European Economic and Social Committee
This study identifies key barriers to accelerating the renovation rate in the residential building sector and to implementing the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS). It provides a summary of, and recommendations for, overcoming these obstacles.
European Year of Rail 2021
Rail can make a big contribution to smart and sustainable mobility. In this respect, the event promoting the European Year of Rail 2021, organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 15 November 2021, stressed the potential of rail to become a fully sustainable and competitive transport option, thereby helping to achieve the Green Deal targets.
This report of the online conference on "Energy poverty at the crossroads of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the European Green Deal", organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 20 April 2021, shows how European civil society organisations can join forces with all institutions at EU, national, regional and local level to fight against energy poverty.
This new edition of the European Cycling Lexicon was prepared by the EESC's Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society (TEN) in collaboration with the European Cyclists' Federation to respond to the strong demand from citizens, organizations and public authorities. The lexicon is indispensable for anyone who wishes to cycle in another European country and beyond. It raises awareness among citizens and at different levels of governance, about the many advantages of cycling and the need for good cycling infrastructure.
In recent years, the EESC has produced a substantial number of opinions concerning the fast development of information and digital technologies showing how involved organised civil society is in this "revolution". We firmly believe that the digital revolution needs to benefit and include all people, especially vulnerable people, while striving to eliminate existing digital divides and prevent further disparities emerging in this area.
This publication presents ideas on digital developments and contains the summary of all relevant EESC opinions.
The three "mobility packages" published by the European Commission (EC) under the far-reaching Europe on the Move initiative (2017 – 2018) have aimed at fundamental modernisation of European mobility, while focusing mainly on road transport. The European Economic and Social Committee´s opinions issued as a response to the EC´s initiative were presented in the first and second volumes of a recently published brochure entitled Europe on the Move.
Responding to substantial changes in the transport sector, between May 2017 and May 2018 the European Commission (EC) published three 'mobility packages' falling under the major political initiative Europe on the Move.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has carefully followed all these developments in order to give an exhaustive response from Civil Society to this far-reaching initiative.
Transport and mobility are crucial for Europe's economy and competitiveness as well as for all citizens. However, the transport sector is currently undergoing a number of profound technological, economic and social transformations, which challenge its traditional features. In order to turn these challenges into opportunities and modernise mobility and transport in Europe, the European Commission has recently come up with a major political initiative entitled "Europe on the Move" and divided into three "mobility packages" published between May 2017 and May 2018.
In 2005 the Commission adopted the "Monti-Kroes package", updated in 2011 (the "Almunia package"), with key rules for services of general economic interest (SGEI) funding. The Commission declared its intention to carry out a review of this set of rules five years after their entry into force.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted an own initiative opinion in order to contribute to the upcoming Commission review by taking a detailed look at experience with implementing the SGEI package.
The EESC has made considerable efforts to provide a response to the "Clean Energy for all Europeans" package, the large and rich body of work that the European Commission presented a few months ago (November 2016).
