emphasises the urgent need to enhance European competitiveness while maintaining sustainability and social cohesion. The EU must act decisively to stay competitive without compromising environmental sustainability, workers’ rights or regional balance. The EESC advocates for growth aligned with social and territorial cohesion;
calls for greater investment in key areas such as social infrastructure, digital transformation and energy transition. The EESC emphasises the need for substantial investments in modern infrastructure - education, research, digitalisation and renewables - to sustain Europe’s economic strength and competitiveness and tackle demographic, technological and climate challenges;
stresses the need for the EU to drive global economic transformation rather than just preserve past achievements. Europe is at a crossroads: it can either take a proactive role in global economic transformation or risk falling behind. The EESC therefore calls for the proactive adaptation of the single market, reduced reliance on non-EU supply chains and stronger strategic industries.
underscores the urgent need for a unified and robust EU defence funding mechanism to address geopolitical challenges, particularly the Russian aggression against Ukraine;
stresses the necessity of aligning EU defence policy with NATO strategies to ensure complementarity and interoperability in security operations;
calls for enhanced joint procurement mechanisms, including the European Peace Facility (EPF), to optimise resource efficiency and operational readiness;
finds it regrettable that the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey was not published as part of the Autumn package, a key document for political orientations;
stresses the importance of European institutions being prepared for rising geopolitical risks and their potential impacts on trade, inflation, and economic growth;
supports the launch of the Competitiveness Compass and calls for strategic investments in energy and digital sectors, along with the creation of a European Fund for Strategic Investments to address the EU’s investment deficit;
considers that EU cohesion policy should be modernised and adjusted to reflect development trends and needs, ensuring a balance between sustainable competitiveness and inclusivity;
emphasises the necessity of maintaining and increasing the share of the EU budget allocated to cohesion policy in the post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) to address regional disparities;
calls for a results-based approach that strengthens efficiency and effectiveness in allocating cohesion policy resources, ensuring visible socio-economic benefits;
finds it crucial to focus more efforts on improving the resilience and reliability of transport systems; highlights the need for a proper analysis conducted on the consequences of crisis for all transport modes and possible new handicaps in the connectivity of different areas within the EU.
suggests that a systematic stocktaking exercise be carried out, evaluating how EU funds and instruments are perceived and used by the Arctic stakeholders in practice;
calls for Arctic decision-makers at all levels to more rigorously apply legal obligations and draw inspiration from best-practice standards and mechanisms for including, consulting and empowering all section of local civil society;
supports and encourages full consultation of and cooperation with indigenous peoples in the Arctic, bearing in mind the principle of free, prior and informed consent, before adopting and implementing measures that might affect them directly.
recommends including youth representatives in every youth-focused legal activity and involving young people in all stages of the policy-making process, from decision-making to the implementation and evaluation of policies;
estimates that civil society and social partner organisations should further support young people by providing capacity-building workshops, making it easier for them to connect with resources and opportunities for involvement;
calls on the European Commission to support a third phase of the South Mediterranean Social Dialogue (SOLiD) project, which should be used to develop a Youth Charter, while also exploring the establishment of youth-focused consultative mechanisms.
emphasizes that Mediterranean countries are often characterised by a lack of adequate frameworks for effective social dialogue and therefore stresses the need to strengthen social dialogue in particular at national, sectoral and company levels through the full implementation of the key ILO Conventions on social dialogue.
stresses that State aid can reliably support EU companies in their transition efforts, leveraging the massive investments needed to achieve this collective goal. It is essential to ensure that public support is used as efficiently as possible, promoting cross-border projects and reinforcing European value chains.
emphasises that merger assessment should evolve further, taking infrastructure investments, innovation and sustainability better into account. All stakeholders’ views should be taken into consideration in merger analysis.
recommends that the review of the rules on Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) must ensure a truly European approach and the European Competitiveness Fund must be designed and deployed with a European perspective too.
stresses the importance of reconciling the need for strong public support for social economy entities – which often perform functions and roles formerly performed by the State – with the EU rules on State aid, and welcomes the proposal made in the Letta report on the single market regarding the need to adapt the current legal framework on State aid in order to facilitate better access to credit and funding for social economy entities;
believes that the rules for granting aid for the recruitment of disadvantaged workers or workers with disabilities set out in Section 6 of the General Block Exemption Regulation should be strengthened and simplified. As suggested in the Letta Report, and in the communication on criteria for the analysis of the compatibility of State aid for the employment of disadvantaged and disabled workers subject to individual notification, these rules should be updated to reflect the current economic situation;
notes that the legal framework for aid for services of general economic interest (SGEIs) is not being properly harnessed by public authorities, which often fail to give sufficient attention to the high degree of discretion that is conferred on them by the Treaties with regard to the power to classify certain activities as SGEIs.
