This first annual Strategic Foresight Report, Strategic Foresight – Charting the course towards a more resilient Europe, presents the Commission’s strategy to integrate strategic foresight into EU policy-making. It identifies first lessons from the COVID-19 crisis, introduces resilience as a new compass for EU policy-making and discusses the role of strategic foresight in strengthening the resilience of the EU and its Member States.
Commenting on the European Commission’s first Strategic Foresight Report, ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini said
“ETUC supports any policy initiative that helps to manage change in a sustainable, fair and democratic way.
“A longer-term perspective is useful, especially if it leads to new policies consistently contributing to a fairer and more inclusive society.
“A shift from the current GDP-based narrative of measuring progress towards a more well-being centred one would be welcomed by the ETUC as this has been a long-standing demand.
“The Commission is right to point out that the current COVID crisis threatens to make inequalities even worse, and to emphasise the need to tackle low incomes and poverty as well as short-comings in health care, social protection and education and training.
“A massive effort is still needed to stop inequalities multiplying, despite the reasonably encouraging early steps with SURE and the Recovery Plan.
“The proposals of the Foresight Report must turn into fairer and more inclusive policies by the European Commission and member states.”
“ETUC will seek to ensure the involvement of unions in the foresight process and to ensure that the well-being of workers and their families are always at the forefront of EU policy-making.”