The European Economic and Social Committee welcomes the Commission's recommendations on the economic policy of the euro area. It strongly supports the NextGenerationEU package and calls for the necessary agreements to be concluded as soon as possible.

However, recovery from the COVID-19 crisis will only be successful if accompanied by a restructuring of our economy and society, and rebuilding confidence is key to stabilising demand. This can be achieved by:

• Shifting towards a more prosperity-focused and solidarity-based form of economic governance. The EESC calls for the economic governance review process launched by the Commission to be resumed as soon as possible.
• Increasing private and public investment, with a 'golden rule' for public investment, to safeguard productivity and the social and environmental base for future generations: "This means removing net investment from the calculation of deficit indicators", explains the rapporteur, Judith Vorbach.
• Implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights: initiatives for a more social Europe include a proposal for a directive on adequate minimum wages.
• Reforming tax policies, shifting the tax burden away from labour to tax bases that are less detrimental to labour supply, while also taking into account the related impact on distribution. The EESC calls for substantial progress on introducing new own resources, as outlined in the recovery plan. (na)