the link between the energy transition and the digital transformation, stressing the benefits of digitalisation in terms of energy savings, reduced energy intensity and better management of energy infrastructure.
the importance of strengthening the role of active consumers in digitalisation and of encouraging and entitling them to use as many smart solutions as possible. The tools must be user-friendly, and vulnerable groups and people with disabilities must be in focus: if the social dimension is neglected in the implementation, the transformation risks failing due to public resistance.
An increase in the use of sustainable wood in construction, especially in public buildings, is essential to reduce carbon emissions and must be promoted through active and sustainable forest management in the EU.
Quality-based procurement procedures, allowing innovative solutions as well as including sustainability and life-cycle criteria, are a prerequisite for achieving climate objectives and promoting timber construction.
It is key to establish minimum standards for life-cycle carbon emissions from buildings and for the corresponding carbon reporting requirement across the construction sector.
instant payments should also be made available in the seven other currencies in use in the EU besides the euro, as their success will depend on how easily reachable the service is for EU consumers and businesses;
checking that the account number (IBAN) and the name of the beneficiary correspond should be mandatory for all credit transfers across the EU, not just for instant payments. This will help make all money transfers more secure;
no separate fee should be charged for this check; the price should be included in the price of the instant payment itself.
Proposal for a Directive. Clean air is essential for our health and that of the environment. Reducing air pollution has large co-benefits for climate mitigation, energy security and biodiversity, and it increases the resilience of populations for pandemics. To this end, the EU sets standards to avoid the build-up of excessive pollution concentrations. As part of the European Green Deal, the EU is revising these standards, to align them more closely with the recommendations of the World Health Organization.
Water can become unsafe and unfit for human use or irrigation when certain pollutants (also called 'substances of concern'), such as pesticides, fertilisers, chemicals and salts enter the groundwater, as well as surface water bodies at levels above certain thresholds. The current legislation lists several polluting substances and groups of substances, as well as quality standards, or threshold values for each, that EU countries need to respect. However, this list of pollutants is incomplete as it omits some emerging substances with significant negative effects on the environment and human health. At the same time, some of the still listed substances are no longer present in significant quantities in the environment, and for others, the standards do not correspond to the latest evidence. Therefore, the current legislation needs to be improved on aspects such as such as implementing rules, integrating water objectives into other policies, chemical pollution, administrative simplification and digitalisation.
maintains that pollution must always first and foremost be addressed at source, but recognises urban wastewater treatment as an important last filter to protect receiving waters with benefits for the environment, human health and society;
supports that the water affordability should be a priority for all Member States and strongly supports the proposal for an Extended Producer Responsibility that would require producers to cover the cost of removing micropollutants resulting from their products from wastewater, but exemptions must be strictly limited for it to be efficient
considers that the Directive should introduce a cap on the occurrence of sewer overflows and reporting to the public should give the full picture of the pollutant load carried by overflows.
The EESC welcomes the Communication and agrees with the Commission on the need for a swift agreement ahead of the Member States' budgetary processes for 2024;
stresses that fiscal structural plans have to ensure that debt-to-GDP ratios are put on a downward path or stay at prudent levels;
insists that, for a reformed framework to be successful, ownership of the process is key. It is therefore important to develop further measures that could be taken to enhance ownership of the rules.
The EESC calls for a moderate, realistic and balanced approach while addressing inflation and the demand for energy supply;
emphasises the need for fair working conditions, effective competition and better consideration of civil society concerns in order to improve the functioning of the single market;
urges the Commission to invest in better communication with citizens in order to avoid misunderstandings about the European project.
The EESC believes that the EU's plan for a green transition does not sufficiently take into account the effect of the transition on jobs;
suggests that labour market policies should, amongst other things, also be linked to social welfare policies;
believes that in most countries, social partners are not sufficiently involved in devising and implementing policies related to the digital and green transition.
The EESC states that the transformation of the European labour market requires good understanding of what type of skills are needed for future labour market transformations;
believes that skills development and effective implementation of the right and access to lifelong learning must be an integral part of broader economic growth strategies and recovery and resilience plans;
underlines that SMEs should be encouraged to work in networks that interact, to cooperate in sharing costs for research into skills needs and pool their capacities.
