Oliver Röpke will continue as Workers' Group President during the new EESC mandate

Oliver Röpke has been re-elected unanimously as President of the Workers' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee for the mandate 2020-2023, during the Group's constitutive meeting today, 27 October 2020.

Oliver Röpke, from Austria, is firmly committed to a strong EU social recovery and reconstruction strategy to tackle the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. He has repeatedly urged for all initiatives in this framework to be based on solidarity, having the Social Agenda complementing the Single Market with measures focusing on the protection of workers' rights and well-being as the way to build a fairer, sustainable, resilient and prosperous society. He will make sure that the Workers' Group is present in all debates, including the upcoming Conference on the Future of Europe, to push for the implementation of the different initiatives under the European Pillar of Social Rights and for a clear strategy to ensure a fair transition and the creation of new and quality jobs under the Green Deal. For this, the Workers’ Group will continue working together with the European institutions, policymakers, the ETUC and Trade Union Federations, and civil society, representing a united voice for European workers both within the EESC and towards all other stakeholders.  

Oliver Röpke has been a member of the EESC since 2009, occupying different functions including as a member of the EESC Bureau. He took over the Presidency of the EESC Workers' Group in March 2019. He has drafted numerous opinions addressing social issues that are pivotal in the current crisis such as decent minimum wages and common minimum standards in the field of unemployment benefits.

Mr Röpke has been working for the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund – ÖGB) for over twenty years in positions of responsibility, at national and at Brussels level. Since 2001, he has been representing the ÖGB on the Executive Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation.