The corona crisis is changing the global economy daily, with the results still being uncertain. The crisis has hit all sectors, from services to industries and agriculture. The most serious problems have been encountered by SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs who have had their businesses disappear and are in a very critical situation.
To limit the economic and social damage caused by this critical situation, a series of measures is needed, extending from coping with the emergency stage towards recovery and rebuilding.
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.
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Download — EESRK nuomonė: 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)
After the financial crisis, it became clear that the fragmented environment in the EU made it difficult to deal decisively and effectively with problems, particularly in the financial system. A common and cross-border approach became essential/were needed. The challenge was to make the financial institutions and markets more stable, competitive, safe and resilient. From that perspective, the plans for a fully-fledged banking union and a capital markets union were the right response.
