This Opinion was proposed to provide timely inputs to the evaluation the European Commission is carrying out to assess the impact of the EU-Colombia/Ecuador/Peru Trade Agreement. The purpose of the evaluation is to provide an evidence-based report assessing the impact of the implementation of the Agreement. The evaluation comes five years after the implementation of the Agreement with Colombia and Peru and two years after its implementation with Ecuador.
Download — Information report: Evaluation of the role of civil society in the participation structures under the European Union/Colombia/Peru/Ecuador Agreement (information report)
The EESC welcomes the Commission's current efforts to analyse and possibly improve the performance of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC as part of its regulatory fitness and performance (REFIT) programme. The EESC consider that the Machinery Directive is a very important and successful instrument for European industry, and its basic approach must be left unchanged. While EESC agree some changes are needed, massive changes of the Machinery Directive, in particular to the Essential Health and Safety Requirements (EHSRs) in Annex I, would have a deep negative impact on the work of developing needed harmonised standards and must be avoided.
Download — Information report: Revision of the Machinery Directive
At the 2018 Euromed Summit, it was agreed that the next Information Report to be presented to the 2019 Summit of ESCs and Similar institutions will deal with the topic of the impact of digitalisation on SMEs in the Mediterranean area.
The integration of millions of young graduates into the job market each year constitutes a major challenge for the countries of the Southern Mediterranean. Small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) play a decisive role in the fight against youth unemployment as they are important drivers of job creation and provide 80% of employment in the region.
Download — Information report: Digitalisation and SMEs in the Mediterranean region (information report)
The Information Report lays out the results of visits to 12 Member states, seeking policy input from organised civil society to the Semester process. It describes how the consultation in the Member states is often inadequate and tries to remedy this by direct, on the ground-contacts between the involved parts of civil society and the European level. It also argues why this novel way of working is a success, which should therefore be continued beyond the 12 Member states examined so far.
Download — Information report: 2018-2019 European Semester country visits (Information report)
The evaluation will take a broader perspective than the young farmers’ payments under the first pillar of the CAP and the measures for young farmers under Pillar II of the CAP.
Technical appendix - Evaluation of the Impact of the CAP on Generational Renewal
In response to the Commission's request for civil society's contribution to the evaluation of the directive, the EESC has consulted CSOs in the Member States. The Committee's conclusions address the directive's transposition, scope, effectiveness and potential revision.
Download — Information report: Evaluation of the Consumer Credit Directive
The European Union is greater than the sum of its Member States operating within the single market.
Since the Bratislava Declaration and Roadmap, and even more since the Rome Declaration, EU firms' and citizens' support for the EU has improved, thereby helping the EU leaders to achieve their essential objective of regaining business and citizens' trust: new sound ideas to foster incrementalinnoation in EU manufaturing must be elaborated and tested before the special summit on the Future of Europe debate, due to take place in the Romanian city of Sibiu on 9 May 2019.
Download — Information report: Fostering incremental innovation in high manufacturing areas (information report)
