The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has issued an own-initiative opinion on the European Citizens' Initiative "My Voice, My Choice: for safe and accessible abortion". The EESC has expressed full support for the initiative and calls on the European Commission to submit a proposal for financial support for Member States that would allow anyone in Europe who still lacks access to safe and legal abortion to safely terminate a pregnancy, in accordance with national law. The EESC further stresses that denial or obstruction of abortion care constitutes institutional gender-based violence.
stresses the urgent need to take a comprehensive, preventive approach based on fundamental human rights to the commercial determinants of health, which are defined as strategies of private actors that negatively influence health and democratic checks and balances;
calls on the EU and its Member States to adopt ambitious policies and strategic funding – including under the next Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028-2034 – to make health a central pillar of European resilience, particularly with a view to prevention;
encourages the establishment of a balanced regulatory framework that allows businesses to transition towards models that respect public health, by including the precautionary principle, transparency and due diligence clauses in public policies.
Supporting the revival of securitisation to channel financing to households, SMEs and the EU’s strategic objectives, with stronger ESG disclosure requirements and transparent monitoring of whether ‘freed-up’ capital boosts lending.
Preserving safeguards and international standards to protect financial stability, avoiding excessive risk-taking, and discouraging relocation of securitisation processes to unregulated jurisdictions or aggressive tax regimes.
Strengthening supervision and fine-tuning technical aspects (calibration, definitions, retention rules), while introducing measures to preserve lender–borrower relationships and transparency throughout the securitisation process.
In an opinion adopted at the September plenary, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) says that the Commission has not yet managed to really put people at the heart of the EU’s energy system, and calls for the new initiative to provide the right guarantees in this direction.
