European Economic and Social Committee
On 24 May in Sarajevo, the EESC's Western Balkans Follow-up Committee held its yearly external meeting - for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic - to meet with civil society organisations (CSOs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and discuss their role and concerns regarding the current situation. The conclusions will be conveyed to the country's political authorities and to the EU institutions.
The European Economic and Social Committee is calling on the European Commission to carry out more targeted impact assessments of its proposals for new EU budget funding sources to repay NextGenerationEU debt. The EESC generally agrees with the proposed EU "own resources" revenues for the budget. However, they need to be stable and fair – and should not burden households or businesses.
The EU's full range of competition policy tools - merger, antitrust and State aid control rules - and even its most basic concepts, such as market share, relevant markets and level-playing field, should be overhauled to serve the Union's climate and digital ambitions and the goal of resilience, which will require massive investment. Two new EESC opinions explain how this overhaul should be done.
The May plenary session of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) hosted a debate led by its President Christa Schweng and the President of the European Council Charles Michel on Europe's response to this turning point in history.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) throws its support behind the Commission's "REPowerEU" initiative, stressing that energy security must be accompanied by urgent measures to protect vulnerable users, accelerate decarbonisation and diversify energy sources. Steps should also be taken to reduce demand for Russian gas which has brought about a significant increase in energy prices.
At the meeting of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)'s Bureau in Prague, the Czech Minister for European Affairs, Mikuláš Bek, presented the priorities of the forthcoming Czech EU presidency. The minister also joined EESC members in a seminar on sustainable and affordable energy for the EU.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) organised for the second consecutive year a major conference to take stock of the energy poverty situation in the EU Member States, putting forward concrete proposals to tackle this important social problem.
To turn solidarity with Ukraine into concrete action, the EESC is joining the European Parliament's "civil society hub" initiative for Ukraine, allowing the NGO Promote Ukraine to use part of its premises at rue de Trèves 74, along with logistical equipment.
Eight concrete proposals were handed to the European Commission's Vice-President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová by secondary school students from all over Europe. The students were taking part in the virtual youth event Your Europe, Your Say! (YEYS2022) under the title: The truth about lies. Youth challenging disinformation.
The European Union needs not only to improve the preparedness of its health system but also to address inequalities within the Union and globally. It needs to move quickly to assess the public health action taken to date
