This opinion addressed the Commission's legislative initiative which aims to reduce the administrative burden without affecting the environmental objectives agreed under the existing legislation in the areas of, among others, industrial installations and circular economy, environmental assessments and permitting, chemical waste, Extended Producer Responsibility and waste management.
The proposal simplifies and streamlines EU technical rules and testing procedures for motor vehicles to reduce regulatory burdens and costs for the automotive industry, while maintaining safety and environmental standards.
The opinion analyses the legislative proposal on the EU Business Wallet which aims at enabling secure digital identification, data sharing and legally valid notifications across the EU. Its purpose is to help economic operators manage regulatory requirements, cut administrative burdens and compliance costs. By ensuring interoperability with national systems, it also aims at supporting cross-border business, boosting SME competitiveness, fostering trust in digital interactions and advancing the EU’s digital single market.
Growing resource use is driving the triple planetary crisis, pushing the EU beyond planetary boundaries and leaving many Member States off track for the 2030 circular material use target. Demand-side measures and ambitious primary material reduction policies are essential to reverse this trend and strengthen the EU’s strategic autonomy.
This exploratory opinion will feed into the work of the European Commission during the preparations of the Circular Economy Act.
The initiative revises the Cybersecurity Act to clarify ENISA’s mandate, strengthen EU cybersecurity certification, simplify legislation, and support a secure and resilient European supply chain and industrial base.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) acknowledges persistent trends towards institutionalisation & stresses the urgent need for a legally binding directive that translates Article 19 on legal capacity of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) into concrete measures. Additionally, the EESC advocates for mandatory national de-institutionalisation strategies, developed in collaboration with disabled people’s organisations (DPOs), with allocated budgets, deadlines, and measurable targets. The EESC also urges the integration of de-institutionalisation into the EU’s affordable housing plan, ensuring accessibility requirements in all EU-funded housing projects & the development of national accessible housing strategies. Stronger coordination between ESF+, ERDF, & InvestEU is essential to expand community-based supported housing solutions.
The EESC underlines that artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic management (AM) can improve the quality of employment and working conditions if they respect the human-in-control principle. They can strengthen occupational safety and health, enhance work organization, work-life balance and skills development. The EESC also draws attention to risks related to OSH, data use and underlines the importance of ensuring transparency, explainability and fairness in the use of AI and AM. Finally, the EESC underlines the central role of social dialogue and collective bargaining at all levels in this field.
The opinion deals with the 28th Regime legislative initiative whose purpose is to provide companies, especially innovative ones, with a single set of rules to invest more easily and operate in the Single Market.
In response to the successful European Citizens' Initiative, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has adopted an own-initiative opinion calling on the European Commission to introduce a legally binding EU-wide ban on conversion practices by including such practices as 'EU crimes' and recognising them as hate crimes. The EESC strongly condemns any practices aimed at changing, suppressing or erasing a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression, considering them incompatible with human dignity and in breach of the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. The EESC calls for a comprehensive and precisely defined ban covering both children and adults, all public and private actors, and the advertisement of such practices. It recommends that the prohibition explicitly includes sex characteristics, in order to protect intersex individuals from non-consensual and non-therapeutic interventions.
