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.
Here you can find news and information about the EESC'swork, including its social media accounts, the EESC Info newsletter, photo galleries and videos.
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.
The Euro-Mediterranean Summit of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions bring together some 120 participants from a range of economic and social councils, or similar institutions, representatives of employers, trade unions, other economic and social interests groups and NGOs from countries which are members of the Union for the Mediterranean.
This year, the Summit will focus on :
Economic, Social and Cultural rights in the Mediterranean region
A Social protection floor in the Euromediterrean Area
A new generation of women's rights
It will conclude with the adoption of a final declaration that will be sent to the political authorities of the countries involved in the Euromed Ministerial Summits as civil society's contribution to their work, and disseminated widely amongst civil society organisations in the region.
The EESC Permanent Study Group on Disability Rights is organising a public hearing on "Reviewing the 2014-2020 ESIF Regulations in favour of persons with disabilities and their representative organisations".
The aim of the event is to look into the use of European Investment and Structural Funds to promote inclusion of persons with disability.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is currently working on an own-initiative opinion entitled Lessons learned for avoiding the severity of austerity policies in the EU, with the aim to consolidate the lessons learned from the experience with austerity measures during a period of crisis management with a view to identifying possible preventive measures and alternative public policies.
5 organisations are awarded the 2017 EESC Civil Society Prize
Brussels
5 organisations are awarded the 2017 EESC Civil Society Prize
The EESC is pleased to announce the five winners of the 9th edition of the Civil Society Prize, which rewards initiatives which aim at the labour market integration of newcomers and all the people who are distant from the labour market and require specific support.
The purpose of this public hearing was to gather recommendations for the opinion that the EESC is currently working on. This opinion would be principally addressed to the political decision-makers at different levels in order to practically align the policies to the needs of non-state climate actors.
Sala Protomoteca del Campidoglio | Piazza del Campidoglio
Rome
Italy
47 million people in Europe work in regulated professions i.e. 22% of the working population. Liberal professions undeniably play a key role in our economies and societies. With this in mind, the EESC Group III "Various interests" decided to organise a meeting to discuss the challenges faced by these professions and to lay the foundations for ensuring that they achieve their potential in the European Union in the coming years.
We are now in the third year since the Goals were launched and not enough has been done to ensure they will be achieved by 2030. This event will present and examine Eurostat's new EU tailored SDG Report and engage participants in a discussion on how to best address various SDGs requiring concerted support for their further implementation.
In September 2016, the EESC adopted an own-initiative opinion on "The rights of live-in care workers". It was a first policy document at the European level dealing with the sector of live-in care work in Europe. As follow-up to this initiative, the EESC will carry out 5 country visits to countries of origin and destination of live-in care workers (United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Italy and Poland) to deepen the research on labour and work conditions of these persons and the quality of care delivery. The findings will be presented in a report to be released by the EESC later in 2018.