EU: EESC, new presidency elected. Ms Barbucci (Italy) vice-president. “Recovery Fund, money needed now”

Austria’s Christa Schweng will chair the European Economic and Social Committee for the next two and a half years. She will be supported by Cillian Lohan (Ireland) and Giulia Barbucci (Italy), vice-president for budged. On these two days (27-29 October), the Committee, who is the voice of civil society, workers and employers on EU policies, elects its new members and begins a new term of office. “I come from the CGIL Trade Union and I am a staunch advocate of issues relating in particular to the defence of workers’ interests and rights”, the new Italian vice-president told SIR news agency. “These are all the more threatened now that we are experiencing a second wave of the pandemic, and I believe that what we should do, as an organization representing the interests of organized civil society, is to address these problems”. “I also believe that the EU should do more for people and jobs”, and this, according to Ms Barbucci, means that it is necessary to “take decisions now because unfortunately we have no time left. I believe that the current problem, namely that an agreement cannot be reached on the Recovery Fund and the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework, is a bad answer in my view. Everything is postponed, but funds are needed now”.Sarah Numico