The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) wants to influence the debate on what can be done at European level to support the Member States in their policies to promote decent and affordable housing.
At a conference organised by its civil society section on Friday 22 November, many participants called for “a pan-European response” to housing issues, in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights.
“The EU Anti-Poverty Strategy and European Affordable Housing Plan proposed by the European Commission President-elect must be part of a cross-sectoral policy approach to end poverty”, said Séamus Boland, President of the EESC’s Civil Society Organisations’ Group, in a press release.
In a joint declaration signed in mid-November, the President of the EESC’s Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society (TEN), Latvia's Baiba Miltoviča, and Estonia's Andres Jaadla, rapporteur for a Committee of the Regions opinion on housing, urged the EU institutions to adopt “urgent measures” to combat the housing crisis, while fully respecting the principle of subsidiarity with regard to the division of competences.
The two leads: - call on the European Commission to organise an annual EU summit on social and affordable housing to enable all interested parties to exchange best practice; - support the establishment of a pan-European housing investment platform; - stress the importance of exploring “innovative ways” of stimulating public investment and mobilising existing European funds.
See the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/egd
The European Commissioner-designate, Dan Jørgensen from Denmark, will be in charge of defining the new housing policy at EU level. At his confirmation hearing in the European Parliament at the beginning of November, he echoed the announcements in this area made by the re-elected President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (see EUROPE 13518/5). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)