Press releases

  • Reference number
    22/2018

    EESC opinion calls for strong industrial and manufactory policy based on reciprocity

    The European Commission needs to adopt a strong industrial and manufacturing policy based on reciprocity, otherwise our European maritime technology industry won't survive competition from Asian shipyards, warned Marian Krzaklewski, rapporteur of the EESC opinion on the LeaderSHIP strategy, adopted at its plenary session on 19 April. 

  • Reference number
    21/2018

    EU accession remains a key motivation for reforms in the countries of the Western Balkans

    The enlargement of the EU, and in particular the spread of its democratic values and legal standards to the Western Balkan region, is in the interests of both the Western Balkan countries and the EU, insists the European Economic and Social Committee in its opinion on the Economic and social cohesion and European integration of the Western Balkans, adopted at its plenary session on 19 April.

  • Reference number
    20/2018

    Българката Милена Ангелова, член на група „Работодатели“, ще бъде един от двамата заместник-председатели на Европейския икономически и социален комитет (ЕИСК) с мандат от две години и половина – от 2018 г. до 2020 г. Тя ще отговаря за бюджетните въпроси. Тя заема една от ръководните позиции в ЕИСК наред с новоизбрания председател Лука Жайе от Италия, бивш председател на група „Други интереси“, и заместникпредседателя Исабел Каньо Агилар от Испания, член на група „Работници“, която ще отговаря за комуникацията. Новите председател и заместник-председатели бяха избрани на 18 април на сесията за обновяване на състава на Комитета в средата на мандата, която бележи изтичането на първата половина от неговия петгодишен мандат.

  • Reference number
    19/2018

    Isabel Caño Aguilar from Spain, member of the Workers' Group, will be one of the two vice-presidents of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) for a two-and-a-half year term from 2018 to 2020. She will be responsible for communication matters. She will fill one of the senior positions in the EESC along with the newly elected president Luca Jahier from Italy, former president of the Various Interests' Group, and vice-president Milena Angelova from Bulgaria, member of the Employers' Group, who will be the vice-president for budgetary matters. The new president and vice-presidents were elected on 18 April as part of the Committee's mid-term renewal session marking the half-way stage in its five-year term of office.

  • Reference number
    18/2018

    Italy’s Luca Jahier has been elected as the 32nd president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the EU body representing organised civil society, which he will head for the next two and a half years. The two new vice-presidents will be Milena Angelova (Bulgaria) for budget and Isabel Caño Aguilar (Spain) for communication. Read the inaugural speech.

  • MEMBERS SPEAKING

    Successful European citizen initiatives must trigger dialogue and proper follow-up at EU level

    Six years after the introduction of the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) with barely any impact on EU legislation, the constructive criticism, particularly from the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and other institutions such as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman, is finally beginning to bear fruit, tempting the European Commission to review this important instrument of participative democracy.

  • Reference number
    16/2018

    A delegation from the European Economic and Social Committee met local civil society representatives and government officials on 26 and 27 March in Amman

  • Reference number
    15/2018

    Disability discrimination in Europe averages 15%, but in Portugal this figure increases to 65%.  Surprisingly, the Portuguese Government has no national strategy for persons with disabilities.  Data analysis and research from the Observatório da Deficiency e Direitos Humanos (Disability and Human Rights Observatory) based at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, reveals some worrying concerns.

  • Reference number
    14/2018

    Как най-добре да се гарантира защитата на потребителите онлайн – Това беше акцентът на 20-ото издание на Европейския ден на потребителите, съвместна инициатива на Европейския икономически и социален комитет (ЕИСК) и Икономическия и социален съвет на Република България, която се проведе на 20 март в София. На конференцията „Цифровата икономика: ползи за потребителите“ експерти и политици имаха възможност да обсъдят новите предизвикателства, които цифровизацията поставя пред потребителите както от европейска, така и от национална гледна точка.

  • Reference number
    13/2018

    EESC holds the second of its 'going-local' meetings on the live-in care industry in the EU, revealing dire conditions of care workers employed in German households

    Despite the rise in the number of foreign care workers living in German homes, the live-in care sector in the country is highly fragmented and unregulated, with underpaid carers who are denied basic working rights or social protection, and with care recipients who have no guarantees of the quality of the care they receive, a meeting held by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) revealed.