On Wednesday 4 February, the president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Ireland’s Séamus Boland, warned against reducing the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) allocation, not hesitating to argue in favour of increasing the European Union’s financial resources through “borrowing“.
Taking stock of the EESC’s work during the first 100 days of its mandate (see EUROPE 13736/25), Mr Boland noted that, faced with ongoing geopolitical upheavals, the EU’s political priorities were changing, in particular towards increased military spending. However, he stressed that these investments must not come at the expense of traditional priorities, including cohesion policy and agriculture.
If this were the case, “We may strengthen the artillery but we’d probably weaken the civil defence“, he warned. He then issued the following appeal: “Leave the MFF alone! Do not reduce it, otherwise you’re risking social cohesion”.
With the aim of making civil society central to the European project, the EESC president met a number of European leaders - President of the European Council António Costa, European commissioners, and chairs of European Parliament’s parliamentary committees - to whom he praised the Committee members’ ability to take the pulse of Europe’s regions.
Regarding the housing crisis, Mr Boland described it as an “emergency that must be tackled as such”, as was the case with the Covid-19 pandemic. He added that he and Mr Costa believe concrete results are needed quickly, in the form of “stronger European regulations”. In his view, the European Affordable Housing Plan, unveiled by the Commission in December (see EUROPE 13774/23), is likely to create a ripple effect by encouraging Member States to present “a national plan” in this area, as Ireland has done.
Finally, the EESC intends to be fully involved in setting up the ‘European Democracy Shield’, whose flagship measure is the creation of a ‘European Centre for Democratic Resilience’ (see EUROPE 13797/27). “We have proposed that we want to be part of the process” through “outreach work”, he said, pointing out that EESC members are in contact with many organisations in their own countries. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)