Current legislation requires N2 vehicles to be equipped with speed‑limitation devices, a rule originally designed for heavy‑duty vehicles to ensure road safety and environmental protection. Electric vans, however, often fall into the N2 category solely due to their battery weight. The exemption aims to align electric vans with their fossil‑fuel equivalents and support the transition to cleaner transport.
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.
This opinion is prepared at the request of the incoming Cypriot Presidency of the EU. The EESC was invited to deliver an opinion on how the EU and its Member States can best:
1. Introduce and promote effective tools, including AI-based solutions, to enhance the quality of employment and working conditions, ensuring transparency, fairness, and accountability in their use.
2. Strengthen social dialogue and collective bargaining as fundamental mechanisms for shaping fair and inclusive labour markets in a rapidly changing economic and technological context.
Download — Tuairim ó rannóg de chuid CESE: Enhancing quality in employment and working conditions by introducing and promoting related tools (incl. AI) and strengthening social dialogue and collective bargaining
The Multimodal digital mobility services (MDMS) initiative is aimed to support the development of multimodal ticketing services within and across passenger transport modes, with the intention to significantly improve multimodality, inclusiveness and sustainability in the EU, within Member States and across borders.
The Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation (SDBTR) aims to make rail travel more accessible by allowing passengers to book multi-operator journeys through a single digital platform. It focuses specifically on expanding digital access to rail tickets and fares and reduces ticketing fragmentation while ensuring passengers retain their rights throughout the entire journey.
