The health, economic and social crisis of COVID-19 has intensified the severity of the affordable housing crisis that Member States have been facing for years, particularly for homeless people, overcrowded households, residents of working class neighbourhoods and seasonal workers and immigrants – victims of housing conditions that have directly affected the infection rate in society. Although housing policy remains the competence of the Member States, the shortage of decent and affordable housing in the European Union requires a European action plan on housing that includes a comprehensive set of measures, which are easy for people to understand, to help Member States, regions and cities in Europe to sustainably boost the supply of social and affordable housing and effectively combat homelessness.
Download — Parere del CESE: Universal access to housing that is decent, sustainable and affordable over the long term
The national provisions governing seed harvested and controlled in those countries afford the same assurances as the provisions applicable to seed harvested and controlled within the European Union as regards the seed's characteristics and the arrangements for :
its examination;
ensuring seed identification;
marking;
control.
Ukraine has submitted a request that its cereal seed is covered by Council Decision 2003/17/EC as equivalent.
Download — Parere del CESE: Seed equivalence - Ukraine
Download — Parere del CESE: Digitalisation and Sustainability – status quo and need for action in civil society perspective (Exploratory opinion at the request of the German presidency)
The forthcoming Presidency of the Council of the EU (Germany), aims to further discuss and analyze the policy objective 1 under the Common Provisions Regulation for cohesion policy that refers to '' a smarter Europe by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation''. In this context, the Presidency has asked the EESC to provide an opinion on how the structural measures and cohesion policy programmes can help in this process. The Presidency plans to present the key findings of this discussion in a High-level conference that will take place on 29th of September where also the opinion of EESC will be discussed.
Download — Parere del CESE: The role of EU structural and cohesion policy in driving forward the transformation of the economy in an innovative and smart manner (Exploratory opinion at the request of the German presidency)
The EESC, through its consultation and platform can offer an expert, objective view that identifies key priorities for future rural policy, thereby considering in particular the needs of the vulnerable regions. Rural-proofing needs to be reinvigorated alongside specific rural policies while transgenerational and smart community measures need to be mainstreamed.
Download — Parere del CESE: An integrated approach for the EU's rural areas, with particular emphasis on vulnerable regions (own-initiative opinion)
The EESC welcomes the Commission's proposal for a Data Strategy that sets cross-sectoral data sharing as a priority and to improve the use, sharing, access and governance of data with legislative, sector-specific action. An ambitious Data Strategy can address the critical need to enhance EU data capabilities.
Download — Parere del CESE: A European strategy for data
Aviation is one of the sectors most badly affected by the Corona crisis and the EU Member States are willing to assist all economic sectors in the recovery process. Nonetheless, it is unlikely that global economic activities will regain pre-Corona levels in the near future. For this reason, the EESC calls upon the Commission to develop a comprehensive road map for the recovery of the entire European aviation sector; such an action plan should include dedicated resources to support all sub-sectors and their workforce.
Download — Parere del CESE: The future of EU air transport in and after the Corona crisis
Europe is embarking on a transition towards climate neutrality and digital leadership. European businesses can lead the way as we enter this new age, as they has done in the past.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are essential to Europe’s competitiveness and prosperity. Based on the new SME Strategy, the EU will support SMEs by:
encouraging innovation through new funding and digital innovation hubs as part of the sustainable and digital transitions;
cutting red tape by reducing barriers within the Single Market and opening up access to finance;
allowing better access to finance by setting up an SME Initial Public Offering Fund (with investments channelled through a new private-public fund) and the ESCALAR initiative (a mechanism to boost the size of venture capital funds and attract more private investment).
• Position paper "Strengthening SMEs: Way Forward to a Dedicated SME Strategy"
The opinion will provide guidance on how to build on existing structures like citizens' dialogues and assemblies, social dialogue committees in order to structure and mainstream the dialogue with civil society. It will also make recommendations about how to encourage information sharing and public understanding of climate action; how to create real and virtual spaces for exchange on climate and how to build capacity to facilitate grassroots initiatives, among others.
Download — Parere del CESE: European Climate Pact (Exploratory opinion)
The EESC believes that there are well-founded reasons to establish uniform rules within the EU to combat global warming and based on these to embark on international discussions with other trading blocs. Furthermore, the Committee deems that, in the future, it could be useful and necessary to also devise new taxation measures that can supplement the current emissions trading system and national carbon taxes in order to achieve an effective and symmetrical policy framework to tackle the increasing amount of CO2 emissions.
Download — Parere del CESE: Taxation mechanisms for reducing CO2 emissions
