The EESC issues between 160 and 190 opinions and information reports a year.
It also organises several annual initiatives and events with a focus on civil society and citizens’ participation such as the Civil Society Prize, the Civil Society Days, the Your Europe, Your Say youth plenary and the ECI Day.
Here you can find news and information about the EESC'swork, including its social media accounts, the EESC Info newsletter, photo galleries and videos.
The EESC brings together representatives from all areas of organised civil society, who give their independent advice on EU policies and legislation. The EESC's326 Members are organised into three groups: Employers, Workers and Various Interests.
The EESC has six sections, specialising in concrete topics of relevance to the citizens of the European Union, ranging from social to economic affairs, energy, environment, external relations or the internal market.
Seven years since the start of the crisis, the Committee expresses its concern over high unemployment, which is an issue in certain Member States in particular. The 2016 AGS contains much more in the way of social analysis, objectives and goals, but for this new approach to be effective, it should not be based on the reiteration of the policy recommendations of previous years.
The Workers Group expresses its unqualified support for British and European workers, particularly at this moment when their rights are under constant threat at national, European and even International level.
The EESC urges the EU Council to reiterate the commitment made in the Europe 2020 strategy, namely to reduce the number of people living below the poverty line by at least 20 million by 2020 and recommends that, when doing so, it take into account the Sustainable Development Goals.
Yesterday the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held the opening ceremony of the exhibition on women and young people in the construction sector. The exhibition is organised by the European Builders Confederation (EBC) and the EESC will host it for one month.
On 1 February 2016, the Workers' Group organised an extraordinary meeting to discuss its political priorities and take stock of the ongoing legislative and policy work in the European institutions.
Resolution of the European Economic and Social Committee in support of the Schengen agreement
At its plenary session of 17 and 18 February 2016 (meeting of 17 February), the European Economic and Social Committee adopted this resolution by 216 to 1 with 4 abstentions.
At a meeting held at the Committee on 10 February 2016, Monsignor Lebeaupin emphasised that the Catholic Church wishes to maintain good relations with the European institutions, pointed to the principle of the centrality of the human being in socio-economic policies, to which he is firmly committed, and expressed, in particular, his concerns regarding humanitarian and development aid.
The 2nd meeting of the EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform was held on 11 February 2016, at the EESC in Brussels. It was an opportunity to discuss the progress made on implementing the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and two reports, drawn up by the two signatories, were also examined and adopted: one regarding energy policy and the other the rule of law, with emphasis on tackling corruption.
The 2nd meeting of the EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform (CSP) focused on the much needed reforms in anti-corruption and energy policy and discussed the state of play in the implementation of the Association Agreement between Europe and Ukraine. The Ukrainian civil society organisations strongly called for a swift implementation of the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), in particular, appealing to the Netherlands to support the Agreement ...