitation of procedures, to safeguard the integrity of the EU internal market and the protection of public animal and plant health;
urges the Commission to further clarify and provide solutions for the areas of more apparent divergence between SPS standards in the UK and the EU;
supports the adoption and early implementation of the proposed regulation, which would ensure continuity of supply of medicinal products for human use in Northern Ireland;
agrees that it is essential that the proposed regulation contains a provision enabling suspension of the specific rules by the Commission in the event of the UK's non-compliance;
encourages ongoing consultation with key stakeholders to help ensure timely implementation as well as monitoring for any future risks to the delivery of the objectives of the proposed regulation;
The EESC stresses that the Commission should look at successful national, regional and sectoral models of social dialogue and see why they worked so well;
points to the fact that the Recommendation does not include sectoral collective agreements as an important factor for improving collective bargaining coverage;
recommends establishing a common national framework for consultations with social partners, If the social partners are not meaningfully involved, the Commission should take action.
The EESC encourages the Commission to continue working towards including VAT deductions in the One Stop Shop (OSS) as soon as possible and towards timely VAT refunds;
points out that the current system treats goods and services in intra-Community trade differently. The EESC regrets that the comprehensive proposal from the Commission does not take the opportunity to align VAT treatment between goods and services;
is concerned that the considerable implementation costs for the measures in the comprehensive VAT package could lead to higher prices for consumers;
The EESC states that existing systems of indicators must be reviewed, complemented and made consistent with each other;
believes that the Country-Specific Recommendations (CSRs), one of the main instruments of the Semester, should cover a period of three years, with annual evaluations and reviews;
proposes that the social partners and civil society organisations be involved through a structured formal consultation procedure, which should take place in a specific body to which such functions are legally attributed;
Member States must provide support and assistance to victims, particularly those from vulnerable groups;
Comply with Directive 2004/81/EC on the residence permit issued to third-country nationals who are victims of trafficking and cooperate with the competent authorities.
