Euroopan talous- ja sosiaalikomitea
EU Missions start from the idea that complex societal challenges require a coordinated effort across Europe to deliver impact. Missions will deliver results through a new role for research and innovation under the Horizon Europe programme, combined with a coordinated, all-in approach, and a new relationship with citizens. They will fully mobilise and engage with public and private actors, such as EU Member States, regional and local authorities, research institutes, entrepreneurs and public and private investors, all to create real and lasting impact.
Co-legislators defined and identified five EU missions:
This own-initiative opinion is a follow-up to the EESC opinion on the Commission communication on Tourism and transport in 2020 and beyond.
This follow-up opinion intends to contribute to a coherent set of long term EESC proposals aimed at the full recovery of EU tourism and transport. The opinion will focus on how to best manage crises in the tourism industrial ecosystem and on the lessons learnt from such crises. After several waves of the COVID pandemic, it is of utmost importance to rethink the tourism ecosystem in more sustainable terms and adopt relevant policy solutions, as well as a comprehensive package of measures.
This exploratory opinion, requested by the French Presidency of the EU, has the following objectives:
The Commission intends to renew its strategic partnership with the outermost regions, adapting it to the EU priorities on green and digital transition for a stronger recovery after the coronavirus pandemic. The new Communication is expected to be published in April 2022. In this context, the forthcoming French EU Presidency, aims to conclude together with the other EU Member States this new strategic approach to the outermost regions for a green, digital and fair recovery. More specifically, the Presidency plans to adopt Council conclusions on outermost regions that are going to be presented in the GAC (General Affairs Council) on June 2022. The French Presidency asks the contribution of civil society organisations on the new priorities for the strategic approach and partnership with these regions.
The proposal builds on 2030 Digital Compass, in which the Commission laid out the vision for a successful digital transformation of Europe's economy and society by the end of the decade. It introduces now a robust governance framework to reach the digital targets in the form of a Path to the Digital Decade.
In 2018, the EESC adopted an Opinion on "The Union's budget and the rule of law" (SOC/598) in which it supported the principle of corrective measures regarding Member States that commit serious violations of the rule of law in Europe. In the present Own-Initiative Opinion, the EESC insists on the actual implementation of Regulation (EU) 2020/2092 "on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget". The EESC demands the imposition of swift and comprehensive sanctions for breaches of the rule of law which put the Union's budget at risk. It also recalls the importance for Member States to integrate measures to strengthen the rule of law in their recovery programmes. The EESC also supports a stronger role for the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), and civil society in the area.
The EESC adopted unanimously in September 2020 the opinion "SME strategy". Amongst its main conclusions were the plead to the Commission to draw up a "Next Generation SME Strategy". Unfortunately, in its 2021 Work Program, the European Commission chose to commit to an update of the Industrial, but not of the SME Strategy. The objectives of this follow-up opinion are the following: present the SME position on how to channel in the best way the unprecedented financial support, coming from the MFF 2021-2027, Next Generation EU and Recovery and Resilience Facility Mechanism; identify and respond to the difficulties SMEs face when accessing the single market and generate ideas on how to use the COVID-19 crisis as a driver for change and catalyst of the transition of the SMEs towards sustainable and digital economy.