ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
4.7.

The EESC supports that the following principles must underpin the system: a) the green certificate should aim to reduce the impact of the risk to a residual level that is considered acceptable by national authorities and in line with the WHO, b) restrictions on international travel should be commensurate with the epidemiological situation in the country of origin and destination, c) quarantine could continue to be an instrument available to authorities when appropriate, d) countries participating in the system will accept tests that have been approved by the national authorities of other participating countries, e) the complexity of processes and amount of information collected and transferred across borders should be minimised, f) the system should be interoperable and based on a common nomenclature and format for information transfers, g) the system should abide by the principles of ‘privacy by design’, in which the contents, collection mode, purpose for collection, and length of storage for any or all data being collected will be made clear to the data subject at the outset.
1.14.

The EESC underlines that upskilling and reskilling are of the utmost importance in supporting the green and digital transitions of industries and they need to be seen as a social and economic responsibility to ensure inclusive training for quality jobs, and a just transition for all. Forward-looking industrial strategies, including effective skills policies, are needed to support upskilling and reskilling of the workforce. These can help ensure a just and socially fair transition to a climate-neutral economy through balancing the labour market that contributes to inclusive digitalisation and high-quality jobs. Companies need effective support to strengthen and finance their strategies for upskilling and reskilling their workforces to encourage innovation. At the same time, the overall economic and social interest should be respected. Collective agreements should determine access to different types of paid education leave for workers’ personal and professional needs. The EESC reminds the EU Member States to align workers’ access to paid educational leave with ILO Convention 140 on Paid Education Leave as soon as possible through national actions and collective agreements and to ensure, with the support of social partners, that its use is effective.
Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down management, conservation and control measures applicable in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Area of Competence, amending Council Regulations (EC) No 1936/2001, (EC) No 1984/2003 and (EC) No 520/2007’

(COM(2021) 113 final — 2021/0058 (COD))

(2021/C 341/15)

Referral European Parliament, 24.3.2021 Council, 31.3.2021 Legal basis Article 43, paragraph 2 and article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union Section responsible Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment Adopted at plenary 9.6.2021 Plenary session No 561 Outcome of vote (for/against/abstentions) 187/0/2

Since the Committee endorses the content of the proposal and feels that it requires no comment on its part, it decided, at its 561st plenary session of 9 and 10 June 2021 (meeting of 9 June), by 187 votes in favour with 2 abstentions, to issue an opinion endorsing the proposed text.
Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013, as regards restrictions to the access to Union waters

(COM(2021) 356 final — 2021/0176 (COD))

(2021/C 517/22)

Referral European Parliament, 8.7.2021 Council, 16.7.2021 Legal basis Articles 43(2) and article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union Section responsible Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment Adopted at plenary 22.9.2021 Plenary session No 563 Outcome of vote (for/against/abstentions) 232/0/5

Since the Committee endorses the content of the proposal and feels that it requires no comment on its part, it decided, at its 563rd plenary session of 22 and 23 September 2021 (meeting of 22 September), by 232 votes with 5 abstentions, to issue an opinion endorsing the proposed text.
2.3.

The proposed regulation applies to road transport and buildings, which would be covered by a separate emissions trading system, as stated in the Fit for 55 package as well as EU domestic navigation, and to non-ETS sectors and activities such as agriculture and waste. The EESC supports the Commission’s proposal to maintain the ESR for the aforementioned sectors. The expected added value of this is, according to the Commission impact assessment, that it ensures that these sectors will deliver the required emission reductions and that (an extended) Emission Trading System should be seen as an additional support to reaching the increased 2030 ambition. The impact assessment also points out that increasing the national targets under the ESR will require revisiting the principles of fairness and cost efficiency. Complementary instruments (market and regulation) may, therefore, be needed for sectors with market rigidities (lack of access to affordable low-carbon solutions) where the population (in particular low-income groups) is directly affected. Maintaining these sectors within the regulatory possibilities of Member States acting under the ESR guarantees achievement of sought results and may provide better protection and fairness. This is why the EESC supports the current Commission proposal to keep these sectors under the scope of the ESR even after a new emissions trading system for road transport and buildings is set up. The EESC points to the need for the Commission and Member States to deal with the interface between the two systems in a smooth and transparent manner.
3.2.

