The Covid-19 pandemic is strongly affecting the Euro-Mediterranean region, creating new challenges and exacerbating pre-existing ones. The pandemic has highlighted fundamental weaknesses in institutions, economies and health systems. Civil society plays a key role in the reconstruction and resilience of the whole region.
Download — Opinia EKES-u: COVID-19: The role of civil society in the reconstruction and resilience of the Euro-Mediterranean region
In 2017, the EESC organised a hearing and adopted a report on the LeaderSHIP 2020 Strategy as regards the maritime technology sector in Europe. This exercise was aimed at paving the way for the adoption of a new LeaderSHIP Strategy beyond 2020. Unfortunately, this strategy was not adopted.
Download — Opinia EKES-u: An industrial strategy for the maritime technology sector
This opinion underlines that by creating a fertile ground for women entrepreneurship and the adequate financial and legislative instruments, such as gender budgeting, we can create an inclusive financial ecosystem in the EU and Member States and advance faster towards gender equality. It suggests that diversity of teams with a specific focus on women should be a criterion for receiving public funding. This Opinion also calls for an ambitious vision from the European Commission and the European institutions on gender budgeting and gender lens investing. It suggests that the EC publishes a gender impact assessment of the annual EU budget and creates a task force to include gender mainstreaming EU objectives in the next MFF and in the mid-term review of the current MFF.
Download — Opinia EKES-u: Gender lens investing as a way to improve gender equality in the European Union
This own-initiative opinion will offer an overview of how gender equality and economic empowerment has been built into the RRF Regulation and will focus on gender-oriented public investments and programmes foreseen in NRRPs on targeted recovery plans to support women’s participation in the labour market, while giving concrete recommendations to ensure gender-based investments.
Download — Opinia EKES-u: Gender-based investments in national recovery and resilience plans
Download — Opinia EKES-u: Management, conservation and control measures applicable in the Area covered under the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA)
This Opinion welcomes the Commission's ambition to reduce the incidence of cancer, and its specific efforts to minimise exposure to asbestos at work. It recommends that the technical limit value for asbestos exposure under the Directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work should ultimately be set at a lower level than the Commission is currently proposing. This Opinion also suggests that roadmap of complementary measures over and above the Commission's proposals should be drawn up in order to achieve that objective. It calls on the EU and its Member States to actively promote an international ban on the use of asbestos and protection for workers dealing with existing asbestos during activities such as renovation, demolition and waste management.
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This Opinion welcomes the European Media Freedom Act and all the related EU initiatives aiming to address the worrying developments in the area of media freedom over the last years. The Opinion entails a number of recommendations concerning editorial and journalists' independence; the need for financial resources to ensure independence of public media; transparency in the allocation of State advertising; transparency of media ownership. The Opinion also calls for measures to ensure the independence of national regulatory bodies, especially in the context of the future European board for media services. It also considers that EU anti-concentration law should be used where national regulators fail to address media market concentration.
Download — Opinia EKES-u: European Media Freedom Act
Considering the extent of the food security crisis and the urgency to address the issue of excessive commodity speculation, the aim of this own-initiative opinion is to analyse the current situation in more detail; gather experts' views on the impacts of commodity speculation on food price increases and food security worldwide; and provide civil society's recommendations on policy measures that are needed to address excessive price speculation and increase market transparency.
Download — Opinia EKES-u: Food price crisis: the role of speculation and concrete proposals for action in the aftermath of the Ukraine war
L'Acte sur la Résilience Cybernétique vise à établir les exigences en matière de cybersécurité pour les produits et logiciels connectés (intégrés et non intégrés). Cette initiative vise à répondre aux besoins du marché et à protéger les consommateurs contre les produits non sécuritaires en instaurant des règles communes de cybersécurité pour les fabricants et les fournisseurs de produits numériques tangibles et intangibles et de services auxiliaires.
The exploratory opinion will look into EU competitiveness and the regulatory impacts of Union legislation on EU's businesses. The EU must decrease its strategic dependency and ensure its higher resilience, as well as openness to the outside world and competitiveness of its businesses. According to the Czech Presidency priorities, the Single Market serves as the EU's greatest asset in order to fulfil these targets.
Download — Opinia EKES-u: A competitiveness check to build a stronger and more resilient EU economy
EU Heads of State or Government, meeting in Versailles on 11 March, committed to “bolster European defence capabilities” in light of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine. They agreed to: 1) increase defence expenditures; 2) step up cooperation through joint projects; 3) close shortfalls and meet capability objectives; 4) boost innovation including through civil/military synergies; and 5) strengthen and develop our defence industry, including SMEs. Moreover, they invited “the Commission, in coordination with the European Defence Agency, to put forward an analysis of the defence investment gaps by mid-May and to propose any further initiative necessary to strengthen the European defence industrial and technological base.” The tasking was also integrated in the Strategic Compass on Security and Defence adopted by the Council and endorsed by the European Council in March 2022.
Download — Opinia EKES-u: Defence Investment Gaps Analysis and the way forward
