Rare diseases are often chronic and sometimes disabling diseases affecting an estimated 25/30 million European citizens. Even more people are affected as care taker or family. Patients and relatives face difficulties in access to diagnosis, treatment or care and in their inclusion to society and labour market. In this opinion, the EESC presents its recommendations on how to improve social protection for these patients and raise awareness on their situation and needs.
Download — EESRK nuomonė: Ensuring strong European solidarity for rare disease patients
This opinion draws attention to the needs of family members taking care of older, chronic ill or disabled relatives. Informal carers, as they are called, represented by a majority of women, work for free, and are more vulnerable to falling into poverty. The opinion calls for public policies in this field and a recognition of their important societal role.
Download — EESRK nuomonė: The role of family members caring for people with disabilities and older persons: the explosion of the phenomenon during the pandemic
Combating all forms of discrimination is one of the aims of the EU, as enshrined in the Treaties. Yet, Member States have never agreed on the Directive proposed by the European Commission in 2008, which would have extended the existing EU protection against discrimination to all policy areas. Such a situation has created an "artificial hierarchy of protected grounds" whereby areas such as sex, and racial or ethnic origin, enjoy wider protection than other grounds like religion or belief, age, disability and sexual orientation. This Own-Initiative Opinion seeks to address this situation, by recalling the need to adopt a comprehensive directive, but by proposing complementary actions notably based on the recognition of the general principle of equality.
Download — EESRK nuomonė: Improving equality in the EU
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation" (SLAPPs) are a particular form of harassment used against journalists, rights defenders and others who are involved in protecting the public interest. Typically, they are meritless lawsuits lodged by powerful individuals or entities against a weaker party who expresses a critical position on a matter of public interest. Through this Opinion, the EESC welcomes the European Commission initiative – a proposed Directive and a Recommendation – aiming to tackle this growing phenomenon. The EESC also proposes to go beyond the current scope of the initiative, notably through a stronger focus on national aspects, and recommendations on aspects like preliminary rulings or training.
Download — EESRK nuomonė: Initiative against abusive litigation targeting journalists and rights defenders
Achieving the digital transition is a fundamental challenge for the European Union in order to maintain a high level of business competitiveness. Winning this challenge is also decisive for global competition, for what could be defined as the maintenance of "digital sovereignty".
Download — EESRK nuomonė: Digital Innovation Hub as facilitator for the green and digital transition of industrial SMEs: an overview of the main experiences
The objective of the proposed opinion is to enlarge the debate around the concept of cultural diplomacy by providing concrete recommendations and proposing actions to strengthen and optimise this innovative area of policy. We plan to focus on the reinforcement of the coherence of EU external policies and instruments; on the complementarity between the tangible and intangible heritage; on the link with climate change as a source of crisis; on the inclusion and empowerment of local actors, women and youth; on possibilities to develop concrete cooperation and partnerships between EU cultural Institutions and Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and their counterparts in third countries.
Download — EESRK nuomonė: Cultural diplomacy as a vector of EU external relations. New partnerships and role of CSO
The aim of this own-initiative opinion is to develop a strategy to achieve a sustainable plant protein and plant oil open autonomy in the EU by analysing the potential of EU-grown plants. It will also discuss the potential of pure plant oil as a sustainable source for running heavy tractors and other agriculture and forestry machines in a sustainable energy system.
Download — EESRK nuomonė: Towards a sustainable plant protein and plant oil strategy for the EU
The aim of this OIO is to identify avenues for a transparent and credible sustainability-labelling framework, which is easy to understand and empowers consumers to make more sustainable food choices. The OIO would contribute to achieving more sustainable and healthy food systems in practice by exploring potential avenues to empower the consumer to make more sustainable buying decisions.
Download — EESRK nuomonė: Towards a sustainable food labelling framework to empower consumers to make sustainable food choices
