The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) acknowledges persistent trends towards institutionalisation & stresses the urgent need for a legally binding directive that translates Article 19 on legal capacity of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) into concrete measures. Additionally, the EESC advocates for mandatory national de-institutionalisation strategies, developed in collaboration with disabled people’s organisations (DPOs), with allocated budgets, deadlines, and measurable targets. The EESC also urges the integration of de-institutionalisation into the EU’s affordable housing plan, ensuring accessibility requirements in all EU-funded housing projects & the development of national accessible housing strategies. Stronger coordination between ESF+, ERDF, & InvestEU is essential to expand community-based supported housing solutions.
Download — advies EESC: Social inclusion and independent living for persons with disabilities through high quality and specialized social services
The EESC underlines that artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic management (AM) can improve the quality of employment and working conditions if they respect the human-in-control principle. They can strengthen occupational safety and health, enhance work organization, work-life balance and skills development. The EESC also draws attention to risks related to OSH, data use and underlines the importance of ensuring transparency, explainability and fairness in the use of AI and AM. Finally, the EESC underlines the central role of social dialogue and collective bargaining at all levels in this field.
Download — advies EESC: Enhancing quality in employment and working conditions by introducing and promoting related tools (incl. AI) and strengthening social dialogue and collective bargaining
The Cyprus Presidency has asked the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) to draw up an exploratory opinion aimed at analysing how affordable housing initiatives can integrate measures to reduce energy costs for families and support vulnerable households.
The new European Grids Package seeks to strengthen and modernise the EU’s energy infrastructure, ensuring secure, affordable and increasingly clean energy flows across Member States. It introduces a more coordinated planning framework, accelerates permitting, and enhances investment to support a fully interconnected and future-proof European energy system.
The opinion analyses the legislative proposal on the EU Business Wallet which aims at enabling secure digital identification, data sharing and legally valid notifications across the EU. Its purpose is to help economic operators manage regulatory requirements, cut administrative burdens and compliance costs. By ensuring interoperability with national systems, it also aims at supporting cross-border business, boosting SME competitiveness, fostering trust in digital interactions and advancing the EU’s digital single market.
The opinion examines the digital omnibus, a set of two legislative proposals which focuses on bringing regulatory simplification and immediate relief to businesses active on digital.
This opinion addressed the Commission's legislative initiative which aims to reduce the administrative burden without affecting the environmental objectives agreed under the existing legislation in the areas of, among others, industrial installations and circular economy, environmental assessments and permitting, chemical waste, Extended Producer Responsibility and waste management.
The EESC welcomes the 2025 Strategic Foresight Report: Resilience 2.0, while underlining that future reports should also address radical disruptions. The EESC is uniquely placed to detect weak signals and underlying trends in strategic foresight and therefore its foresight-driven viewpoint should continuously feed into the Commission’s policy cycle. The EESC also calls for common, verifiable EU-wide metrics for socio-economic and institutional resilience. In this regard, the EESC is of the view that strategic foresight should also support sustainable and inclusive well-being as part of the European social model.
This opinion explores modernising grids, adopting smart technologies, expanding connections and investing in storage and transmission innovation. It aims to improve integration and reliability to build a resilient European energy system in collaboration with neighbouring regions.
The EESC calls for the establishment of a dedicated Union strategy for islands (Islands Pact), supported by a specific legislative framework (Islands Act). That framework should be accompanied by a formal strategy and provide for the effective implementation of an ‘insularity clause’, with a view to systematically integrating the specific needs and constraints of islands into Union policies on cohesion, transport, energy, state aid, the environment and maritime affairs.
The EESC regrets, that the Commission has once again refrained from presenting the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey (ASGS) and stresses that sustainable economic growth is a necessary condition for Europe to meet its multiple commitments, welcomes the European Macroeconomic Report, which provides a deep dive into the underlying structural challenges facing the EU and the new recommendation on human capital, which is a crucial element in filling the EU technological gap, also taking into account the EU demographic challenge. The Committee reiterates its call for more robust commonfiscal capacity, supported by targeted issuances of joint debt, to help fill this growing gap in public investment, and for permanent macroeconomic stabilisation instruments to address shocks.
Download — advies EESC: 2026 European Semester – Autumn Package
The EESC welcomes the proposed Home Affairs funds for migration, border management and internal security for 2028–2034, but warns that, taken together, they reflect a strong shift towards security and control that risks marginalising integration, inclusion and fundamental rights. While acknowledging the need for effective border management, returns and internal security, the EESC stresses that migration policy must prioritise legal, safe pathways, respect for EU and international law, and robust individual protection. The Committee calls for independent monitoring of fundamental rights at borders, stronger commitments to legal migration and integration, and strict human-rights compliance in cooperation with third countries. Ultimately, the EESC argues that the EU’s legitimacy in migration, border and security policies depend on its ability to defend democratic values and fundamental rights.
Download — advies EESC: Enhancing EU strategic autonomy and developing a greener and bluer economy: the potential of the sodium battery manufacturing sector
The EESC supports the revision of the Tobacco Taxation Directive, recognizing the need to adapt the excise framework to market developments, new products and public health objectives. The Committee stresses that actions taken should be in line with the principle of ‘less harm, less tax’ and the objectives of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.
