Europos ekonomikos ir socialinių reikalų komitetas
Persons with disabilities may have the right to full social integration, but they are still not given the opportunity
On 20 June, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a hearing which showcased the positive impact of employing persons with disabilities, but also warned that prejudice and victimisation were still among the most important factors in their persistent exclusion from society and labour markets.
The situation in some Member States has led us to create a strategy for defending the Rule of Law, human rights and the concept of liberal democracy
, said José Antonio Moreno Díaz, president of a new group on fundamental rights and the Rule of Law. Fact-finding missions to Poland, Hungary or Romania will be a starting point for the group, established by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) earlier this year and which held its first meeting on 11 June in Brussels.
The EESC held the fourth of its Going Local meetings on the live-in care sector in the EU, this time in Poland. The country provides much of the sector's workforce in western EU Member States, but has itself started to face a serious shortage of qualified carers in recent years
Young Roma are almost seven times more likely to leave school early than their non-Roma peers, EESC hearing reveals
Despite a slight improvement in the share of early school leavers amongst the Roma, as many as 68% of Roma youth still complete only lower secondary school education at best, which greatly reduces their chances on the labour market and perpetuates the cycle of poverty experienced by most members of this ethnic group.
The transparent working conditions directive is a real step towards implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights and adapting to the future world of work, says the EESC.
The EESC conference in Rome pointed to many shortcomings in Italy's live-in care sector, which is on the rise in the country shown to be the second "oldest" in the world according to recent figures
Apprenticeship schemes should be shaped with the active involvement of the people directly concerned – apprentices themselves and their organisations. This is the main reservation voiced by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) regarding the proposed framework for high-quality and effective apprenticeships in Europe, which the EESC otherwise believes will help raise standards for such schemes across the EU.
If the Commission's Action Plan to tackle the persistent pay gap between men and women yields no results by the end of 2019, the EESC may decide to call for stronger, more binding measures.
Europe's largest minority, numbering more than ten million people, continue to be discriminated against and marginalised in many Member States of the European Union. Human rights NGOs and EU policymakers who gathered at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) warned that in many cases police continue to use ethnic profiling against Roma people. A public hearing on "Addressing anti-gypsyism in ethnic profiling practices" was part of the third EU Roma Week, held by the EU institutions in Brussels from April 8 to 12.
Europe should invest in education if it wants to benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has adopted an opinion on the future of work, in which it calls on Member States to focus on education and training and adapt their education systems to the needs of the labour markets, which are currently undergoing rapid and dramatic changes brought about by the new digital and industrial revolution.
