Rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which was the first international treaty to take a human rights approach to disability, the EU Disability Strategy for the next decade is a promising document with many commendable proposals and only a few flaws. But for the strategy to be able to live up to its promise of ending discrimination against 87 million European with disabilities, its implementation will require a strong political will and resources.
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on Europe's labour markets, taking the heaviest toll on the lowest paid sectors and those involving a high level of human interaction. Whereas the possibility of working remotely and the government measures taken across Europe have managed to cushion the most severe blows by keeping people employed and businesses running, the EU and the Member States will have to take action to curb inequalities once the support policies are withdrawn
Solidarity à la carte, too strong a focus on border controls and too little emphasis on legal and labour migration pathways are among the main faults found in the New Migration Pact, with few tangible achievements in Member States’ negotiations on how to deliver a comprehensive policy that can successfully rise to the challenge of effectively managing migration to the EU
We need to halt the growing gaps between rural and urban areas and better coordinate policies to bridge them. The new CAP alone will not be sufficient to rebalance these interrelated areas. For Europe to truly tackle inequalities, we need to put in place a wider set of policies and financing instruments.
Equal pay for men and women or for work of equal value is one of the fundamental rights and principles of the EU, but on average women are still paid 14% less per hour than men, with pay differences present in all sectors and widening with age. Although welcomed as a much-needed step to close the gender pay gap, the Commission's proposal on pay transparency is receiving a mixed response, an EESC hearing found.
The EU has some of the strongest regulations in the world on the use of plant protection products (PPPs – pesticides) and other chemicals in agriculture. However, there is still room for improvement to achieve greater regulatory convergence to reduce the risks of using PPPs, and to guarantee a healthy and safe food supply for an ever-growing world population.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) proposed by the European Commission to curtail the ever growing power of digital giants in Europe are fit for purpose, in the EESC's view, provided they go hand and hand with the taxation of tech companies, better working conditions for platform workers and data governance.
Having learnt from the shortcomings of the previous EU Roma frameworkover the past decade, the European Commission is determined to achieve the headline targets of the new Roma strategic framework, closing the gap of discrimination and socio-economic exclusion by at least half by 2030. However, the role of the Member States in delivering tangible results is pivotal. Without effective national strategies and pragmatic measures, the new framework risks failing in the same manner as its predecessor.
All across Europe, LGBTIQ individuals suffer from discrimination which affects their educational performance, job prospects, wellbeing and even the exercise of their fundamental rights, such as freedom of movement within the EU. To tackle this situation, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted an opinion at its April plenary session calling for non-discriminatory regulation of the concept of family at EU level.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) welcomes the proposed new package of EU cybersecurity measures but points to weaknesses in addressing Europe's huge cyber skills gap. Critical entities also need streamlining, simplification and clearer application guidelines, in the EESC's view.