The proposal is broadly based on preparatory work carried out by the EBA, notably with regard to the development of the regulatory technical standards on the indirect subscription of internal MREL eligible instruments within resolution groups. The proposal primarily aims at addressing unintended consequences related to the existing TLAC/MREL framework, resulting from the rules currently contained in the CRR. The proposed amendments would have a limited impact on the administrative burden for institutions and the costs for them to adapt their internal operations, with most of the costs expected to be offset by allowing the approach of indirect subscription of internal MREL eligible instruments within resolution groups, to function properly and, for the institutions concerned, by the benefits derived in terms of an improved recognition of third-country subsidiaries and by further specifying the eligibility of instruments issued in the context of the internal TLAC requirement.
3.17.

Regarding the added value of extending taxation to aviation and waterborne transport inside the EU, the EESC underlines the importance of equally concentrating other productive ways to promote improved sustainability in these modes. With respect to aviation, new and sustainable means of propulsion are being developed, and dedicated means to promote those should be focused on. With respect to waterborne transport, this is one of the sectors where decarbonisation appears to be extremely difficult. Hence there is a risk that making such transport subject to taxation will only lead to higher costs, as is also likely to be the case with the extension of ETS to that field. In both contexts, the ten-year transition period for overall phasing-in of taxation with respect to aviation and of dedicated tax regimes for sustainable biofuels and other alternative fuels appears extremely short.
1.5.

The EESC welcomes the importance the proposal attaches to cohesion when implementing the network and takes note that this means ensuring accessibility and connectivity for all regions in the Union for both passenger and freight traffic, and efficient coordination and interconnection between, respectively, long-distance, regional and local traffic, as well as transport in urban nodes. The EESC thus also welcomes the obligation on Member States in Article 58 of the proposal to ensure that national transport and investment plans are coherent with Union transport policy. Efficient rail freight links with infrastructure enabling adequate speed helping towards punctuality will enable rail to play its full part in the intermodal transport chain, considering that insufficient punctuality of rail has been a major obstacle to making multimodality, including rail, an attractive option.
3.9.

Several investigations have shown that there is increasing use of environmental crimes as a means or link to corrupt behaviour or as a predicate offence for money laundering. As more resources from the EU budget are allocated to the green transition, we expect also to see an increased risk of such criminal behaviours associated with the implementation of such funds. While it is true that waste management is one of the high-risk sectors, many other areas that impact environment protection can be affected by corruption, money laundering or fraud. The EESC welcomes the inclusion of these risks in the recitals but draws attention to the need for more resources allocated to the identification and investigation of such offences, as well as in the training of law enforcement or access of civil society and journalists to information that can expose such behaviour.
4.7.

At the same time, the EESC questions the importance of the requirement for the defence product not to be subject to a restriction by a non-associated third country (entity). Since the proposed instrument covers off-the-shelf procurement and aims to address the most urgent product needs, this requirement seems less pertinent for EDIRPA than for the EDF, which aims at the development of future capabilities and for which technological sovereignty is a declared objective. The EESC therefore calls for a flexible interpretation of this provision, leaving it for Member States to balance the search for operational freedom against the urgency of the purchase and the interoperability with existing equipment.
Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive (EU) 2018/2001 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings and Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency

(COM(2022) 222 final)

(2022/C 443/22)

Referral European Parliament, 6.6.2022 Council of the European Union, 15.6.2022 Legal basis Article 91 and 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union Section responsible Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society Adopted at plenary 13.7.2022 Plenary session No 571 Outcome of vote (for/against/abstentions) 201/2/1

Since the Committee endorses the content of the proposal and feels that it requires no comment on its part, it decided to issue an opinion endorsing the proposed text.
4.2.1

The quality and safety of the choice of the therapeutic strategy depend primarily on the current state of science, and therefore on practitioners' knowledge of it. — The first factor as regards improving this knowledge is obviously medical and pharmaceutical research and the advances in therapeutics or diagnostics which result from it. — Initial medical training is the second key factor for health safety as regards the choice of strategy, initial training which is adapted to advances in science and in the organisation of the health system. — The third aspect is continuing medical training: the assimilation of the latest data is, as in all high-tech risk sectors, one of the determinants of safety. — The final element contributing to the safety of therapeutic choices is medical evaluation, which has become the link between research, training and the day-to-day work of members of the health professions. — Medical evaluation can be defined as the body of quality control procedures in the health system. — The evaluation of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques and strategies involves ensuring the evaluation of the tools placed at the disposal of health professionals: medical technologies, diagnostic methods, medicines and a package of procedures and services. — The WHO defines this evaluation of quality, and consequently of the quality of this care, as follows: ‘A process which makes it possible to guarantee each patient the range of diagnostic and therapeutic acts whereby he can achieve the best possible results in terms of health, in accordance with the current state of medical science, at the most cost-effective price for an equivalent result, with the least iatrogenic risk and with a view to the greatest satisfaction in terms of procedures, outcome and human contacts within the health system.’ — Finally, the evaluation must define benchmarks, i.e. draw up recommendations based on a more or less broad consensus within a college of physicians or associations of experts (‘consensus conferences’) so as to arrive at some guidelines.
2.5

