Measures for a resilient, cohesive and inclusive European economy

Key points

The EESC:

• emphasises that the EU must urgently transition from a defensive to an offensive competitiveness strategy that balances economic dynamism with European values, and recommends shifting measures from reactive crisis management to proactive resilience building;
• recommends a formal, permanent and structured consultation process in which national governments work closely with authorities at all levels and in partnership with trade unions, employers, CSOs and other responsible bodies throughout the whole policy cycle, from preparation and implementation to monitoring and evaluation;
• calls for a comprehensive EU economic resilience monitoring system, with real-time tracking of systemically significant prices, supply chain vulnerabilities and market functioning;
• calls for the streamlining regulations while maintaining high standards, accelerating approvals for strategic investments and harmonising implementation across Member States, and the deepening of the single market;
• calls for a more sophisticated EU inflation governance framework that directly address ‘shockflation’ through coordinated action between monetary policy and targeted sectoral measures;
• calls for a permanent EU-level fiscal stabilisation capacity that draws on the experiences gained with NextGenerationEU (NGEU), with automatic stabilisation mechanisms triggered by objective economic indicators and funded through dedicated EU revenue streams in the next multiannual financial framework (MFF);
• points out the need to identify and address the 20 most critical supply vulnerabilities in the EU economy by strategically reshoring or friend-shoring essential production, and through EU-level strategic reserves for critical commodities and public-private investment vehicles for strategic production capacity;
• calls for stronger social conditionalities need to be implemented in all forms of EU funding and public procurement to promote quality jobs, collective bargaining and decent working conditions, particularly in regions undergoing transition;
• points out the need to boost investment in human capital, with a particular emphasis on improving digital skills and AI integration as fundamental components of future workforce preparedness, while also addressing regional disparities in productivity and wages through targeted education and training initiatives;
• calls for an EU investment fund of at least 1% of EU GDP is needed to address the EUR 700 billion annual investment gap for strategic priorities, with emphasis on cross-border infrastructure, energy market integration and critical technologies that reduce Europe’s nearly twofold energy cost disadvantage compared to global competitors;
• calls for the creation of a targeted support system for vulnerable groups using an EU-wide vulnerability mapping tool with granular household data to ensure that crisis responses protect those most at risk;
• believes it important to balance defence spending with other strategic priorities, and to include other elements essential to the EU’s very existence in the definition of defence, namely democracy, rule of law and social values;
• stresses that addressing the systemic risks facing the EU economy requires enhanced accountability from policymakers at all levels, and stronger cooperation between all stakeholders to secure a sustainable and resilient economic future. To meet the extraordinary challenges ahead, all competent and responsible parties will, more than ever, need to engage in dialogue and cooperation and work together to put the EU economy on a sustainable, durable and resilient path.

Practical information

The EU Youth Test at the EESC was applied to this opinion. Human Development Research Initiative (HDRI) was chosen by a group of interested youth organisations to represent all of them during the opinion-making process.