The European Economic and Social Committee has given the thumb up to the priorities set out in the European Commission's 2018 Annual Growth Survey, but suggests that the survey should cover environmental policy and other relevant policy areas and issues, such as the quality of employment.

In its recent opinion on the Commission's Annual Growth Survey (AGS) for 2018, the EESC stressed how important it was to ensure that the European Union's macroeconomic policies were sustainable not only in economic and social terms, but also environmentally.

The Committee proposes supplementing the current set of indicators with additional ones for wages, collective bargaining or resource- and energy-efficiency and progress on national climate and energy targets.

"The EESC is in favour of making the Semester support the European Pillar of Social Rights so that it becomes a tool to improve ordinary people's living and working conditions. We would like to see the Pillar's objectives mainstreamed in policies and decisions," rapporteur Dimitris Dimitriadis stressed.

"There is a need to increase public investment in the long term if we really want results. Growth is the result of investment, which should be a cornerstone," Mr Dimitriadis said, adding that as well as investment, the quality of employment, innovation and knowledge were key to productivity growth.

Public investment should therefore include boosting social investment in measures which promote education, training and better public services, care infrastructure and social cohesion across the EU, with a view to enhancing human capital development and ensuring a skilled labour force but also a strong social dimension.

The European Commission's Annual Growth Survey is published every year to establish economic priorities for the EU, offering guidelines to EU member states when implementing certain policies. It has three main strands: investment, structural reforms, and fiscal consolidation.