The EESC stresses that occupational pension schemes, created as a result of decisions by the social partners, can play a very important role in ensuring that employees have additional pension provision. The EESC disagrees with the approach to IORPs purely as financial market institutions, which fails to acknowledge their important social function. A one-size-fits-all approach is not the right way of achieving the Commission's objectives given the numerous differences between pension schemes in Member States.
Download — EESC opinion: Review of Institutions for Occupational Retirement Pensions Directive
The EESC has frequently noted the importance of broadband access and acknowledges the progress made in increasing its share in the EU.
But the Committee is deeply worried about the persisting digital divide between EU citizens. This gap is not closing for reasons relating to factors including education, age, the high price of IT, the fact that most information is in English, and differences between rural, urban and island regions.
The digital society must not be an additional cause for exclusion. The EESC particularly wants to see EU-wide measures to ensure that people with disabilities have access and enjoy equal conditions in relation to new technologies.
Download — Digital society: access, education, training, employment, tools for equality
The Communication of the Commission presents an EU Quality Framework for Anticipation of Change and Restructuring (QFR). It follows on from the Green Paper ‘Restructuring and anticipation of change: what lessons from recent experience’ of 17 January 2012 and the request made by the European Parliament on 15 January 2013 in its Resolution on information and consultation of workers, anticipation and management of restructuring based on Article 225 of the TFEU (known as the Cercas Report).
Download — Communication establishing a Quality Framework for Restructuring and anticipation of change
This own-initiative opinion will draw upon the first-hand experiences of the non-state actors (civil society, business and trade unions) engaged in the accession negotiations between Croatia and the EU over the period 2005-11, as well as experiences of EESC members who have been engaged in the work of Joint Consultative Committees (JCCs) with accession countries over the past seven years (Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey and Montenegro) as well as the Western Balkans Follow-up Committee.
Download — Enhancing the transparency and inclusiveness of the EU accession process
The EESC welcomes the new EU Forest Strategy. Against the backdrop of growing demands on and threats to forests, as well as many EU sectoral policies and associated rules affecting forestry and forests, the new strategy is sorely needed. The EESC therefore urges both the Commission and the Member States to ensure that the strategy is effectively and efficiently implemented.
The EESC welcomes the Commission communication and emphasises the growth potential of crowdfunding in the EU as an alternative source of funding. It also emphasises the dependence of SMEs on bank loans, a situation that will persist despite the existence of alternative sources which are not always easy to access. Therefore Crowdfunding should be explicitly recognised in the laws of the Member States as a new form of patronage.
Download — EESC opinion: Crowdfunding in the European Union
The exploratory opinion is being drawn up at the request of the Greek Presidency of the European Union. Immigration-related issues remain a key challenge for the European Union and its Member States with a comprehensive and common strategy at EU level remaining elusive, in spite of the continued pressures that are being felt on the EU's borders.
Download — European Immigration policy and relationship with third countries
The European Commission adopted on 20 February 2014 the new guidelines on how Member States can support airports and airlines in line with EU state aid rules. The guidelines are aimed at ensuring good connections between regions and the mobility of European citizens, while minimising distortions of competition in the Single Market. They are part of the Commission's State Aid Modernisation (SAM) strategy, which aims at fostering growth in the Single Market by encouraging more effective aid measures and focusing the Commission’s scrutiny on cases with the biggest impact on competition.
Download — Review of the Community Guidelines on financing of airports and Start-up aid to airlines departing from regional airports
The EESC expresses its firm support for the structural reform of the banking system. It considers the Commission's proposal for a regulation to be a valid and effective response aimed at separating commercial banking activities from investment activities.
The EESC supports and encourages a broad agreement to boost the economy and restore trust in the financial institutions, and calls on the Commission to promote a European Social Pact for Sustainable Finance.
Nevertheless, the EESC believes that the Commission should give greater attention to investors and employees, who have hitherto received little attention in the reform.
Besides, the EESC recommends that oversight activities be carried out in close cooperation and coordination between the EBA and the national authorities, which are well-acquainted with the markets and which will play a key role in managing the new reformed European finance.
Download — EESC opinion: Reform of the structure of EU banks
By 2050, various different aircraft categories are expected to be operating in European civil aviation, diverse in size, performance and type, with some still having a pilot on board, but many remotely piloted or fully automated. The European Commission has adopted this Communication in order to provide guidelines for opening the European market for remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) – in other words the civilian use of drones.
The Communication has the primary objective of establishing a single RPAS market able to reap the societal benefits of this innovative technology, and to dealing appropriately with citizens' related concerns.
