Euroopa Majandus- ja Sotsiaalkomitee
In the light of the ongoing EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is drafting an own-initiative opinion on "The position of the EESC on specific key issues of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations". In this framework, the EESC is organising a public hearing, to be held at the Committee premises on 30 June 2016, beginning at 9 a.m.
The idea of "nudging" starts from the assumption that behavioural sciences can help decision makers get public policies right. Nudging implies indirectly influence people's choice with very limited, easily implemented, sometimes very unexpected, signals to deliver massive effects, without forbidding anything. It assumes that individuals are not perfectly rational and involves small and cheap incentives for them to change their behaviour in a specific field; it can be applied in a wide range of contexts, including public policies. The European Commission created a "Foresight and Behavioural insights Unit" within the Joint Research Centre. The purpose of this own-initiative opinion is to explore how the nudge theory could help European policies be more effective, in particular under a sustainable development angle.
On 2 June 2016 the SDO will hold its meeting in Brussels. This date falls during the European Sustainable Development Week and as a partner of that week, the SDO organises the screening of the movie "Demain" in the context of its meeting.
The 2030 Agenda is an action plan for people, planet and prosperity. It sets 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets in order to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete what these did not achieve. The targets seek to ensure everyone's human rights and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They are integrated and indivisible, and they balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. They are also to be implemented according to the principle of "leaving no-one behind".
On 30/31 May the Committee is co-organising together with the Dutch presidency and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network an event “How to make the SDGs Europe’s Business? – A Multi Stakeholder Approach”.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is currently preparing an own initiative opinion on "The impact of the conclusions of COP21 on European transport policy". A hearing was organized in order to gather relevant views on this issue and shape concrete proposals to inform the EESC's forthcoming opinion.
The EESC has received a request from the incoming Dutch EU Presidency for an exploratory opinion on how to achieve more sustainable food systems in a resource-constrained world. In the past few years, civil society has been increasingly concerned about the environmental, economic and social impact of unsustainable food chains. Globally, about one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. Food is also one of the most important drivers of environmental pressures. The hearing will represent an opportunity to hear from experts and stakeholders about their views and initiatives for a transition to more sustainable food systems in Europe. The discussion will take a holistic and systemic approach by considering the environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainability and the importance of cross-sectoral co-operation across the food supply chain.
The European Energy Union (EEU) is one of the key priorities of the European Commission. Launched in early 2015, the EEU programme has already resulted in various initiatives. Specifically, the public hearing will – from a stakeholder and expert perspective – be examining whether the governance process underlying the Energy Union programme is inclusive enough and how a wider set of participants may improve governance quality.
The European Commission released in December 2015 the new version of the circular economy package. Its aim is to help the European economy move from linear to circular, more resource-efficient patterns, by ensuring that less resources are extracted from our natural environment and less waste is produced at the end of the product lifecycle. The package focuses on better design of products, improved waste management and recycling performance of EU Member States and the growth and job creation potential of the circular economy. It includes an Action Plan with a specific timeline up until 2017 on production aspects as well as a series of modifications to the waste legislation.
With tens of millions of people already displaced, and 250 million to one billion people expected to be displaced by climate change by 2050, citizens and present and future policy makers need to be informed about the causes and consequences of climate migration. Both the United Nations and the recent Paris Agreement recognize the urgency of this problem and call for awareness and appropriate action. We young Europeans share this sense of urgency, and therefore we organize the conference 'The challenge of Climate Migration: a EU perspective'.
