European Economic and Social Committee
The Vietnam DAG members, invited to Brussels by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), met the EU DAG members on 28 March 2023. The overarching objective of the visit was capacity building. It was an occasion for the members to exchange views on topical issues and on the work of the respective DAGs since the joint meetings in October 2022.
There was also a workshop on the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDD) with presentations of the institutional view.
The 3rd Joint Meeting of the Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) under the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement featured updates on the activities of the Singapore and EU DAGs since the December 2021 meeting, as well as a topical discussion on EU-Singapore trade prospects in the current geopolitical landscape.
Every year, schools from all European Union Member States and candidate countries are invited to apply to take part and one school from each country is then selected at random. The selected schools each choose three pupils and one accompanying teacher to come to Brussels for two days, to work together, debate and draw up resolutions addressed to the EU institutions. All secondary schools in Europe can apply and this year, it could be your school!
The event is planned to take place in person at the EESC's headquarters, on 23 and 24 March 2023. The discussions will focus on youth and democracy, on how active citizenship fosters participatory democracy and the role of youth voices and initiatives in achieving this.
The EESC, as the voice of civil society, wants to ensure that the ideas of Europe's younger generation are heard.
Stay tuned for the launch of the event, expected later this month!
On Thursday, 23 March 2023, the NAT Section is organising a public expert event "What next for European action on childhood obesity?" to feed into the exploratory opinion requested by the upcoming Spanish Presidency to the Council of the European Union.
577th Plenary session, with the following guests: Kadri Simson, Commissioner responsible for Energy; Marina Elvira Calderone, Minister of Labour and Social Policies of Italy, Ambassador Lachezara Stoeva, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council; Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, Daryna Onyshko, President of the European Democracy Youth Network, Brikena Xhomaqi, Co-chair of the EESC Liaison group with European civil society organisations and networks, Liina Carr, Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Ken Godfrey, Executive Director of the European Partnership for Democracy, and Helfried Carl, Partner and co-founder of the Innovation in politics Institute and founder of the Europe
The thematic debate of the Group will see the participation of Marina Elvira Calderone, Minister for Labour and Social Policies of Italy, Marie Toussaint, MEP and Vice-Chair of the European Parliament's Intergroup on "Fighting against poverty", and several representatives of civil society organisations.
On 16 and 17 March 2023, the ACP-EU Follow-up Committee held its last meeting, an event co‑organised in partnership with the Portuguese Economic and Social Council, with a view to further strengthening the cordial and fruitful cooperation between the two institutions. This meeting took place in the city of Porto, Portugal, and was dedicated to civil society's contribution to the future of EU-ACP relations.
A próxima reunião do Comité de Acompanhamento ACP-UE tera lugar no dia 16 de março de 2023, um evento coorganizado em parceria com o Conselho Económico e Social de Portugal, com vista a aprofundar a cooperação cordial e frutuosa entre as duas instituições. Esta reunião terá lugar na cidade do Porto e será dedicada à contribuição da sociedade civil para o futuro das relações UE-ACP.
The European Economic Area Consultative Committee held its 31st annual meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, on 14 and 15 March 2023. The EEA CC members discussed resolutions and reports on energy resilience in the EEA in view of the geopolitical landscape and on the future cooperation of the European Political Community (EPC).
A Social Progress Protocol giving priority to workers’, and social rights over economic freedoms was first proposed by the European Trade Union Confederation in 2008.
This proposal was endorsed in the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe calling for an inclusion of such a protocol in the Treaties, and also the European Parliament approved a resolution, in June 2022, calling for the incorporation of social progress in Article 9 TFEU linked to a Social Progress Protocol.
The upcoming Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU has asked the EESC for its position on such a protocol, so come shape the advice the EESC will give on a Social Progress Protocol!
