The EESC issues between 160 and 190 opinions, evaluation 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 EESC is organising a public hearing on "Transport Accessibility for persons with disabilities" on 23 June 2022.
The aim of the event is to reflect on which steps the EU could take to make progress on this topic, in particular by identifying the existing barriers and obstacles and good practices and to offer a space for debate to organisations representing persons with disabilities and other stakeholders.
The EU´s Taxonomy Regulation establishes a framework to facilitate sustainable investment. According to the EESC, the EU taxonomy should be aligned with a holistic approach including environmental as well as social sustainability. An operationally viable and conceptually sound EU taxonomy would help to meet the urgent investment needs in the social field by channelling investments in that direction. With this hearing, the EESC wants to shed light on the idea of a social taxonomy, with the objective of stimulating the debate and come up with concrete suggestions. Conclusions will feed into an EESC own initiative opinion, currently in the drafting stage.
Category meeting centred around the question of Workers' Voice in EESC work and also in particular in the youth, dealing with the specific challenges of unionising young workers.
The aim of the conference is to look at how the European Union can be more active in this area, especially through better cooperation among the key stakeholders. The conference will take place in ahybrid format.
The EU DAG received an update from DG Trade on the implementation of the TSD Chapter and the follow-up of the recommendations of the Panel of Experts. The EU DAG members also discussedthe elaboration of a desk study as well as the preparation of the upcoming joint meetings with the Korean counterparts to take place this autumn. Other items on the agenda were the update of the Rules of Procedure of the DAG and the preparation of the next All DAGs' meeting. The Members also had the opportunity to listen to a presentation on the aftermath of the presidential elections in South Korea, which took place in March 2022.
In the presence of Professor Andrea Renda, Senior Research Fellow and Head of Global Governance, Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission, H.E. Mr Vsevolod Chentsov, Head of Mission of Ukraine to the EU, Marta Barandiy, Promote Ukraine, and Mariya Korolchuk, Funky Citizens.
The webinar on "Bauhaus at the service of citizens" aims at inserting the values of services of general interest in relation with social and health services, assistance for the elderly, etc. into the Bauhaus project approach. This does not only concern the building, but also the destination of this building and its insertion in the living environment of European citizens: health services or services for the elderly will not be the same, and in the same buildings.
Extraordinary meeting of the Bureau of the Civil Society Organisations' Group
Location
Bridge House Hotel
Tullamore
Ireland
On 9 June in Tullamore, Ireland, the Civil Society Organisations' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee in partnership with Irish Rural Link, will organise a conference on the topic of the 'Just Transition'.
The EESC is organising a virtual public hearing which will feed into its own-initiative opinion on “The EU Youth Test”. This opinion will look at how youth engagement can be fostered to bring a youth perspective into policy-making at all levels.
The aim of the hearing is to find out more about the experience of Member States already implementing the Youth Test and to look at youth participation in the context of Europe's future.
On 8 June 2022, the EESC will hold a remote public hearing on "Enhancing labour mobility to supporteconomic recovery".
The reallocation of workers across Member States provides opportunities for exchanges and skills transfer. Mobility also allows for improvements in the economic circumstances of those whose skills or aspirations are a poor match for the job in which they find themselves. The hearing will represent a key contribution to the own-initiative opinion on the topic.
Invited speakers include representatives of the European institutions, of the social partners, as well as other civil society organisations.