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.
The main objective of the hearing is to debate the effectiveness and efficiency of EU policies for SMEs and gather valuable input and feedback from Italian stakeholders on the matter with a view to finding ways in which they can be improved. Particular emphasis will be put on the recommendations that have been outlined in the EESC opinion with the aim of implementing them at national level.
Joint EESC – Cedefop event. The aim of this event is to bring together countries and relevant stakeholders to help each other in the definition and implementation of measures to improve literacy, numeracy and digital competences of adults with low level of skills, in line with the 2016 Council recommendation ‘Upskilling pathways: new opportunities for adults’. Participation to this forum is on invitation. Please contact ana.dumitrache@eesc.europa.eu for further information.
The Social Economy Enterprise (SEE) model offers a framework for mobilising and enhancing newcomers' skills. SEEs facilitate the settlement and integration process for immigrants by providing them with employment or training and helping them with practical settlement support. Although they operate in different ways in different national contexts, Social Economy Enterprises have managed to define common principles of action – inclusive, subsidiary protection of the most disadvantaged people – taking a proactive approach to receiving migrants. In this way they have mobilised the relevant communities, activated networks and partnerships, and cooperated with central and local administrations to organise reception and integration processes.
Hearing in the framework of the EESC opinion (REX/497)
Public hearing
Rue Van Maerlant, 2
Brussels
Belgium
At the request of the current Bulgarian presidency of the Council of the EU, the EESC was asked to prepare an exploratory opinion on the challenges and priorities that countries of the Western Balkans are facing in the European integration process, as well as in the area of economic and social cohesion. Western Balkans will be one of the policy priorities of the Bulgarian presidency and a Western Balkans Summit is scheduled to take place in May 2018 in Sofia. Following the recent economic crises in Europe, the forecasts for economic growth in the Western Balkans are now good, although progress on reform has been slow, the rule of law has been weak, and corruption is persistent. With a view to gather expert input during the preparatory process for this opinion from a wide range of stakeholders - civil society organisations, think tanks, and EU institutions included - a hearing is organised at the EESC premises on the challenges and priorities for the economic and social cohesion of the Western Balkans.
Following up on the vision set out in the Five Presidents' Report and the Reflection Papers on the Deepening of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the Future of EU Finances, the European Commission has recently put forward a package of seven communications and legislative proposals, providing for a series of concrete measures to be taken over the next 18 months to continue the process of deepening EMU. In this regard, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) believes that strengthening the architecture of EMU is indeed the only means we have to achieve higher investment and job creation, sustained economic growth, social fairness, better resilience to economic shocks and overall macroeconomic stability in Europe, and that in the coming months there is a window of opportunity to make further progress in this field. With this in mind, we are bringing together officials, economic experts and civil society representatives to engage in the necessary consensus-building on the way ahead for our EMU, which would also serve as an input to the EU leaders' decisions expected in the first half of 2018.
Public debate on "A ROADMAP FOR COMPLETING EMU – Key steps to address the challenges ahead" was held at the EESC building in Brussels, on Monday 29 January 2018, from 2.30 to 5.30 p.m.
The 11th meeting of the EU Advisory Group for the EU-Central America Association Agreement took place on 25 January in Brussels. Please click on the programme tab to consult the topics on the agenda.
The event will launch the "Toolkit on the use of EU Funds for the integration of people with a migrant background". The European Commission continues to look for ways to assist Member States in the field of integration of third country nationals. Based on the lessons learnt, the toolkit aims to support national and regional funding authorities in implementing integration policies through the use of EU funds and, therefore, to reinforce synergies between those funds. This will help identify measures to promote the use of EU funds in the fields of employment, education, reception, housing and access to basic services.
Relations with Organised Civil Society and Forward Studies (CSS)
EESC
Brussels
Belgium
Launch event for the report of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), in cooperation with the European Economic and Social Committee's Liaison Group, invites you to the launch event of its report on 'Challenges facing civil society organisations working on human rights in the EU' followed by a panel discussion
531st Plenary Session, with the following debates: The climate finance pact, with Miguel Arias Cañete, Pierre Larrouturou and Jean Jouzel; and the presentation of the priorities of the Bulgarian presidency of the Council of the EU, with Ms Zornitsa Roussinov
In line with the EESC opinion " Strengthening Europe's Cyber Resilience System " (TEN / 608) adopted in December 2016 and taking into account the growing importance of cybersecurity, the EESC is organizing a half-day conference on 09 January 2018, in Brussels.
The conference is the opportunity to evaluate the EU model of resilience, in the context of attacks targeting citizens, social systems and economic sectors in the Member States.