Press releases

  • Europe's shipbuilding industry needs the EU's strategic support.  LeaderSHIP 2020 is the right tool, but needs to be reinforced and extended to 2030.  Europe must become the frontrunner in research and development regarding challenges such as climate change, energy saving and the greater complexity of vessels, since the maritime industry is crucial to Europe's economic and social future.  Clustering would strengthen ...

  • With just a few weeks to go until the COP23 and the Paris Climate Summit, the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council (ESEC) and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) have established a unique form of cooperation on climate justice issues, in order to use their two opinions to introduce this new concept into the discussions on climate policies. ...

  • EESC plenary Oct2017

    A realistic future for the European Union can only be based on marrying a sound economic basis with a strong social dimension, EESC says

    In the face of challenges that may block the EU’s way forward, the current debate on social dimension of Europe and the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) could help reach a new consensus on the strategies needed to secure economic growth and well-being of EU citizens, said the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in its opinion on “Impact of the social dimension and the European Pillar of Social Rights on the Future of EU”.

  • EU Member States must work together and make every effort to achieve common international regulations for truly digital businesses

    The EESC calls on the European Commission and the Member States to apply existing fiscal regulatory systems and tax regimes to the collaborative/digital economy. "The legal framework must lead to a fair and balanced tax system for all economic activities and business models, without limiting the collaborative economy's potential to provide jobs and growth," says Giuseppe Guerini, rapporteur of the EESC opinion on taxation of the collaborative economy, which was adopted at the October plenary session.

  • EESC plenary Oct2017
    Reference number
    51/2017

    The European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans thanked the EESC members for their contribution to the Commission's 2018 work programme, which was presented in July 2017. He stressed that the EESC's contribution had had an impact on the programme he would be presenting next week. "We are pleased that you have involved us in the decision-making process but we will be even happier if you involve us even more", commented Georges Dassis, President of the EESC. "We need more unity and solidarity in Europe. We have a responsibility to face the challenges in front of us."

  • Reference number
    50/2017

    More than 120 participants took part in the 9th Meeting of European Union, Latin American and Caribbean organised civil society, which took place on 3rd and 4th October in Panama City. Representatives of civil society organisations from the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean, of regional and national advisory bodies, employers' organisations, trade unions, and other economic and social organisations expressed their regret about the postponement and possible cancellation of the EU-CELAC Summit 2017, which was planned to take place at the end of October 2017 in El Salvador.

  • Reference number
    49/2017

    The European Economic and Social Committee and the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation held their seventh joint seminar in Brussels on 27 September 2017. Both sides highlighted that civil society has an instrumental role to play in contributing to sustainable economic, social and cultural development, democracy and human rights, and fostering people-to-people contacts – one of the guiding principles underpinning the EU's engagement with Russia.

  • Reference number
    48/2017

    A real breakthrough requires their further spreading and scaling-up

    Local communities anticipate and implement sustainable projects long before policy-makers discuss them, revealed a conference jointly organised on 22 September by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European network for community-led initiatives on climate change and sustainability (ECOLISE). Local actors have the knowledge and the creativity to experiment and find practical solutions to the challenges of climate change and sustainable development, thus contributing to achieving the targets of the Paris Agreement and Agenda 2030. What is needed is a new impetus to spread and scale up these good practices and an alignment of EU and national policies to support community-led action on a path towards the transition to low-carbon, resource efficient and resilient societies.

  • European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was warmly welcomed at the September EESC Plenary by Georges Dassis, President of the EESC: "The fact that you are taking part in our debate shows that civil society and social dialogue are of great importance to you" (see debate on EbS). Dassis gave Juncker the reports from the national debates on The Future of Europe, organised by the EESC in 27 Members States earlier this year. The reports present the views of civil society organisations on the five scenarios in the Commission's White Paper on the Future of Europe published in March 2017.

  • Reference number
    45/2017

    A few weeks before the European Commission was to vote on a ten year renewal of the glyphosate licence, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) offered a forum for discussion during its plenary on Wednesday. Two of the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) proponents, David Schwartz from WeMove.org and Herman van Bekkem from Greenpeace, were invited to present the goals of their initiative.