The EESC welcomes the draft proposal for a seventh Environment Action Programme (EAP). The decision of the Council and of the Parliament establishes an environment policy consensus among the EU's decision-making institutions on how serious the environmental situation remains, that there are significant deficiencies in the implementation of European environment law, that the efforts made to date to solve current and future problems have been inadequate, and on what action needs to be taken in environment policy in the period up to 2020.
Download — General Union Environment Action Programme to 2020
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilisation in the union
Up to 50% of food gets wasted in EU households, supermarkets, restaurants and along the food supply chain each year, while 79 million EU citizens live beneath the poverty line and 16 million depend on food aid from charitable institutions. The proposed own-initiative opinion should give impetus to draw up at the European level a coordinated strategy, combining EU-wide and national measures, to improve the efficiency of food supply and consumption chains and to tackle food wastage as a matter of urgency.
The opinion therefore pleads for the gender dimension to be incorporated into the National Reform Plans (NRP) and the European semester and for the Community Funds to invest more in gender equality. It highlights the important role of the social partners in achieving the needed gender mainstreaming and that of the Commission in providing the necessary gender indicators. It calls for common efforts to promote gender equality in society, eliminate structural inequalities and change gender roles.
Download — EESC opinion: The gender dimension in the Europe 2020 strategy
