(AGENPARL) - Roma, 8 Maggio 2026 - The second stage of the Festival of Sustainable Development, “European Leadership for the Future: Civil Society at the Helm of the Post-2030 Agenda”, held in Brussels for the first time.

Hosted by the Civil Society Organisations’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and promoted by the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS ETS), the event took place at a delicate moment for the future of the EU. Instead of accelerating, Europe risks slowing down precisely in the areas of the ecological transition and the protection of social rights outlined by the Green Deal and the European Pillar of Social Rights.

On that occasion, Agenparl interviewed Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.

Can Europe still be a global leader on sustainability? 

Ribera: «The European Union not only can be a leader on sustainability. It is our obligation. It is our commitment. It is the demand of our people.

We are based on this concept of being an open market economy with opportunities and partnerships between public and private, but human-centered, paying attention to social standards and high quality of life. And, of course, being wise in the use of natural resources.

So being green and sound, because we know that we want to keep that physical infrastructure that allows us to keep on building prosperity. And it is my conviction, my feeling, that this is very much in the heart of the Europeans.

So yes, it is challenging. We are transforming the way we produce, the way we consume, but this sense of human-centered response is very much in the type of answers that we are trying to shape.»