News

  • "Combating marginalisation of young people should be a priority not only for the EU, but also for national and regional authorities, as well as for all civil society organisations"; with these words the president of the European Economic and Social Committee welcomed the participants of the conference on "Overcoming youth marginalisation: Best practices to prevent marginalisation and criminalisation of youth in state of vulnerability".

  • Policies to accelerate Europe’s energy transition require more realistic projections, better consultation with consumers, and clearer rules on Brussels’ attempt to enforce renewable energy targets, the EU’s main civil society body has warned.

    The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) voted to approve five opinions at this week’s plenary session on the Commission’s winter energy package "Clean Energy for All Europeans" – a 1,000-page set of proposals, released in November, that Energy Union Commissioner Maroš ŠefÄŤoviÄŤ told members would ‘revolutionise’ the sector.

  • Policies to accelerate Europe’s energy transition require more realistic projections, better consultation with consumers, and clearer rules on Brussels’ attempt to enforce renewable energy targets, the EU’s main civil society body has warned.

  • Today the findings of the stakeholder consultation carried out by the EC in view of the mid-term evaluation of Horizon 2020 were revealed publicly for the first time at a joint event organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD).

  • Only two in every ten transport workers are women. With 78% of jobs occupied by men, transport is one of the sectors most affected by gender inequality. The EESC believes that attracting more women to transport jobs is an urgent imperative, and is proposing the creation of a 'Platform for Change' to address this issue. At its April plenary, the EESC approved the opinion 'Women and Transport – Platform for Change', which defines the shape and operation of...

  • The proposal for a European Pillar of Social Rights published by the European Commission elicited a critical first reaction from the secretaries general of UEAPME, EUROCHAMBRES and CEEP. Véronique Willems, Arnaldo Abruzzini and Valeria Ronzitti participated in the Employers' Group meeting to discuss their organisations' current priorities.

  • Following recent developments in Turkey, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) invited Turkish journalist Can Dündar to its Plenary session on 26th April. The former editor-in-chief of the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, currently living in exile, called on the EU to stand beside Turkey and the Turkish people in support of media freedom, human rights, rule of law and democracy. The EESC debate also assessed recent developments in Turkey and discussed EU-Turkey relations.

  • The EESC Workers' Group strongly support the civil society organisations in Turkey

  • There is an urgent need to close the social deficit by correcting the imbalance in social and economic policy and repairing the damage done to social Europe.

  • As Estonia is the most advanced digital society in the world, digitisation will be one of main priorities of the Estonian presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2017. The Employers' Group, in close cooperation with Estonian employers' organisations, is keen to actively contribute to the presidency agenda. That is why on 19 and 20 April, the president of the Employers' Group, Jacek Krawczyk, visited Estonia to discuss potential joint initiatives.