The main objective of this opinion is to deliver, eight years after its official launch, an EESC assessment of the state of play of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a soft-power tool through which China has assumed a new strategic geopolitical position on the world chessboard. In this context, the EESC needs to investigate what impact the BRI can have on the EU's policies such as twin transition, open strategic autonomy, access to critical technologies and critical raw materials, security and defence, TEN-T network, foreign direct investments, EU screening, etc.
Download — Mišljenje EGSO-a: Global battle of offers – from the Chinese Belt and Road initiative to the EU Global Gateway: the vision of European organised civil society
The proposed initiative aims to improve access to the labour market and social inclusion by supporting Member States in integrating the social economy into their socio-economic policies and creating support measures and a favourable environment for the sector.
Download — Mišljenje EGSO-a: Social economy package
Every year in February, the EESC adopts an opinion on Annual Sustainable Growth Survey, which the Commission usually presents at the end of November in the year before. The Committee works under tight deadlines, in anticipation of the referral, to finalise the opinion before the March Council discussion on the topic. To reinforce the Committee's impact throughout the entire European Semester, an own-initiative opinion with additional considerations is regularly produced by October taking into account the overall European Semester, which plays a central role in implementing the Recovery and Resilience Facility and is vital in current discussions about the review of the EU macro-economic governance framework.
Download — Mišljenje EGSO-a: Additional considerations on the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey 2023
The EESC calls for an action plan to properly implement the European Skills Agenda and its twelve proposed actions. Significant political efforts and systemic reforms in education and training and smart investments in human capital are needed to tackle skills-related challenges. Social partners, education providers and civil society organisations should work more together to design skills strategies that best respond to the needs of the labour market and society in general. The EESC points at the importance of improving EU and Member State initiatives regarding employee training in the workplace and creating the right incentives for employers to continue investing in the training of their workforce, with the involvement of social partners.
Download — Mišljenje EGSO-a: The impact of education on wages and labour productivity
Download — Mišljenje EGSO-a: Individual and collective energy self-consumption as a factor in the fight for the green and energy transition, and for economic and social balance
