The EESC issues between 160 and 190 opinions and information reports a year.
It also organises several annual initiatives and events with a focus on civil society and citizens’ participation such as the Civil Society Prize, the Civil Society Days, the Your Europe, Your Say youth plenary and the ECI Day.
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The EESC brings together representatives from all areas of organised civil society, who give their independent advice on EU policies and legislation. The EESC's326 Members are organised into three groups: Employers, Workers and Various Interests.
The EESC has six sections, specialising in concrete topics of relevance to the citizens of the European Union, ranging from social to economic affairs, energy, environment, external relations or the internal market.
Reporting requirements are key for the enforcement and monitoring of legislation, but can also lead to burdens on stakeholders. The European Commission, under the REFIT programme, is proposing to streamline reporting obligations and reducing administrative burdens with regards to financial services, the InvestEU programme and certain benchmarks, while allowing the reuse of data for innovation and research purposes.
EESC opinion: Improving benchmarks and reporting requirements in financial services and investment support
Securitisation is the process of transforming a batch of debts into a marketable security, that is backed by the original debts. This process can increase the availability of credit, increasing investment and supporting economic growth in a way that increases competitiveness and improves labour market.
This own-initiative opinion will present a thorough description of the challenges and opportunities that come with securitisation, and provide concrete policy proposals for a possible future revision of the securitisation regulation.
Vastuvõetud arvamused on 17/01/2024 - Bureau decision date: 24/10/2023
The EESC opinion, that covers the Commission proposal and the request from the Spanish Presidency of the Council, endorses the reform. However, it notes the need to strike a balance between flexibility and predictability in its implementation, as well as a balanced and proportional public interest assessment to avoid damaging the interest of smaller and local entities.
EESC opinion: Review of the Bank crisis management and deposit insurance framework
The EESC emphasises that the designing of proposals for new sources of own revenues should be done in context of the budgetary pressures faced by Member States following the pandemic and the ongoing international tensions. This has become all the more important in the current higher interest rate environment. The EESC also emphasises that the second set of own resources measures should be in line with the proportionality and social fairness principles. An EU-wide tax on digital transactions could be potentially considered to increase own resources in case the agreed rules of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework are not respected by other major trading partners.
The EESC underlines that increased equity funding for European companies is key and therefore strongly welcomes the Listing Act proposed by the Commission. Bringing family-owned companies to capital markets would open up untapped potential to attract capital for growth. In this context, a multiple-voting rights regime helps families to retain control, making listing more attractive to them, and streamlining the contents of a prospectus would significantly reduce costs and burden for issuers.
EESC opinion: Listing rules for public markets (Listing act)