recommends that the Commissions assess the necessity, proportionality and consequences of suspending an exemption from the visa requirement;
special attention should be paid to the mobility needs of human rights defenders, especially if the human rights situation deteriorates in the third country concerned;
recommends that, if the suspension mechanism is activated, the EU should offer protection with careful assessments to certain categories of people, such as civil and human rights activists, vulnerable people exposed to exclusion or prosecution in third countries and to students /members of academia who wish to travel for professional reasons.
points out that access to public procurement is crucial for social economy entities and stresses the importance of establishing innovative criteria with real, non-market value;
calls on the Member States and the different levels of government to implement all of the measures and actions in the Recommendation on developing social economy framework conditions in order to help social economy entities access the public procurement market, using proportionate selection criteria, for example, or dividing contracts into lots;
calls for an extensive evaluation and revision of the European public procurement framework in the current legislative term.
calls on the Council to set a date for lifting land border controls between Bulgaria and Romania and the other Schengen Member States as early as 2024. The EESC also calls on all stakeholders to work collaboratively towards this goal, ensuring that the benefits of Schengen membership are extended equally to all EU citizens;
underlines that the Schengen Agreement is essential for the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the EU, and that the competitiveness of the EU has become a pressing political priority, as underscored by recent reports by Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi;
considers that despite its significant achievements, the European single market remains a work in progress. Any limitations on the freedom of movement within it have an adverse effect on EU competitiveness and economic growth, hampering the full realisation of the social market economy as envisaged in the Treaties.
believes that more can be done to support SMEs by increasing the amount of damages and compensation granted in counterfeiting cases. It should be recommended that Member States (that do not currently do so) recognise punitive damages in their national legislation.
believes that it would be worth introducing Europe-wide counterfeiting insurance and that Member States should address the issue of how assets are valued.
calls for simpler, faster and more effective procedures for reporting and withdrawing advertisements for counterfeit products for sale online, and will monitor whether the obligations laid down in the Digital Services Act have a real impact on reducing the supply of counterfeit goods on the internet.
argues that, to be competitive in the area of general-purpose AI, Europe must invest in secure connectivity and resilient backbone infrastructure as well as in a resilient supply chain to ensure that the effects of generative AI can be harnessed for European actors and aligned with European values and needs;
recommends organising dialogues with stakeholders, including the social partners, about codes of practice in workplaces and workers' rights in the context of GPAI;
stresses that coordinated European and national investment in innovation and mobilisation of the tools of competition policy are needed in order to combat a market concentration dominated by large, often non-European, digital companies and to help develop EU value chains and value creation in AI.
adopting digitalisation and AI (artificial intelligence) could revolutionise the way public services are provided, offering innovative solutions for dealing more efficiently and more quickly with people’s needs;
AI can help make these services more accessible, in particular to the most vulnerable people in society;
the possibility to automate complex and repetitive processes could increase efficiency while reducing workload for individual workers.
stresses that no time can be lost in adopting and implementing all necessary measures to reduce emissions (mitigation) and adapt to the new conditions (adaptation), including introducing prices on emissions and a carbon tax. A long-term strategy must be adopted to safeguard public health;
considers that investment linked to climate change is an historic economic opportunity to support and seize the enormous innovation and development potential in the EU Member States and that the correct response to climate change is to seize the new opportunity that the technological and innovation potential in this area presents for the economy;
considers that coordinated action is imperative in order to respond to climate change. This will involve a collective commitment at national, subnational, EU and global level, in all areas such as economic and social areas, with clear, well-defined roles and responsibilities at all levels of the decision-making process;
stresses the urgent need to adapt strategies for work-life balance taking into consideration the shifting demographics, new forms of work, flexible working arrangements and rising care demands, in view of the 2027 revision of the Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and carers;
notes that ageing populations require increased resources for care services and recommends the Council ask the Commission to develop a Care Toolbox with indicators for long-term care;
emphasises that needs-based measures should provide affordable, accessible, high-quality services benefiting workers, families, companies, and public authorities.
launch the proposal for a comprehensive European Action Plan on Rare Diseases (APRD) with SMART targets that can be achieved by 2030 to enable the diagnosis of rare disease patients within one year;
set up a Steering Group for the European APRD composed of experts from Member States, EURORDIS members and the EESC to ensure coordination and cooperation, monitoring and supervision of the APRD;
encourage agreements with Member States on the content, updating, application and monitoring of national plans for RD.
welcomes the proposal for updated guidelines on employment policies, aimed at fostering a competitive and sustainable economy, reflecting new labour market needs;
highlights the importance of upward convergence and of enhancing the European Semester’s role in coordinated economic policy responses;
stresses the need to strengthen social partners' roles through social dialogue and collective bargaining and the involvement of civil society in employment reforms and policy-making.
