The EESC welcomes the Commission's review of the European Neighbourhood Policy, which aims to redefine its goals and general approach following dramatic developments in the EU's neighbourhood.
The EESC welcomes the adoption of the Paris Agreement by the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is once again an effective tool for cross-border cooperation
The ENP – which was launched in 2004 to build on common interests and values with the EU’s southern and eastern neighbours and promote political and economic cooperation – has been overtaken by current events. The policy’s "one-size-fits-all" approach has not been able to account for or deal with ongoing fragmentation in both regions, with Da’esh (ISIS) destabilising the southern neighbourhood through terror, while war and Russian diplomatic and military efforts directly target the eastern partnership.
The opinion covers a wide range of important issues in relation to developing trends in the labour market, and the benefits and challenges they create. Some issues raised would merit further consideration by the EESC in separate opinions.
Globally, the volume of trade in the sharing economy is estimated at around EUR 17.8 billion, with rapid annual growth forecast until 2025. In response to a request from the Dutch presidency, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has issued an opinion on the sharing economy and self-regulation which calls on the EU to “urgently define a clear and transparent legal framework within which these activities should be developed and implemented in the European area”.
Closer cooperation between the EESC and the Mission of Canada to the EU and current developments on implementing the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) – these were the topics of the meeting between Daniel J. Costello, Ambassador of Canada to the European Union and Jacek Krawczyk, President of the EESC Employers' Group and President of the Transatlantic Relations Follow-up Committee, held on 24 of May at the EESC premises.
On 20 May 2016 at the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris, the Governance and Tripartism Department of the International Labour Office (ILO, Geneva), in cooperation with the ILO's International Training Centre (ITC) held a conference on Post-crisis social dialogue: good practices in the EU-28, as part of the project "Post-crisis social dialogue: best and innovative practices in the EU-28".
The EU-China Round Table's fourteenth meeting was hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and held in Brussels on 18 and 19 May 2016. The EU-China Round Table was set up in 2007 following a Decision taken by the 9th EU-China Summit, which acknowledged that the exchanges and cooperation between the EESC and its Chinese counterpart, the China Economic and Social Council (CESC), formed an integral part of the EU-China relationship.
On 17 and 18 May, the European Economic and Social Committee hosted the 4th Conference on Plurilingualism, organised by the European Observatory for Plurilingualism in cooperation with GEM+ for European Multilingual Governance. The theme of this year's conference is "Plurilingualism and creativity: languages at the heart of Europe".
