Tervishoid

Prepared at the request of the Danish Presidency, this opinion recommends that the EU and the Member States ensure that occupational safety and health (OSH) protection and prevention of OSH risks are ensured for all people at work, regardless of their employment contract, job title, or training path. According to the EESC, this protection should include a minimum and comprehensive standard of physical, mental, and social well-being in the workplace.

The EESC recommends strengthening cooperation and shared responsibility among all stakeholders, particularly the social partners, to ensure effective OSH management. Active involvement of workers’ representatives and the promotion of social dialogue at company level are essential.

The EESC stresses the importance of stepping up compliance and enforcement of existing OSH rules as a key step towards achieving the Zero Deaths goal.

In this own-initiative opinion, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is  addressing the growing disparities in healthcare access across the EU. These inequalities, exacerbated by inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, disproportionately affect vulnerable groups such as low-income households, people with disabilities, children, and older people. The opinion calls for urgent action to ensure equitable access to healthcare and long-term care, in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), and proposes concrete policy recommendations to strengthen healthcare systems and reduce barriers to care.

In this opinion, the EESC is presenting several recommendations to mitigate the effects of the cost-of -living crisis. These include:

• investment in people and the economy, fair taxation, quality and affordable public services and  targeted support for the most vulnerable;
• short- and long-term industrial policy and efforts to boost competitiveness;
• stronger use of social dialogue, collective bargaining, and civil dialogue to address labour market challenges;
• wage and minimum wage increase as way of protection;
• more investments in  education as a powerful preventive tool against exclusion, marginalisation, and inequality