Although considerable progress has already been made towards completing EMU, there is still a need to significantly reinforce all four of its pillars, taking care to maintain the balance between them, as neglecting one or more of these pillars could result in dangerous disparities. Resilience to crises is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for completing EMU: it also requires a positive vision, as set out in Article 3 of the EU Treaty. The EESC generally calls on the European institutions and national governments to take much more ambitious action in the context of EMU reform in order to achieve a more integrated, more democratic and socially better developed Union.
Download — EESK:s yttrande: A new vision for completing the Economic and Monetary Union (own initiative opinion)
The absence of economic and social convergence among Member States and regions is a threat to the political sustainability of the European project and all the benefits it has brought to European citizens. Developing economic and labour market resilience with economic, social, environmental and institutional sustainability should be the principle guiding policies. This will foster upwards convergence and fairness in the transition towards a climate-neutral economy while managing the challenges posed by digitalisation and demographic change.
Civil Society Days 2019 - Workshop 6 Economy and democracy labour market resilient and sustainable pathway
In the opinion, the Committee states that taxation policy in general and combating tax fraud in particular must remain a priority for the next European Commission. In this line, the EESC endorses a debate on gradually shifting to QMV and the ordinary legislative procedure in tax matters, while recognising that all Member States must at all times have sufficient possibilities to participate in the decision-making process. Moreover, the Committee believes that any new rule must be fit-for-purpose and that certain conditions need to be met to successfully implement QMV: a sufficiently strong EU budget; better coordinated economic policy; and a substantial analytical work assessing to what extent current tax measures have been insufficient.
We congratulate President Ursula von der Leyen for her re-election and welcome her political guidelines, which mark a significant shift towards addressing the challenge of crumbling competitiveness, acknowledging it as a critical issue on par with climate change and security.
Criticism raised by civil society mainly concerns questions about the legitimacy, consistency and transparency of this arbitration system. A new model for international investment governance needs to be developed, in order to fill the significant gap between the investment system on the one hand and effective protection of labour rights and the environment on the other.
Diversity Europe Group President Séamus Boland, EESC plenary debate on the 'EU priorities for recovery and the implementation of the 2022 European Commission work programme', 9 December 2021
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted a Resolution on its contribution to the European Commission's 2021 work programme at its July plenary session. The document welcomes the proposals made by the European Commission to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and sees the next year as an opportunity to restructure and improve the EU’s economy and society.
This public hearing will bring together policymakers and civil society stakeholders to discuss on existing initiatives, the role that civil society should play, and what policy actions are necessary to untap their potential in this regard.
