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.
We are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first legal regulation determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community.
On Wednesday 19 September 2018, at 13h00, the European Economic and Social Committee presents an exhibition entitled "The EU speaks your language", on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first legal act of the EC/EU, Regulation 1/58, with the four languages which are recognized as official languages of the Community (Dutch, French, German and Italian).
The EU crowdfunding framework proposed by the European Commission will help to build a capital markets union, foster innovation and support entrepreneurs and SMEs across the EU, says the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in a recently adopted opinion, which strongly supports the Commission's proposals.The proposed regulatory framework – a 29th regime, to exist in parallel with the 28 national regimes – will allow small, young and innovative enterprises in particular to strive for financing in all EU Member States.
The EESC is preparing several opinions on the cohesion package and will organise a public hearing on "Regional Development and Cohesion Policy – Cohesion Policy for the Period 2021-2027" bringing together officials, experts and civil society representatives to engage in the necessary consensus-building on the way ahead for our cohesion policy, which would also serve as an input to the EU leaders' decisions expected in the coming years.
Appropriate skills, social protection and diversity in the workplace will all be crucial for the future, as will social dialogue about the introduction of new technologies
This lively publication, with a wealth of multimedia content, particularly videos and infographics, is addressed to both the informed public (media, civil society organisations, national ESCs, other institutions, universities, etc.) and the general public. It has been designed to be a living document, aimed at highlighting the EESC's unique role - as well as that of the civil society organisations it represents - in the European integration process and as a driving force behind participatory democracy.
The Committee also calls for measures to discourage disproportionate water use
The EESC believes that an updated Drinking Water Directive – following the Right2Water citizen initiative - should be based on the WHO guidelines. In its opinion Drinking water directive the Committee also calls for a stop to water privatisation and wants to see measures that motivate citizens to make a mindful use of this finite resource. The potential problems of the mineral water industry should also be anticipated, says the EESC.
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
Civil society should be fully involved and engaged in setting up an EU sustainable development strategy and must be empowered to play an active role in the monitoring and implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda at all policy levels. These were the main recommendations of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) to the annual UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development held in New York on 16-18 July 2018, with the participation of EESC members Peter Schmidt, Brenda King and Lutz Ribbe.
The Civil Society JCC also focused on the situation of media and civil society
Members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and representatives of Montenegro's civil society held the Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) for the 11th time in Podgorica, on 17 July. The JCC discussed the state of play and the work ahead in Montenegro's EU accession negotiations and adopted a joint declaration.