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.
Download — EESK:s yttrande: Critical Raw Materials Act
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.
Download — EESK:s yttrande: Water efficient consumption and consumer awareness about their water footprint
The EESC asserts that businesses and workers must have proper channels for participating in efforts to support environmental protection and combat climate change. While respecting the role of national industrial relations systems and the autonomy of the social partners, the EESC considers that issues related to the green transition could be a stronger focus of collective bargaining at the appropriate levels. It highlights collective bargaining as a key tool that can help companies and workers face the challenges of the climate crisis, including the derived costs for companies.
Download — EESK:s yttrande: Green collective bargaining
The main objective of this initiative is to encourage consumers to use consumer goods for a longer time, by repairing defective goods and by purchasing more second-hand and refurbished goods. It will entail the adoption of a proposal for an amendment of the Sale of Goods Directive and possibly a separate new legislative proposal on the right to repair.
Since 2016, as requested by the Council, every second year the Commission publishes a report on the implementation of the existing macro-regional strategies (MRS). This is the fourth report, covering the period from mid-2020 to mid-2022. It assesses the state of play and progress on implementing the MRS and examines ways forward especially in the context of the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 crisis.
Download — EESK:s yttrande: Implementation of EU macro-regional strategies
