The outbreak of COVID-19 is having a significant negative impact on the EU fisheries and aquaculture sector. The EESC therefore welcomes the European Commission's proposal, which it considers very necessary, and asks the European institutions to adopt it without delay.
However, the Committee believes that certain additional measures should be adopted, either in this legislative proposal or in other complementary ones.
Download — COVID-19 Measures / Fisheries and aquaculture
At its 21st special meeting on 12-19 November 2018, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) adopted its Recommendation 18-02 establishing a multiannual management plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, which must be implemented into Union law as soon as possible.
Download — advies EESC: Multiannual management plan for bluefin tuna
Download — advies EESC: Sustainable funding for lifelong learning and development of skills, in the context of a shortage of skilled labour (Exploratory opinion at the request of the Croatian presidency)
The EU's demographic situation requires a holistic approach that embraces social and economic policies, active labour market and cohesion policies, policies supporting families, measures for ageing workers etc. The best answer to the labour drain related to internal migration is the social and economic upward convergence of Member States. The COVID-19 crisis will strongly affect the policies on demographic challenges. We need urgent measures to protect citizens from the negative effects of this crisis.
Download — advies EESC: Demographic challenges in the EU in light of economic and development inequalities (Exploratory opinion at the request of the Croatian presidency)
Download — advies EESC: Enable managing bodies or competent authorities to provide flexibility in respect of the levying of port infrastructure charges in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak
The COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak constitutes a grave emergency and represents a situation unprecedented since the end of the Second World War. Especially for the most deprived, the crisis risks disrupting the support provided by the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD).
Download — advies EESC: Introduction of specific measures for addressing the COVID-19 crisis
Download — advies EESC: Financial aid for Member States and countries still negotiating the terms of their accession to the EU which are seriously affected by a major public health emergency
The EESC is concerned to note the euro area's economic downturn and the gradual end to a fall in unemployment, wedded to the persistent higher incidence of risk factors affecting economic performance. It is the European Green Deal that the EESC sees as the backbone of the future EU and euro-area economic configuration – the potential start of a fundamental change and a turning point. If managed successfully, it could move Europe up a gear economically and socially; if not, its failure could fatally jeopardise the integrity of the EU.
Download — advies EESC: Euro area economic policy 2020
The EESC welcomes the approach taken by the annual growth strategy for 2020, based on the four key pillars that are the environment, productivity, stability and fairness and also welcomes the inclusion of the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. It also welcomes the fact that social rights are highlighted in the 2020 growth strategy and hopes that special attention will be given to the gender issue. Long term investment in education, training and skills development and to boost research and innovation, with increased funds earmarked for them, is absolutely crucial and decisive for the EU competitiveness. The greatest priority of all is to restore sustainable growth, above all in the weakest countries and regions. Finally, the EESC agrees on the need to strengthen the stability and resilience of the financial system and tighten the rules governing the financial markets.
The fleet segments with the highest dependency on Eastern Baltic cod encompass more than 300 vessels in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. The closure will have a strong negative impact in certain regions and coastal communities.
The EESC is currently drafting an opinion that aims to define what "the sustainable economy we need" should look like by exploring new economic models, investment decisions vis-à-vis technological advances as well as novel indicators for growth and competitiveness.
Download — advies EESC: The sustainable economy we need (own-initiative opinion)
An effective and principled competition policy to be one of the pillars of the European Union and an essential tool in achieving the internal market, pursuant to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the construction of a social market economy and the content of the Social Pillar. In the 2018 report on Competition Policy 2018, the European Commission develops an approach aimed at strengthening the Single Market, economic development and social policy objectives.
Download — advies EESC: Report on Competition Policy 2018
Taxation policies are fundamental for the SDGs as they determine the economic environment in which investment, employment, and innovation take place while providing the government with revenues for financing public spending. Businesses are global drivers of productivity, inclusive economic growth, job creation, investment and innovation. Private sector expertise holds the keys to unlocking many of the challenges linked to sustainable development. Tax bases should be as broad as possible allowing tax rates to be as non-distortive as possible.
Download — advies EESC: Taxation/private investment and the Sustainable Development Goals - cooperation with the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters (own-initiative opinion)
At the 2018 Euromed Summit, it was agreed that the next Information Report to be presented to the 2019 Summit of ESCs and Similar institutions will deal with the topic of the impact of digitalisation on SMEs in the Mediterranean area.
The integration of millions of young graduates into the job market each year constitutes a major challenge for the countries of the Southern Mediterranean. Small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) play a decisive role in the fight against youth unemployment as they are important drivers of job creation and provide 80% of employment in the region.
Download — Information report: Digitalisation and SMEs in the Mediterranean region (information report)
This own-initiative opinion refers to what a comprehensive approach to industrial policy should include, in order to reposition European production of goods and services in the global context, on the basis of an eco-social open market model that responds to the tradition and the future of the EU.
Download — advies EESC: "Use-value" is back: new prospects and challenges for European products and services (own-initiative opinion)
