NAT section - newsletter - July 2020

Housing shortages and rising housing costs in metropolitan and peri-urban areas have led to a rise in housing exclusion, homelessness, and poor-quality housing that is now affecting young people, single-parent and large families, workers and the middle classes more broadly, who are being driven out of major European cities by excessive housing costs and forced to relocate to rural areas. ...

The EESC strongly defends the democratic right to vote, the right of free speech and the right of expression and has been following closely the developments after the presidential elections in Belarus. As the voice of EU civil society, we strongly condemn the military and police repression of peaceful protesters. The multiple beating, use of tear gas, rubber bullets and sound grenades is completely shocking and in fact illegal. Read the full statement here

EESC President Luca Jahier sends letters of condolence and solidarity to Lebanon, addressing HE Mr Fadi Hajali, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary - Head of Mission (EU), Mission of the Lebanese Republic to the European Union and Mr Charles Arbid, President of the Economic and Social Council of Lebanon.

The EESC Employers' Group welcomes the agreement on the EU recovery package. Through the "Next Generation EU" instrument, EUR 750 billion will support struggling EU economies. Having called for a swift agreement in several publications, the deal is seen as timely and crucial by the Employers' Group. What is needed now is fast and targeted implementation of the measures. Only in this way can businesses support the EU in fighting the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Europe is going through a green and digital transformation and the European institutions are committed to ensuring that people remain centre-stage and that the economy works for them. The social partners' contribution is necessary to render our society resilient and ready for future challenges in the economy, industry, social protection, in the way we work, shop and travel.

The study provides a review of the issues facing non-state actors in accessing climate finance in the EU. Non-state actors, including local and regional authorities, businesses (including SMEs), trade unions, civil society and NGOs, face specific challenges when accessing climate finance. These can include the absence of enabling regulatory and policy frameworks, information barriers, internal capacity constraints and a group of challenges related to restricted availability of climate finance. While finance is available from EU and international institutions, as well as through private sources, such as institutional investors, gaps remain. A Climate Finance Forum would provide a platform for non-state actors and investors to work together to develop solutions for meeting these gaps and overcoming barriers.

In this issue: The Grassroots View - Episode 8 : When the world of work comes tumbling down 'Dessine-moi...' - series of articles EESC to award Civil Solidarity Prize to projects fighting coronavirus in each Member State and the UK Expectations are running high as Germany takes over the EU presidency

At its July plenary session, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted an opinion on the latest annual report issued by the European Commission on the implementation of free trade agreements (FTAs), covering 2018. The EESC outlines the key role of trade in "promoting a sustainable economic recovery and allowing companies to rebuild and re-organise their disrupted value chains". At the same time, it regrets that civil society's monitoring work remains "largely absent" from the implementation report.

Fostering competitiveness, innovation and job creation should be a priority in global regulatory cooperation through a renewed multilateral trading scheme, says the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in its opinion, initiated by Georgi Stoev and Thomas Student and adopted by the EESC plenary in July.