Competitividad

The EESC welcomes the Commission initiative for the strategy on business taxation in the 21st century. The EESC strongly supports and appreciates the fact that the Commission is aligning its work with the international discussions and agreements and encourages the Commission to pursue its Action Plan for Fair and Simple Taxation Supporting the Recovery Strategy. The EESC is calling for uniform and globally concerted and coordinated implementation of Pillars 1 and 2 of the OECD agreement.

The EESC believes that an economic transition from a model driven by growth to one predicated on sustainability is inevitable. Given the sheer complexity of and the huge challenges posed by this transition, the proposals for new indicators set out in this opinion are only one example of approaches that could be taken when it comes to tools for measuring the social, economic and environmental situation. A concise "Beyond GDP" scoreboard should be designed and incorporated into the European Green Deal scoreboard and the European economic governance process. Indicators that look beyond GDP must be able to do more than merely monitor and measure: they must inform policy development, improve communication and promote target setting.

The EESC strongly believes in the importance of the next Semester cycle as a key instrument for implementing the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

However, it is still concerned about the lack of clarity in most Member States as regards their National Recovery and Resilience Plan governance systems and the distribution of responsibilities for their implementation.

The EESC would also draw attention to the need to measure progress in implementation, for which good monitoring indicators are needed; in this connection it welcomes the "Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard" initiative.

Moreover, the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the need for a strong industrial policy to avoid dependence on other economic zones for many products and services.

The EESC wants to see real action in this respect by Member States, in terms of investment in education, infrastructure and industrial policy to raise employment and boost European industry.

The EESC considers that in addressing the challenges and risks associated with digital transformation, regulation for technology providers, protecting consumers, granting access to financial services, operational resilience and security of network and information systems are crucial for creating the Digital Single Market for financial services. As concerns crypto assets, the EESC endorses the various regulatory adjustment measures envisaged which are needed to modernise financial services, without losing sight of consumer protection and prudential rules.