regrets that exclusion from the labour market is still a widespread issue, especially affecting women with disabilities and people with the most severe disabilities and believes that solutions such as sheltered employment often end up perpetrating segregation;
urges Member States to promote policies and measures that strengthen access to the open labour market and the Commission to implement the related policy actions under the Disability Employment Package;
calls on the Member States to step up the employment of persons with disabilities, for example through a joint fund for reasonable accommodation. Such fund would be financed by private and public employers who fall short of any set quotas.
asks the Commission and Member States to adopt policies reducing economic and educational inequalities, as these factors hinder cultural participation, particularly in rural areas. It also recommends creating and strengthening programs to eliminate various barriers (physical, economic, linguistic, etc.) to ensure inclusive cultural participation, with a focus on marginalized and discriminated groups;
proposes that the EU and Member States adopt budgetary strategies for supporting cultural policies in sparsely populated rural areas as a key pillar for sustainable development. It recommends integrating public investment and infrastructure development into a broader strategy to revitalize rural regions, attracting private investment and increasing cultural participation;
recommends integrating more cultural and artistic training in school curricula, and encourages specialised cultural professionals to settle in rural areas to drive local development.
calls on the European Commission to adopt a coordinated, cross-cutting EU approach to intergenerational solidarity, ensuring the rights of both young and older people. Moreover, intergenerational solidarity should be one of the criteria for assessing whether legislation and other EU instruments contribute to the aims set out in Article 3(3) TEU: ‘The Union (...) shall promote (...) solidarity between generations;
welcomes the intention to appoint an EU Commissioner with responsibility for intergenerational fairness. The EESC will consider hosting an Intergenerational Solidarity Forum for the exchange of information and experience, evaluating existing and developing new concepts of and strategies for intergenerational solidarity as well as, in cooperation with the European Commission, to monitor the implementation of the opinion's recommendations. Civil society organisations and social partners’ involvement is key in implementing the recommendations, given their important role in promoting intergenerational solidarity;
calls on the European Commission to publish a Green Paper on Intergenerational Solidarity, which may include, within the context of the Welfare State, challenges, opportunities and solutions in the various fields mentioned in this opinion. Requests establishing intergenerational solidarity as one of the objectives under the European Social Fund in the 2027-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework and its implementing regulations.
How to eradicate skills poverty among the most vulnerable? On 10 July, the Civil Society Organisations’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee held a thematic debate exploring this question. The debate saw the launch of a new exploratory study on this same issue.
Healthcare professionals and civil society representatives called on policy-makers to introduce a ‘Health check’ for all future policies. Their demand just before the elections to the European Parliament: the ‘Right to Health’ must remain at the top of the EU and national agendas, as citizens demanded at the Conference on the Future of Europe.
Conference on 'The State of Health in the EU', organised by the EESC Civil Society Organisations' Group, in partnership with the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège and the Hôpital de la Citadelle, in the framework of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU, 4 June, Liège (Belgium)
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), at the request of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, has unveiled crucial recommendations aimed at bolstering social cohesion, managing debt and prioritising investments in healthcare and employment across Europe. The EESC expressed concern that tight budgets might slow down progress in fighting poverty and climate change.
The Civil Society Organisations' Group organised a photography exhibition in collaboration with the City of Culture of Galicia in the framework of its conference on EU food sovereignty: the role of agriculture, fisheries and consumers. The subject of the exhibition supported and complemented the Group's and the EESC's work on resilient and sustainable European food systems. The Group invited the Galician artist, Adrián Baúlde, to present parts of the series Mariscadoras.
The EESC has asked the forthcoming Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU to push forward with the proposal to make the Social Progress Protocol a binding legal instrument, which would help strengthen and preserve social rights in Europe
