Strategic foresight report 2023

European Economic and Social Committee opinion on the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on 2023 Strategic Foresight Report - Sustainability and people's wellbeing at the heart of Europe's Open Strategic Autonomy - COM(2023) 376 final

Key points

The EESC:

• recognises foresight as crucial supporting decision-making processes and notes the efforts at EU level to assign foresight a strategic institutional role and to consider it in the EU decision-making;
• calls for a Commissioner in charge of foresight in the new Commission, as in the current mandate;
• calls for greater involvement for the EESC to enhance the EU's analysis and foresight capacities and help pinpoint trends and possible solutions in a transformative society;
• should coordinate an internal process to implement a foresight exercise to identify the main trends and scenarios, priorities and actions, in the context of the European Parliament election and the nomination of the new European Commission;
• agrees with the Commission's approach to identify options for new economic models that are feasible and impactful, to ensuring inclusive and sustainable competitiveness that maintains a high level of social and environmental protection, good quality jobs, and fair and solidarity-based conditions that preserve the European model of a highly competitive social market economy;
• calls for a renewed and expanded EU industrial policy aimed at coordinating decisions and interventions to increase coherence among sectors and among Member States towards sustainable competitiveness for the EU;
• calls for complementary indicators to GDP to be identified and translated into policy measures;
• calls on the EU and national institutions, the private sector and local stakeholders to work on defining and adopting a new European social contract fit;
• asks the EU and Member States to join efforts to ensure the provision of EU public goods, including by adapting the EU budget to the new scenario. Commodities and services that will safeguard defence, security, health, education and well-being are crucial to enable the EU's "comprehensive resilience ecosystem" to achieve and maintain sustainable and inclusive competitiveness and democracy.

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