Annual meeting of the Presidents and Secretaries-General of the Economic and Social Councils of the EU and the EESC – Opening Speech

Dear President Simion,
Dear Presidents of the ESCs,
Dear Secretaries-General,
Dear colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me first take this opportunity to thank President Simion for hosting us today in Bucharest and co-organising this meeting. I express also my thanks for the excellent cooperation between the EESC and the Economic and Social Council of Romania during the preparation of this meeting.

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of you to this annual meeting of the presidents and secretaries-general of the EESC and national ESCs. I am also pleased to see that many national ESCs have joined our annual meeting, whether in presence or virtually, to discuss this year's theme 'Turning geopolitical challenges into an EU success story: the contribution of organised civil society'.

Finally, let me say that I am happy to be here with EESC's Secretary General Gianluca Brunetti and with a small delegation - our three group presidents: Violeta Jelić representing the Employers' Group; Oliver Röpke representing the Workers' Group; and Ionuţ Sibian representing the Civil Society Organisations' Group. Vice-President Cillian Lohan will join us online. Our annual gathering of national ESCs and the EESC is, for the time being, possibly the most visible part of our close and constant partnership.

Today, in Bucharest, it is of the utmost importance that we address the most important issues from our own perspectives, share our views and deliver our conclusions to the EU institutions. Allow me to underline here that the conclusions that we reached last year were shared with the EU institutions and presented our common vision on the crucial issues. Issues that we will also be addressing today and tomorrow. When we met in Paris last year, the EU's economic outlook, although still very fragile, already showed some positive signs of growth and economic resilience.

Today, with the unprovoked Russian military aggression on Ukraine in February, the picture is far less rosy, and substantially bleaker. As we know, the war at the EU's doorstep caused a massive influx of refugees from Ukraine; according to the United Nation Refugee Agency by the end October, more than 7.6 million people had fled the country, and more than 4 million refugees had asked for EU temporary protection. This massive influx of refugees triggered a prompt reaction from the EU and its Member States, which gave their unwavering support to Ukraine: the EU has adopted eight packages of sanctions against the Russian Federation, and stepped up its political, humanitarian, financial and military support to Kyiv.

I would like to stress that for the first time since its adoption in 2001, the EU managed to activate the Temporary protection Directive. In doing so, the EU sent a strong signal to Ukraine and to the international community. In practice this means that refugees are granted a set of rights such as residence permits, housing, medical and social care, education, as well as basic means of subsistence. Organised civil society across the EU reacted swiftly and efficiently by mobilising all actors, organisations and citizens. I am particularly looking forward to hearing from you about your contributions in our first session, where we will tackle the issues that come with integrating refugees and the challenges ahead. It will be interesting to build on the experience acquired by our Romanian colleagues, and to draw conclusions on the implementation of the temporary protection directive.

The war has caused a variety of adverse outcomes. Not only in terms of mass destructions, death tolls and displaced people in and outside Ukraine, but also in terms of the detrimental impact on the economy across Europe and worldwide. At a time when the EU and the rest of the world was still recovering from the health crisis and the cost of living was already on the rise, the war in Ukraine led to substantial increases in energy, as in raw material and food prices and then in the broader economy. According to Eurostat, in September 2022, the inflation rate continued to grow and reached 10% in the EU, with energy and food heading the list. The European Commission noted in its summer 2022 consumer survey, that lower-income households are the ones mostly hit by the increasing costs of energy and food. Let us keep this in mind. The picture also shows wide gaps between EU countries. In Romania, for instance, the National Institute of Statistics indicated last October an annual inflation rate of almost 16%, and an annual increase of electricity, gas and central heating combined prices exceeding 41%. Forecasting institutions and the European Commission share the consensus, indicating that in 2022 Euro Area growth will stand at around 3%, and will decrease significantly to reach roughly 1% the year after.

While recession seems to be an increasingly possible scenario. It is also true that the EU's economic performance will vary considerably, depending on the evolution of the war and its implications on gas supply. According to the European Commission, fresh increases of gas prices could drive up inflation, erode the purchasing power of households, slow down economic growth, and lead to deteriorating financing conditions. I welcome the EU 's RePowerEU plan to introduce temporary and longer-term measures, reducing our dependence on Russian energy imports, ensuring the security of supply at a price socially acceptable for businesses and citizens and starting to diversify our energy sources. These are all measures that the EESC and national ESCs have been calling for. We have advocated for the setting up and implementation of Europe's strategic autonomy, but we also underlined that this achievement must correspond to the climate neutrality goals set by the EU.

A few days after the launch in Sharm el-Sheikh of the 27th session of the UN COP on Climate Change, allow me to recall the EESC's continuous engagement in climate activities. Despite the urgent actions necessary to face the consequences of the war in the energy sector, we cannot abandon the objectives of the EU Green deal. The EESC has just adopted a resolution in which it stresses the need for EU Institutions, Member States and all stakeholders to step up their climate ambitions according to the latest scientific recommendations. In this context, the involvement of organised civil society is crucial, for instance, to ensure that low-income households are taken into account in energy efficiency investments or that they have the necessary means to produce energy for themselves. Civil society organisations must continue to play a central role in supporting citizens and businesses in their energy transition efforts, including through targeted information campaigns on energy savings.

The food sector has also been affected by the consequences of the war in Ukraine. Food supply chains have been hit worldwide by a reduction of agri-food products from Ukraine, soaring prices and trade restrictions on some agricultural goods. It is true that the decision to set up the 'solidarity lanes' to address the blockade of the Ukrainian seaports, and the Black Sea grain initiative brokered by the UN and Turkey, have improved food supply. Nevertheless, the affordability of food products is a growing issue in the EU. This is why, even before the outbreak of war, the national ESCs and the EESC had called for a strengthening of strategic autonomy in the food systems, food diversification and the development of short supply chains. And here, the EESC's and national ESCs' role is important; we must make the voice of organised civil society and of stakeholders across the food supply chain heard. And we must monitor and address the risks of food poverty.

Integrating refugees, open strategic autonomy: these are the main topics that we chose for our annual meeting here in Bucharest. These are also among the first priorities of the European Commission work programme 2023 – and I quote: 'reducing energy prices, securing the crucial supplies needed for our industrial competitiveness and food security and strengthening our social market economy'. If we want to turn the geopolitical challenges that I have just outlined into EU successes, we should mobilise our networks. We can also rely on a new tool at our disposal: our active participation in the follow-up to the Conference on the Future of Europe.

I won't go now into detail since we will tackle this topic this afternoon but let me express my satisfaction that the EESC and national ESCs have been actively involved in this consultation, supporting events and contributing to the final recommendations. Even if the Conference was a mixed success, the fact that the final report proposes the EESC explicitly as a guarantor and facilitator of participatory democracy activities, and also the need to involve better organised civil society in our democratic life is an asset we can and must build upon.

With this in mind, I wish for a fruitful outcome of our work here today and tomorrow, and I propose to address our first topic.

Thank you!

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Annual meeting of the Presidents and Secretaries-General of the Economic and Social Councils of the EU and the EESC – Opening Speech

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