Aviz adoptat on 30/04/2025 - Bureau decision date: 11/07/2024
Referințe
ECO/652-EESC-2024
Rapporteur
, Luca JAHIER (Civil Society Organisations - GR III/Italy)
Plenary session number
596
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Information Report ECO/651 and Own-initiative opinion ECO/652 are a continuation of the European Semester Group's (ESG) work to consult annually national economic and social councils, social partners and civil society organisations from EU Member States on reform and investment proposals made in the context of the European Semester and their implementation in the Member States. The Information Report aims to collect the views of social partners and civil society organisations in the Member States on the reform and investment proposals and their implementation, in particular those indicated in the 2024 Country-Specific Recommendations. The Own-initiative opinion aims to complement the Information Report and to include the EESC's policy recommendations based on the results of the stakeholder consultation. It allows the EESC to formulate general and specific considerations, and to present the associated EESC's conclusions and policy proposals.
The rule of law is one of the common values on which the European Union is founded. European Commission’s rule of law mechanism has so far only examined compliance with the rule of law in the member states in only four areas, but unfortunately not as a prerequisite for economic activity or as a location factor. The own-initiative opinion on the economic dimension of the Rule of Law looks for examples of protectionism and the implementation of discriminatory measures against foreign investors in some member states as non-compliance and circumvention of European regulations leading to enormous distortions of competition for companies operating in the internal market. The economic dimension of the rule of law is not adequately reflected in the European Commission’s Rule of Law Report, which is why the EESC advocates the inclusion of a fifth pillar.
The opinion focuses on the legislative proposal for the establishment of a single digital declaration portal for companies providing services and temporarily sending workers to another Member State, known as ‘posted workers'.
This own-initiative opinion will examine the impact of single market fragmentation on the cost of living and competitiveness and look into successful EU initiatives to tackle such issues. It will aim at proposing possible solutions, with particular attention to consumer protection, to the cost-of-living crisis.
Cohesion policy in its current form has had positive impact on the socio-economic development of the EU, individual countries and regions. However, the Polish presidency points out that there is a need to improve the effectiveness of the mechanisms supporting the transformational objectives of cohesion policy. In the discussion of its future, there are ideas aimed at reforming the implementation mechanisms with the approach used in the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) implemented since 2021 as a response to the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and to support the transformation processes of economies.
This opinion will focus on possible solutions to rethink EU sustainable model for tourism, a sector of strategic importance in the EU but suffering from staff shortages in may countries.