Principles and conditions of social tourism and its management. It is important to analyse the factors and criteria that characterise social tourism and the way it is managed so as to distinguish those aspects that can and those that cannot be labelled ‘social’. In line with BITS, we can indicate some of the criteria that determine the general concept of tourism: — the basic aim should be to increase the accessibility of tourism to all groups for whom such tourism is difficult, or to one particular group; — it should be open to a wide variety of user groups and sectors. It should also be open to different forms of management and social tourism practitioners; — groups at which activities are aimed should be properly defined: social categories, age groups, persons with disabilities, and always meeting the criterion of non-discrimination on the grounds of race, culture or social situation; — initiatives and objectives should be included that are humanist, educational, cultural and relate to personal development in general; — there should be transparency in the economic side of the activity, with profits reduced to the level necessary to meet the social objectives; — the tourism product should add non-monetary value; — there should be a clear desire to integrate the tourist activity into the local environment in a sustainable manner; — human resources should be managed in a way that promotes job satisfaction and integration, focusing on the quality of employment of social tourism organisation employees. These and similar criteria can be used as guidelines for action by those managing social tourism, and to identify the activity.
4.4

Implementation. For the EU the measures proposed by the Commission in its climate and energy package represent a very positive and constructive implementation plan to enable Europe to meet its 20 % reduction commitments for 2020. The Committee has prepared separate opinions on each of the elements of this plan. In summary we support all elements of the plan subject to the following comments: — We support the proposed reforms and extension of the emission trading scheme. The tightening of the cap and wider use of auctioning of allowances is welcome as it is in line with the polluter-pays-principle, avoids windfall profits, incentivises and funds low carbon installations and products and fosters innovation. Given the scale of transformational investment needed both in Europe and in developing countries we urge however that at least 50 % of revenues from allowance auctioning should be mandated to support climate change mitigation and adaptation measures rather than the 20 % proposed by the Commission (1). We also welcome the decision of the Council and the European Parliament to include aviation into ETS from 2012 on. — We support the thrust of the burden sharing proposals for the non traded sectors and urge the institutions not to erode the overall target in their detailed discussions about the basis for sharing the targets in this sector (2). — We strongly support the move towards a rapid progress on renewables. To achieve 20 % renewables by 2020 would be a good first step towards increasing their use to much higher levels by 2050 (3). — We regret that the crucial issue of energy efficiency, where the 20 % increase target by 2020 is not obligatory, seems to be given less prominence than it deserves, as clearly shown by the report of the Commission on the National Energy Efficiency Plans. The majority of Member States have not set up their national plans on time, the plans vary in their quality, and some of them clearly lack ambition even though major energy efficiency gains can often be achieved at comparatively small initial investment cost and with very short payback periods (4). — While we welcome the legislative framework for carbon capture and storage (CCS) proposed by the Commission, we are also anxious that funding for the envisaged demonstration projects is being made available only at an insufficient rate and that progress towards application on an industrial scale will be too slow, although it will be critically important if some countries are obliged to rely substantially on coal and other fossil fuel sources of power for many years to come (5).
5.9

The EU has made some progress on the green economy but not yet enough. In the EESC's view, it would not be sufficient for the EU simply to take its stand at Rio on the limited progress it has made over the last 20 years, and the various elements of the 2020 strategy that point in a sustainable direction. Specifically, in order to have a more solid position to put forward in 2012 we recommend that during the next 12 months the EU should: — review and strengthen the EU SDS, building its key objectives into the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy; — complete the current work on providing better measures of the progress of sustainability, and build them explicitly into the main monitoring framework for Europe 2020; — complete its long running studies on sustainable consumption and production and integrate these into the objectives of the main resource efficiency flagship programme under Europe 2020; — draw together European experience on greening taxes and fiscal instruments (including carbon pricing and trading) and make proposals for UN guidance or frameworks in this area; — draw together European experience on the social dimension of SD including the scope for creation of new green jobs to replace some that are being lost in the downturn, and the means of reducing inequalities. Similar actions are needed at member state level. Armed with progress on these issues within Europe, the EU would be in a good position to advocate a global ‘Agenda for a Green Economy’ containing similar elements.
EN Official Journal of the European Union C 177/40

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Council Decision on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States’

COM(2013) 803 final — 2013/0392 (NLE)

(2014/C 177/06)

On 25 November 2013, the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under Article 148 (2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, on the

Proposal for a Council Decision on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States

COM(2013) 803 final — 2013/0392 (NLE).

