Additional considerations on the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey 2022

Key points

The EESC:

• stresses that the current crisis must not be allowed to jeopardise fairness and environmental goals, and that with regard to rising prices, there is an urgent need to protect the most vulnerable and specifically exposed companies, in particular SMEs, as well as to safeguard the purchasing power of low and medium-income households, who constitute a major part of economic demand;

• reaffirms that solidarity with the people in the Ukraine, enhancing the EU´s strategic autonomy and striving for peace should also take centre stage;

• calls for the National Recovery and Resilience Plans to be implemented in a such way that they have a tangible impact on people´s wellbeing, for careful monitoring and a balanced approach to the Country Specific Recommendations, and for a reform of the Semester which guarantees quality participation of organised civil society (OCS);

• welcomes the increase in the renewable energy and efficiency targets and stresses that environmental sustainability must take centre stage, while also calling for a reform of the European electricity market to be promoted swiftly and as a matter of urgency;

• believes that the completion of the single market should further upward convergence between Member States, and that distortions and barriers should be tackled and the regions should be supported to unlock their full potential;

• underlines that progress is needed in completing the Capital Market and Banking Union as well in implementing the sustainable finance strategy is equally needed as ensuring financial market stability, and calls for a fair and balanced approach to the enhancement of the business environment and productivity;

• supports the Commission´s recommendations for allowing automatic stabilisers to operate, enhancing investment and to continuing to apply the general escape clause throughout 2023, while expressing reservations concerning the limitation of the growth of nationally financed current expenditure below medium-term potential output, and the intention to assess the relevance to open excessive deficit procedures in spring 2023;

• reiterates its call for the fiscal framework to be modernised by setting realistic targets and incorporating a golden rule without jeopardising medium-term fiscal sustainability, while guidelines for a transition period should be put forward.