The aim of this own-initiative opinion is to develop a strategy to achieve a sustainable plant protein and plant oil open autonomy in the EU by analysing the potential of EU-grown plants. It will also discuss the potential of pure plant oil as a sustainable source for running heavy tractors and other agriculture and forestry machines in a sustainable energy system.
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The aim of this OIO is to identify avenues for a transparent and credible sustainability-labelling framework, which is easy to understand and empowers consumers to make more sustainable food choices. The OIO would contribute to achieving more sustainable and healthy food systems in practice by exploring potential avenues to empower the consumer to make more sustainable buying decisions.
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Achieving the digital transition is a fundamental challenge for the European Union in order to maintain a high level of business competitiveness. Winning this challenge is also decisive for global competition, for what could be defined as the maintenance of "digital sovereignty".
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The own-initiative opinion (OIO) is part of an EESC umbrella opinion “A strategic vision on energy transition to enable sustainable development”covering various aspects of the energy transition. Once all opinions by the different EESC Sections have been gathered, the respective recommendations will constitute the EESC's overarching political message to the EU Institutions.
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The EESC points at the need to improve youth participation, tackling in particular the lack of youth democratic representation and the lack of a youth perspective outside of the traditional youth policy domain. The EU Youth Test should not substitute meaningful engagement with young people in general and should complement existing participatory mechanisms. It should be part of the Better Regulation Toolbox as a separate tool, since future generations and young people deserve specific attention. The EESC encourages the EU institutions and Member States to implement measures and mechanisms that ensure that the youth perspective is taken into account in every policy field. Suitable resources should be made available for meaningful youth participation in policy-making.
EESC believes that there is a need to have a clear and structured view of which funds are targeted to tackle climate change and how they are managed. With an approved budget of over EUR 330 billion in the current programming period, cohesion policy is the largest and most important investment tool in Europe. As 30% of both the Cohesion Fund and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) will need to be spent on projects for decarbonising our economy, cohesion policy has a crucial role in tackling climate change. Moreover, funds will also be made available under NGEU, as the green transition is one of the main targets of recovery and resilience after COVID-19.
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Crypto-assets are a digital representation of value or rights which may be transferred and stored electronically, using distributed ledger technology or similar technology (e.g. blockhain). They are neither issued nor guaranteed by a central bank or public authority, and can be used as a means of exchange and/or for investment purposes and/or to access a good or service. A wide range of crypto-assets exist, encompassing different features and functions, hence presenting different challenges and risks.
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