European Economic and Social Committee
Following an invitation by Nicos Epistithiou on behalf of the Cypriot Workers' Group representatives in the European Economic and Social Committee, within the framework of further improvement of the relations between the EESC and the Trade Union Movement, Group II President Oliver Röpke made a 6-day visit in Cyprus from 12 to 18 September 2009.
Policy Brief on the topic of Common Minimum Standards for Unemployment Insurance, providing an overview of the insurance schemes in EU countries and policy recommendations for upwards convergence.
The EESC Workers' Group strongly condemns the Turkish government's decision to invade Syria and to attack Kurdish population. An aggressive military attack is taking place at the borders of our continent.
9 October 2019 – Helsinki – Extraordinary meeting of the Workers' Group
Social Europe, finally: it is essential and it is possible!
By Christophe Quarez, member of the European Economic and Social Committee
Only available in FR
Right wing populism and nationalism, while not a new phenomenon, has in the recent years taken hold in many countries, including several within the European Union; sometimes as opposition, sometimes as government. Often, the ideological mixture of welfare chauvinism and nationalism is intended to appeal to the working class, with different degrees of success.
Membership of a Trade Union does not always mean, like it used to, immunity to these ideas, as these parties have abandoned their explicit neoliberal policies (at least in public discourse) and have taken what traditionally were leftwing issues such as social justice or redistribution to appeal to what they perceive as the 'losers of globalisation'.
The EESC Workers’ Group held an extraordinary meeting in Bucharest, Romania, focusing on Labour Rights and Social Convergence: a Europe of Common Values. Opening the meeting, Oliver Röpke, President of the Workers' Group, congratulated the Romanian Presidency particularly for concluding several files which were important to improving working people’s lives such as the establishment of the European Labour Authority and the directives on work-life balance and transparent and predictable working conditions.
EESC Workers' Group member Ellen Nygren highlights that despite changes to the world of work over the past 100 years the ILO's mission and conventions remain valid now and for the future.
