EESC Corner: The European Economic and Social Committee's contribution to the 2020 Commission's Work Programme and beyond

EESC Corner: The European Economic and Social Committee’s contribution to the 2020 Commission’s Work Programme and beyond

547. EESC Plenary session discussed and adopted a Resolution on its contribution to the 2020 Commission programme highlighting four megatrends that need to be at the heart of the political priorities in the new political legislature: digitalisation, climate change and biodiversity loss, demography and globalisation. The main issue is the scale and speed of the change. The EESC calls for actions to address urgent economic, social and environmental challenges:

· The EU and its Member States are firmly committed to implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement and to advancing their implementation globally through their full range of external actions. Moreover, in December 2018, on the sidelines of COP24, the EU and 20 Member States signed the Silesia Declaration on Solidarity and Just Transition.

· The single market remains a key instrument for European integration. Its rejuvenation would benefit Europe, making it more sustainable and cohesive. The Digital Single Market offers opportunities and needs to be developed to ensure EU competitiveness, through the creation of an enabling environment for new forms of enterprise that are emerging on this market. Meanwhile, the EU must ensure that these new forms of enterprise are sustainable and that they scale up and remain in Europe.

· The EESC believes that sustainable development must therefore be at the heart of Europe’s future and calls for an overarching EU 2050 strategy on sustainability in order to implement the UN 2030 Agenda. In this respect, the European Semester could be equipped with new, improved, measurable and complementary social, economic and environmental indicators to monitor and keep track of all aspects of the European Pillar of Social Rights and its principles as well as the 17 SDGs.

· The EU can be proud of its social model, compared to other parts of the world. However, social achievements and progress in Europe cannot be taken for granted. In 2017, the EU confirmed its commitment to the European Pillar of Social Rights in order to deliver its promise to work for balanced economic growth and social progress leading to the increased wellbeing of its citizens.

· The EU must improve its policies and action to ensure gender equality and other forms of equality, in addition to guaranteeing that all people facing multiple forms of discrimination have equal opportunities in society.

· The EESC calls for an ambitious and better-targeted EU budget that reflects the will to respond to EU challenges that could be turned into opportunities, giving the EU a new project. Therefore, the EESC calls for a fitness check of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

· Civil dialogue plays a central role in promoting sustainability in all its dimensions. The EESC welcomes the new impetus for European democracy and is ready to play its role in the proposed conference on the Future of Europe.

· Social dialogue must continue to have a central role in designing and implementing labour market policies and measures that effectively help companies and workers.

· The EESC supports fair taxation and the fight against fraud, tax evasion, money laundering and the financial practices of tax havens; a common objective of EU institutions, governments and business must be to work together in order to put in place efficient mechanisms such as the two anti-tax avoidance directives.

· The 2020 Commission’s work programme and the proposed priorities and activities will therefore require that adjustments be made to the Commission’s objectives, positions and working methods. All of its internal and external policies must be coherent and aligned with the SDGs, so that the principles of efficiency, subsidiarity, proportionality and sustainability are duly considered.