Comitato economico e sociale europeo
During the meeting, the EU DAG discussed with representatives of the European Commission and a representative of the Mission of Canada to the EU the progress in work on implementation of the EU-Canada CETA. The Group exchanged views on the reports. Discussions on the preparation for the workshop on the occasion of the 2nd Joint meeting of the EU-Canada DAGs were also held.
550th plenary session of the EESC, with the following guests and debates: The Future of Work and the European Pillar of Social Rights with Guy Ryder; How the Committee can most effectively respond to international crises; Presentation of the European Commission work programme and the multiannual political priorities for 2019-2024 with Maroš Šefčovič; Presentation of the European Citizens' Initiative Eat ORIGINal with Roberto Moncalvo (tbc). The debates will be web streamed.
The European Economic and Social Committee and the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council wish to hold a joint information seminar on the European Citizens' Initiative. The aim of the seminar is to present the ECI, as well as the work done by the EESC in this field, and to exchange experiences of initiatives undertaken at national and European level to better understand and manage the impact of citizen-led campaigns on the actions and decisions of legislators.
The 6th meeting of the EU-Moldova Civil Society Platform took place on 13 February 2020 in Chisinau in Moldova. During the meeting, a debate was held assessing the state of play of the implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement. Social aspects of the implementation of the Association Agreement and Moldovan initiatives in justice sector and fighting corruption were discussed. Platform members also took stock of the Association Agenda EU-Moldova 2017-2019.
The public hearing aims to engage a wide range of civil society organisations in order to find the optimal approach in remodelling the trend of investing financial resources in remedying climate change damages into a trend of investing in prevention and adapting to climate change measures instead.
The EESC ECO Section is organizing a public hearing on "The collaborative economy - data exchange with tax authorities" to be held in Tallinn on 13 February 2020. This event contributes to the preparatory work for the opinion ECO-500.
The EESC is of the view that in the fast-paced development of the collaborative economy requires an update how tax related information exchange is organised. Furthermore, the need for transparency and reporting to authorities both from the businesses providing the platforms and from the consumers using them has been raised by governments. In particular, tax authorities are demanding that they gain access to information for taxation purposes.
This event is aiming to engage a broad range of civil society organisations to discuss the core messages of the SOER 2020 report and their implications for actions in support to ongoing policy processes (i.e. the European Green Deal, the next EU environment programme, Horizon Europe, etc.).
Meeting of the Follow-up Committee ACP-EU
The incoming Croatian Presidency has requested the EESC to draft an opinion on the topic of "The effects of campaigns on participation in political decision-making".
In view of the European elections and campaigns aimed at informing European citizens conducted by the institutions of the European Union and the Member States, a public hearing will be held in the morning of Wednesday 5 February, at the EESC. The aim of the hearing is to examine the current state of play and lessons learned from the May 2019 elections, and to look at the ways forward, i.e. how to enhance participation and disable disinformation of European citizens..
During its mission to Japan, the EU-Japan Follow-up Committee relied on its former work in order to further strengthen its cooperation with its well-established network of organisations.