The Committee decided, at its 495th plenary session of 21 and 22 January 2014 (meeting of 21 January), by 150 votes with 5 abstentions, to issue an opinion endorsing the proposed text.
4.2.

The EU’s objectives for 2020 and 2050 — taking account of the climate and the environment, security of energy supply and competitiveness — are prompting a surge in investment in decentralised electricity generation from renewables. In France and Germany, and also Spain and Italy, some 95 % of such power plants are now connected to the electricity grid (low- and medium-voltage). This decentralised energy is essentially produced intermittently, i.e. when it is windy or sunny. The role and tasks of electricity distributors are therefore likely to change radically. In the past, the distribution network faced few ‘electricity bottlenecks’, and it distributed electricity generated centrally and routed through the transmission network (high- and ultra-high-voltage) to the end-user in a ‘top-down’ way. In future, the grid will be managed differently. The increasing proportion of decentralised renewable energy feeding into the grid, charging of electric vehicles and the greater role of customers who can be actively involved in the load management market will change the responsibilities and operations of electricity distributors, as well as the relationships between distribution and transmission networks. Thus distribution networks will in future be increasingly interconnected and complex, with multiple power generation sources and connecting increasingly diverse and fluctuating consumption patterns; electricity flows may even be reversed so that electricity moves from distribution to transmission networks when more power is generated than is consumed locally. The difficulties facing electricity transmission networks today, especially congestion management, can generally be expected to impact on the everyday management of electricity distribution networks in the near future.
3.4.

What water turbine technologies are being tested? — The Arcouest (1,5 MW), a prototype water turbine, was submerged off the coast of Paimpol in Brittany in 2014. This water turbine was developed by OpenHydro (DCNS shipbuilding group) for Paimpol/Bréhat, the first EDF tidal power plant. It consists of four turbines, with a capacity, once they are installed, of 2-3 MW. The machinery is simple and robust, consisting of an open centre with a low-speed rotor that operates without lubricant, which minimises its impact on marine life. This water turbine was tested for four months. The turbine rotated continuously for 1 500 hours and numerous mechanical and electrical readings were taken. The tests were successful and confirmed the viability of this type of water turbine. The decision was therefore made to start a demonstration site in the summer of 2015. The turbines have been constructed and are ready to be installed, but weather and sea conditions have delayed their installation. It is worth noting that these two turbines were built in Cherbourg and Brest, which shows that these new technologies can stimulate industrial activity in coastal regions. — Semi-submerged water turbine able to be raised for maintenance. This is a British technology, developed by the Tidalstream company. A prototype has been developed for a ship to turbine (STT) installation operating in the Pentland Firth. This consists of four turbines of 20 m in diameter, with maximum total capacity of 4 MW. By way of comparison, a wind turbine would require a diameter of 100 m and a wind speed of 10 m/s to generate an equivalent amount of power. Moreover, the wind turbine’s foundation, 25 metres below sea level, would be 25 % larger than the STT’s foundation. Tidalstream therefore believes that its system would be competitive in comparison to offshore and onshore wind turbines. The cost of electricity produced by the STT system could reach GBP 0,03 per kWh (approximately EUR 0,044 per kWh). This system has been tested in trials on the Thames and has been shown to be viable. — Water turbines mounted on columns, developed by Marine Current Turbines. This technology requires anchoring a column to the sea floor, which therefore means that the depth to which they can be submerged is limited. The water turbines can move up and down the column, enabling them to be raised above the surface for servicing and maintenance. — Water turbines mounted on an anchored buoy were installed in the Hammerfest Strait in Norway in 2003. — Finally, tidal turbines mounted underneath an estuary barrage, such as the Rance barrage, which is the oldest example of this type and has been operational since the 1960s. Two projects are being studied in the UK, but they have been blocked for environmental reasons.