Comité Económico y Social Europeo
On 16 September, the Diversity Europe Group held its Extraordinary meeting in Helsinki (Finland) - at the Auditorium (Annex Building of the Parliament).
The meeting entitled Boosting EU competitiveness – 3 pillars for sustainable growth will mainly focussed on bioeconomy and climate neutral Europe, digitalization and infrastructure in transport sector.
Europe and its Member States have to deliver wellbeing to the citizens and this can only be done through investments and jobs. This means that the impact which taxes and tax measures have on investments, jobs, trade and growth must be brought to the forefront of the debate.
While the OECD stresses that all taxes have the potential to discourage growth, its analysis of tax structures has found corporate taxes to be the form of taxation that is most harmful to economic growth. Empirical studies confirm that there is a negative relationship between corporate taxes and economic growth.
In order to encourage a broader and more balanced discussion on taxation, the Employers' Group requested that the EESC commission, in 2018, the study on The role of taxes on investment to increase jobs in the EU – An Assessment of Recent Policy Developments in the field of corporate taxes.
The public hearing on "Towards a more resilient and sustainable European economy with a vision for completing EMU" to be held on Friday, 12 April 2019, starting at 11.30 a.m., will discuss from a wider civil society perspective the future of the European economy and the political initiatives and decisions that need to be taken during the upcoming legislative term and beyond. Taking into account the conclusions of the debate, the EESC will draw up two own-initiative opinions, entitled "Towards a more resilient and sustainable European economy" and "A new vision for completing the Economic and Monetary Union", to be forwarded to the new European Parliament and European Commission.
Public Hearing on Strengthening the international role of the euro: European and international perspectives in the framework of ECO/489. This event will take place on Thursday, 4 April 2019, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is bringing together policy-makers and civil society representatives for an exchange of views from a European and an international perspective.
As a follow-up to the Consumer Dialogues, "Les Assises des Consommateurs" (the 2018 Consumer Summit) showcased the results of this outreach and offered the opportunity for debate and conclusions.
How can we foster the completion of the internal market? How would the strengthening of EMU contribute to ensuring a favourable business environment? What influence will Brexit have on the EU economy? These are just some of the questions that we will set out to address during the conference entitled "The Future of the European Union – Employers' perspectives". The event will take place on 21 June 2018 in Madrid, Spain. The conference is being jointly organised by the Employers' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee and the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations (CEOE).
High-level conference on "The Multiannual Financial Framework post 2020: Challenges and opportunities" with the participation of representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council presidency.
The European Economic and Social Committee organised a panel discussion on "Sustainable Economy and Social Cohesion". The EESC as the consultative Committee for the European Union, in which European Social Partners as well as other organisations of civil society have been represented, has adopted an opinion on the "Economy for the Common Good", that has been presented at the event by EESC rapporteur Carlos Trias Pintó. This was followed by a debate on political implementation and scientific concepts of alternative economic models.
In the framework of the preparation of its own-initiative opinion, the Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion (ECO) organised a public hearing Wealth Inequality in Europe: the Profit-Labour Split, on Friday, 23 June 2017, at the EESC premises, starting from 10 a.m. The objective of the hearing was to gain contributions and insights on this topic from various stakeholders and expert, with a view to channelling these findings into the EESC opinion.
Thematic debate on "Taxation of the Digital Economy", with Rita de la Feria, renowned tax expert (listed in the Global Tax 50, 2015 and 2016) and professor of tax law at the University of Leeds, organised during the ECO Section meeting on Friday, 5 May 2017, at the EESC premises in Brussels.
