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.
Statement of the President of the Employers' Group
On 20 February 2019 the EESC adopted an opinion calling for an EU framework directive on minimum income. The Employers' Group fully shares the view of the EESC that fighting against poverty is a necessity. However, for us the instrument proposed in the opinion is not the correct one. For this reason, the Group tabled a counter-opinion, presenting its views on measures needed to reduce poverty. The counter opinion was supported by almost 40% of the EESC Members.
Nel suo recente parere in merito a una proposta presentata dalla Commissione europea, il Comitato economico e sociale europeo (CESE) afferma che un nuovo sistema dell'IVA per l'imposizione degli scambi tra gli Stati membri deve esplicare appieno il suo potenziale e limitare gli eventuali effetti negativi sul mercato unico. Per la sua efficace attuazione saranno fondamentali una maggiore collaborazione tra le autorità nazionali e un'ampia comunicazione da parte della Commissione. Il CESE chiede dei chiarimenti su alcuni concetti e criteri proposti e sottolinea che si deve giungere quanto prima a un sistema comune applicabile sia ai beni che ai servizi.
In occasione della sua ultima sessione plenaria, svoltasi il 17 ottobre 2018, il Comitato economico e sociale europeo (CESE) ha adottato un parere teso a migliorare i risultati del programma spaziale dell'UE e a rafforzarne la visibilità. Il CESE sostiene le iniziative avviate dall'UE al fine di rimanere tra le principali potenze spaziali indipendenti, ma chiede maggiori investimenti nella ricerca, nelle start-up e negli incubatori di imprese, nonché una coerente applicazione di un principio di "preferenza europea". L'accento dovrebbe essere posto chiaramente sulla ricerca riguardante le attività minerarie nello spazio e sui benefici che le attività spaziali potrebbero offrire in termini di sviluppo sostenibile.
The EESC believes that the European Commission's Action Plan is a good basis but that additional measures are needed to tap the full potential of financial technology and to ensure certainty and protection for all market participants
The European economy loses over 2% of productivity per year due to a mismatch of skills, according to a recent study commissioned by the European Economic and Social Committee. This means a loss of 80 eurocents for each hour of work. The situation will get even worse in the future due to demographic trends and ongoing technological developments, if no reforms are undertaken.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has used an own-initiative opinion to call for sufficient funding resources to be put in place for implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights. Adopted at its plenary session on 19 April 2018, the opinion calls for improvements in the Member States and a robust commitment in terms of budget, investment and current spending to make the Social Pillar a reality.
In order to bridge the skills gap, we must first identify precisely which skills are needed for the future. This remains difficult, due to the rapid pace of change we are seeing today. Adaptation of education systems, development of lifelong learning systems and close cooperation between employers, policy-makers and academics are some of the ways to help people adapt their skills to the demands of future labour markets. These were among the conclusions reached at the conference on Bridging the Skills Gap for Growth and Job Creation – the Business Perspective, which took place on 22 March 2018 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Brexit, the next EU budget and the future of the single market are the core interests of the European employers' organisations. On 14 March 2018, representatives of BusinessEurope, EuroChambres and CEEP presented the priorities of their organisations for 2018 and discussed the issues with the members of the employers' group.