Although considerable progress has already been made towards completing EMU, there is still a need to significantly reinforce all four of its pillars, taking care to maintain the balance between them, as neglecting one or more of these pillars could result in dangerous disparities. Resilience to crises is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for completing EMU: it also requires a positive vision, as set out in Article 3 of the EU Treaty. The EESC generally calls on the European institutions and national governments to take much more ambitious action in the context of EMU reform in order to achieve a more integrated, more democratic and socially better developed Union.
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In the opinion, the Committee states that taxation policy in general and combating tax fraud in particular must remain a priority for the next European Commission. In this line, the EESC endorses a debate on gradually shifting to QMV and the ordinary legislative procedure in tax matters, while recognising that all Member States must at all times have sufficient possibilities to participate in the decision-making process. Moreover, the Committee believes that any new rule must be fit-for-purpose and that certain conditions need to be met to successfully implement QMV: a sufficiently strong EU budget; better coordinated economic policy; and a substantial analytical work assessing to what extent current tax measures have been insufficient.
The absence of economic and social convergence among Member States and regions is a threat to the political sustainability of the European project and all the benefits it has brought to European citizens. Developing economic and labour market resilience with economic, social, environmental and institutional sustainability should be the principle guiding policies. This will foster upwards convergence and fairness in the transition towards a climate-neutral economy while managing the challenges posed by digitalisation and demographic change.
At a meeting of the Parliament's Committee on Budgets on 9 October, EESC member Javier Doz Orrit assured the European Parliament of the EESC's full support in the quest for a strong Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027.
The EESC President, Georges Dassis, met today with the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, to deliver the EESC contribution to the Commission's 2017 Work Programme. President Dassis used this occasion to emphasise that the European Union had to regain momentum in 2017. He said that "the European Commission must strive to restore a spirit of solidarity and responsibility ...
An EESC conference on the future long term budget of the European Union calls for a swift agreement on an adequate and properly reformed financial framework that strengthens the European Union
Commissioner Oettinger joined EESC plenary to discuss the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027
Public Hearing on Strengthening the international role of the euro: European and international perspectives in the framework of ECO/489. This event will take place on Thursday, 4 April 2019, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is bringing together policy-makers and civil society representatives for an exchange of views from a European and an international perspective.