Recent economic shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have brought energy poverty to the forefront of social and political debate. While EU policies increasingly address energy poverty, gender considerations remain overlooked. This study addresses this gap and aims to increase the understanding of the gender-energy poverty nexus, analysing existing literature and EU and national policies.
On 20 February 2024 in Brussels, the EESC organised a conference on the Housing Crisis in Europe. This publication sets out the participants' assessment of the current state of affairs and their recommendations on how to tackle the current housing crisis.
The report is the result of the work of the Study Group on Disability Rights (SG DIS) of the past two years and half and brings together the EESC's recommendations gathered from different stakeholders with the objective to contribute to the EU reporting exercise to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) Committee.
This report presents the state of play of the implementation of the right of European Union (EU) citizens with disabilities to vote in elections to the European Parliament (EP). The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), an EU advisory body, believes it has a duty, in the run-up to the EP elections, to provide EU institutions, Member States and EU citizens with a full picture of how this right is actually implemented. The EESC hopes that at the next elections in 2024, no EU citizen will be deprived of their right to vote because of their disability.
All adult Europeans, including those with disabilities, have the right to vote in national and European Parliament elections. A report by European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) rapporteur Krzysztof Pater estimates that around 800 000 EU citizens in 16 EU countries are legally deprived by national rules of their right to vote in elections to the European Parliament because of their disabilities or mental health problems.
The EESC organised debates with organised civil society in all Member States between 2 September and 2 November 2016. The debates were coordinated by three EESC members ('trios') from the country concerned, often in co-operation with the European Commission (15 debates) or the national Economic and Social Council (7 debates).
