The European Commission presented its Critical Raw Materials Act in the beginning of March. The package of legislative and non-legislative measures is aimed at diversifying the supply of the materials needed to achieve the green and digital transition.
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In the opinion, the EESC: calls for a paradigm shift in the treatment of older people, moving from a care-based approach to empowering them and eliminating ageist attitudes; urges the EU to adopt a comprehensive European strategy for older persons, safeguarding their rights and promoting their full participation in society and the economy (the strategy should be accompanied by a guarantee for older persons and encompass various areas such as equality, non-discrimination, gender, rights, participation, employment, education, income and social inclusion, with Member States developing national plans to this end); encourages the drafting and signing of a European declaration on older persons to demonstrate the commitment towards developing the European strategy for older persons.
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The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles announced the review of the Textile Labelling Regulation. As part of this review, the Strategy mentions the possibility to introduce mandatory disclosure of types of information other than those already included in the current Regulation, such as sustainability and circularity parameters, products’ size and, where applicable, the country where manufacturing processes take place (‘made in’). The opinion will explore the different options to expand the scope of the Textile Labelling Regulation, including parameters on sustainability and circularity in coherence with current legislative proposals linked to traceability. The opinion will take account of the industrial perspective, including costs and improved exchange of information along the value chain, and the consumer perspective, in order to ensure correct, accurate and clear information.
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The opinion looks into the needs and measures to ensure more efficient water consumption in the EU by consumers, taking into account the main environmental issues, knowledge gaps and state of play of related technologies.
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This own-initiative opinion highlights the importance of equal treatment of young people in the labour market. It covers key aspects such as access to jobs, education-to-work transition, traineeships and internships, minimum wages, skills, social security, mental health and well-being. The EESC provides recommendations to promote and ensure equal treatment of young people in the labour market while supporting their economic activity through entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation.
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The EESC underlines the importance of having accurate, up-to-date data in order to monitor and evaluate the impact of policies on youth and to define good practices which address young people. It believes that the EU Youth Dialogue should be strengthened, involve bodies representing young people meaningfully throughout the policymaking process and take into account the new ways in which young people engage, debate and mobilise. More support should be dedicated to building the capacity of the social partners, particularly among young members, with a view to social dialogue and collective bargaining.
The EESC agrees with the proposal in the final report of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE, May 2022) and the resolution of the EP (9 June 2022), to add a social progress protocol (SPP) to the Treaties. This would help ensure that fundamental social rights are effectively protected in the event of conflict with economic freedoms. The EESC considers the SPP to be essential in order to strengthen the autonomy of the social partners, linking, on the one hand, the proper functioning of the single market and economic freedoms, including fair competition between the Member States and, on the other hand, respect and promotion of collective social rights. A SPP will enable the EU to be a leader when it comes to economic growth, the well-being of its citizens, and robust and sustainable businesses.
This initiative will require companies to substantiate claims they make about the environmental footprint of their products/services by using standard methods for quantifying them. The aim is to make the claims reliable, comparable and verifiable across the EU – reducing ‘greenwashing’.
The objective of the initiative is to ensure the digitalisation of EU company law. In particular, the initiative will aim at enhancing transparency through increased availability of company information at EU level. It should enable the cross-border use of authentic and trustworthy data about companies, also through the application of the once-only principle, and make the existing rules and procedures fit for the digital age.
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This opinion welcomes the Spanish Presidency's initiative of setting the goal to eliminate HIV related stigma and discrimination in Europe by 2030. It underlines that, in order to overcome stigma, discrimination and stereotypes, it essential to promote awareness-raising, training and information actions, involving organised civil society, youth and student organisations. The opinion also recommends a more ambitious new target for all countries to be achieved by 2030, improving coverage levels to as high as 95% for testing, treatment and virological suppression. Finally, it calls for new and innovative strategies to improve early diagnosis and make more people aware of their infection by expanding diversified and user-friendly approaches to more widely available HIV testing.
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