In this Opinion, the EESC welcomes the EU's focus on civil preparedness and stresses the need for a culture of resilience across all levels of society. It highlights civil society's specific role in crisis response and stresses that preparedness initiatives must aim to a just and sustainable peace, addressing the root causes of conflict and fostering equality and social progress. The EESC calls for full integration of civil society into preparedness efforts, increased investment in its capacities, clear role definitions, stronger democratic safeguards, and easier cross-border cooperation.
Download — Parere del CESE: Ensuring sustainable food production and a fair income for European farmers in the face of market, environmental and climate challenges
This own-initiative opinion stresses that any kind of violence against women is a violation of women’s human rights. The EESC believes Directive 2024/1385/EU on combating violence against women and domestic violence should address all forms of violence against women and calls for sexual violence and rape to be included as a form of violence and criminalised based on the absence of consent. Highlights that any kind of violence against women is a significant public and clinical health concern, while stressing the multiple and intersectional discrimination suffered by women with disabilities.
The upcoming Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU requested this exploratory opinion given that at present, consumers are experiencing dynamic changes due to the development of digital technologies and the green transition. In order to ensure a high level of consumer protection, it is necessary to respond adequately to changes in the consumer environment and to take action in response to current long-term challenges.
This new opinion aims to show with concrete examples the potential of combining advanced robotics and virtual worlds of the metaverse in the service of the medical sector and to draw conclusions on the actions to be implemented for Europe to become a leader in these sectors.
The EESC denounces the deterioration of human rights, the rule of law, and democracy, and calls for further improvements of the Commission's Annual Rule of Law Reports. Among others, it recommends that the Commission ensures meaningful involvement of civil society in both the preparation and follow-up stages of the report at the national level, and expands the Report’s section on CSOs. The Commission's assessment should be based on objective benchmarks and transparent dialogue with CSOs and the Commission needs to develop more precise and measurable country-specific recommendations with clear benchmarks, indicators and deadlines.
