The EESC in action

Europe 2020, Reflection to the situation in North Africa

EESC Section for external relations (REX)

On 2 March EESC Section for external relations was held. In the light of the extraordinary EU Summit on 11 March 2011 and the recent situation in the North African countries the guest speaker was Mr. Luc Van den Brande, chair of the CIVEX Commission, Committee of Regions, who stressed the role of the civil society and cooperation of both committees in this critical situation and said: “We have to stop talking, we start to act.“ The invitation was accepted also by Mr. Duplá del Moral, European Service for External Actions. Last guest was Mr. Abdelmaksound Rachdi, a Moroccan sociologist and president of the Euromed Non-Governmental Platform, who has explained in detail the situation in the region and said: “Nobody knows, what will happen in the future, these movements don´t have any real leaders, there is nobody ready to transform this historical moment in the concrete steps.” The EESC members called EEAS to cooperate with both committees and with the Euromed-Non-Governmental Platform. REX has adopted in frame of its agenda an information report “The role of the Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions in the new economic, social and environmental world governance”.

EESC Section for Internal Market (INT)

On 4 March 2011 EESC Section for Internal Market (INT) adopted two important opinions in line with the strategy EUROPE 2020 and its flagship initiatives:

INT/545 Innovation Union

Innovations lead to progress, growth, prosperity, social security, international competitiveness and employment. They must help us to overcome the great challenges facing society. They require and reinforce a social climate of confidence and self-belief that can generate further progress and a constructive dynamic with which to take on global competition. To flourish, they need a European approach and a European single market, in which the European Research Area with a powerful R&D Framework Programme plays a key role.
Accordingly, the Committee expressly welcomes and supports the Commission's Communication and its aims, as well as the related Conclusions of the Competitiveness Council of 25-26 November 2010 and 4 February 2011. The concept of the Innovation Union is an essential element of the Europe 2020 Strategy.
The Committee welcomes in particular the fact that innovations are understood and defined in terms of their broader ramifications – in other words, that they span not only research, technology and products, but also all human interactions and kinds of organisations, including social services, business practices and models, design, branding and services, as well as the diverse interplay between them. With respect to social innovations, the Committee is also in favour of consulting the social partners.

INT/548 Single Market Act

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has been closely following the Single Market from the civil society perspective and set up its Single Market Observatory (SMO) in 1994 to this effect. It therefore asks the European Commission to associate the SMO as one of the major stakeholders to such initiatives as the Single Market Forum.
The contribution of civil society organisations is an indispensable element for the right focusing of the measures that are required to relaunch the Single Market since they represent its users. The 50 proposals under scrutiny are only the start of a long term process to revive the Single Market. This process should never stop because the Single Market is a work in progress. The EESC identified a number of measures that are missing in the Single Market Act and will make proposals in due time, which would also contribute to citizens’ confidence.
The EESC does not present in this opinion an in-depth study of all the Single Market Act proposals. Some of them have already been the subject of Committee opinions. It will issue more detailed positions when the European Commission proposals emerge following on the communication, including the proposals related to the EU 2020 flagship initiatives. The EESC identified priorities, which the basic components of European civil society as represented at the EESC have agreed upon. These priorities should enable all actors of the Single Market on the ground to make full use of its potential. The EESC insists on the need for a holistic approach that goes beyond the artificial division of the Single Market Act into three pillars. The Committee aims at remedying the eclectic nature of the proposals by suggesting more coherence and mutual interdependence of individual measures. The proposals are complementary in that they interact with one another and impact on society at large: workers, consumers, businesses and citizens alike. There is no specific Single Market for each of those categories. According to the Treaty on European Union the Union should be based on a highly competitive social market economy.

Vladimíra Drbalová
International Organisations and EU Affairs
EESC Member