European Commission's Green Deal: The game-changer we needed for delivering sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda

Today, I can only praise the new #VDLcommission for delivering even before the end of its first 100 days what it has promised just a few months ago: the Green Deal.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the House of the European civil society, has sought for the past years to achieve a fully-fledged sustainable development in line with the UN 2030 Agenda.

Therefore, we can only congratulate President Ursula von der Leyen, the Executive Vice-President  Frans Timmermans and the entire college for the effort to accelerate the presentation of this ambitious plan,  as the first political initiative of the mandate.

Today's Communication marks a clear change in the political and institutional mood, as we can see a united front to push for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. All the European institutions are committed to this goal -the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission , so are the social partners (ETUC and BusinessEurope) and the civil society organisations. This was certainly not the case four or five years ago, when the EESC was pushing for it.

Still, we have a very long journey before we reach the ultimate goal of making Europe carbon neutral by 2050 and turning it into a global leader on sustainable development.

The 2030 Agenda is the way to go because it's a win/win agenda for everybody: for employers, whose competitiveness will depend on their capacity to be the sustainability leaders in their sectors; for trade unions as the 2030 Agenda is the best firewall against social inequalities and for civil society, provided it is properly involved in the governance mechanisms of the new Green Deal.

Today's Communication goes in the right direction, as it sets the EU's growth strategy that will enable the reconciliation of the economy with our planet, while making it work for the European citizens.

The Commission's ambition to 'leave no one behind' and create a proper Just Transition Fund to mobilise €100 billion over the next 7 years is crucial to make the Green Deal a success.

We welcome the Commission's intention of stepping-up efforts to mainstream the sustainable development objectives across the relevant chapters of its new trade agreements.

The Commission, through this Communication, which is both its vision and roadmap, invited all the actors to join their efforts. The EESC has been ready to push for this Agenda since a long time and is ready to continue to do so.

In its October Resolution to the new Commission, the EESC, called, once again, for an overarching EU 2050 strategy for sustainability in order to implement the UN Agenda 2030.

The EESC has always been on the forefront of the Sustainable Development Agenda. An EESC's delegation, led by Peter Schmidt, chair of the Sustainable Development Observatory (SDA), has taken part to COP 25, to show, once again, the commitment of the European civil society to the sustainable agenda.

The EESC, through all its bodies, will carefully evaluate the Commission's proposals and its 50 practical measures and will promptly adopt an opinion.

We will strive for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda because this is the only way forward: for us and for our future generations!

Press contact 

Daniela Vincenti
EESC President Spokesperson
+32 2 546 82 62
+32 497 41 20 95

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European Commission's Green Deal: The game-changer we needed for delivering sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda

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