This ex-post evaluation includes the EESC’s contribution to the ex-post evaluation carried out by the European Commission on the implementation of the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) 2014-2020. The EESC has specially focused on asylum procedures, reception systems and labour market integration of third country nationals.
The evaluation focuses on collecting and analysing the views of organisations representing social partners, organized civil society, international institutions, public authorities at national, regional and local levels and academic institutions on how the AMIF has been implemented in selected EU Member States. The five countries selected were Greece, Italy, Belgium, France, and Sweden, so as to cover countries of first arrival, transit and destination.
Cohesion policy in its current form has had positive impact on the socio-economic development of the EU, individual countries and regions. However, the Polish presidency points out that there is a need to improve the effectiveness of the mechanisms supporting the transformational objectives of cohesion policy. In the discussion of its future, there are ideas aimed at reforming the implementation mechanisms with the approach used in the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) implemented since 2021 as a response to the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and to support the transformation processes of economies.
The EU’s ambitious climate targets are driving up costs for industries, but they also encourage innovation and create value, necessitating a careful balance between development and maintaining competitiveness. The EESC opinion aims to assess how these challenges will impact European industry and propose solutions to ensure competitiveness amid rising energy costs and the green transition.
With the launch of the 2025 European Semester cycle the European commission has published the "2025 European Semester - Autumn package" in December 2024. The 2025 European Semester - Autumn Package outlines economic and social policy priorities for the EU to ensure sustainable prosperity and competitiveness. It highlights the EU’s recent resilience while emphasizing the need to address structural barriers to growth. The EU is committed to ensure sustainable prosperity and competitiveness while strengthening its social market economy and safeguarding its sovereignty, economic security and global influence. The EESC's opinion on the 2025 European Semester - Autumn package is due to be adopted at the EESC plenary session of February 2025.
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 opinion expresses the views of the EU organized civil society on the priorities to the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW69). It calls for an increased pace of progress on gender equality, be more vocal about the shrinking space for civil society and block any backlash against women’s rights. Some challenges to be addressed include attracting more women to politics, addressing violence against women, ensuring a gender-equal just transition, closing the gender digital gap and the unpaid care responsibilities and ensuring women stay in the labour market.
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.
