This half-day high-level conference, organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in partnership with the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA), Water Europe and Veolia, will bring together European and Bulgarian stakeholders, policymakers, industry representatives, organised civil society, academia and media.
The written conclusions and recommendations of the conference will feed into an EESC resolution with policy recommendations to the new European Parliament and European Commission, to be adopted in July.
Stara zgrada Vlade Crne Gore
Ulica Jovana Tomaševića bb
Podgorica
Montenegro
For the 18th time, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and Montenegro held the Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) in Podgorica on 16 April 2024. The JCC is a civil society platform established between the EESC and Montenegrin civil society.
Resilient and Efficient Energy for a Future-proof and Secure Economy
Location
Sofia Balkan Palace
Starting at 13:30 local time, Brussels+1
Sofia
Bulgaria
The objective of the conference was to build on the European Economic Security Strategy towards forward-looking strategic planning based on the assessment of threats, risks and vulnerabilities. In this respect, the focus was on energy supply at stable, predictable and affordable prices which comes from sustainable sources, as a cornerstone for European industrial competitiveness. The need for a sustainable energy mix and energy systems, including solutions for storage of energy from renewable sources, are amongst the main factors that will determine European competitiveness in the years to come.
Lessons learned from the first years of the implementation of the programming period 2021-2027
Event type
Debate
Location
Online event
Belgium
Public debate on 9th Cohesion report: Lessons learned from the first years of the implementation of the programming period 2021-2027, in the framework of the ECO section meeting.
With this debate, the EESC wants to contribute to reflections on the foundations of a just transition framework on the agri-food sector to achieve a sustainable food system and move forward with concrete recommendations, for example, looking at the skills, capacity and mental support needed, or identifying some key policy areas and legal leverage points that could be triggered to start a just food transition for the EU.
Given the link between agriculture and rural areas and farmers with food production, the recommendations of this opinion will also have a positive impact on rural development.
The EU-Japan DAG hosted a workshop: "Promoting human rights and environmental due diligence together" on 9 April 2024 following a Joint Dialogue with Civil Society in Tokyo on 8 April. The workshop's objective was to foster dialogue between EU and Japan civil society representatives, focusing on best practices and a solution-oriented approach in an area of importance to the implementation of the TSD-chapter of the EU-Japan EPA. Human rights and environmental due diligence are topics of common interest, as the EU and Japan share values and want to secure resilient supply chains so as to do business in a sustainable way.
The EU-Serbia Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) held its 17th meeting on 5 April 2024 at the EESC in Brussels, Belgium. It is a platform established within the institutional framework of the EU‑Serbia Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), enabling representatives of both the EU and the Serbian civil society to monitor the country's accession negotiations, discuss issues of common interest and point out concerns to be tackled on the Serbian path towards the European Union.
