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.
Transparency International EU and Generation Climate Europe have now joined the EESC's network of European civil society organisations working to shape EU laws
Europeans need to know how EU decisions affect their lives if campaigns to boost voter turnout are to have any real effect. Messages need to be tailored to each EU country and barriers preventing young people from entering politics need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), in partnership with the Economic and Social Council of the Slovak Republic, will hold its annual civil society communication seminar – #ConnectingEU2023 – on 23-24 November 2023. This year's theme is "European elections 2024: Why vote?"
Despite being recognised as a constitutional principle of the EU, participatory democracy in Europe is still largely unstructured, with no formal institutional agreements that would allow citizens and civil society organisations to directly contribute to the development of EU policies
Civil society organisations (CSOs) must be recognised, involved and supported as partners that defend and strengthen European democracy and contribute to a functioning rule of law culture.
Fit-23 u l-24 ta’ Marzu, il-Kumitat Ekonomiku u Soċjali Ewropew (KESE) ospita l-14-il avveniment L-Ewropa Tiegħek, Leħnek!, li laqqa’ fi Brussell 105 studenti minn 35 skola mis-27 Stat Membru tal-UE u s-seba’ pajjiżi kandidati. Minħabba l-ħafna sfidi soċjetali u ekonomiċi, spazju ċiviku li qed jiċkien u theddid għall-paċi u d-drittijiet fundamentali, il-konferenza ta’ din is-sena ffukat fuq “Djalogi maż-Żgħażagħ dwar id-Demokrazija” u kellha l-għan li tiżgura li l-ilħna taż-żgħażagħ jingħataw widen fit-tiswir tal-futur tal-Ewropa. Ir-rakkomandazzjonijiet tal-istudenti se jiġu ppreżentati lill-istituzzjonijiet Ewropej u lil dawk li jfasslu l-politika tal-UE ta’ livell għoli f’Ġunju 2023.
On 23 March, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a plenary debate and adopted a resolution entitled "United for Democracy" with concrete proposals to strengthen democracies and democratic values across the European Union. Policymakers, experts, and organised civil society representatives agreed that civic education, better funding to social partners and a focus on the local dimension, are key to democracy in Europe.
The EESC held a debate in plenary on the growing importance of organised civil society and cities in Europe's ability to face asymmetric shocks and unforeseen crises. This was linked to the adoption of two opinions, on Flexible Assistance to Territories (FAST-CARE) and on the Ljubljana Agreement on the Urban Agenda of the EU. The Committee welcomes both initiatives, but finds they miss the bar in terms of properly empowering and involving organised civil society. A key measure proposed by the EESC is to create a separate EU fund for the reconstruction and development of Ukraine to complement the efforts made by the Member States.
In its resolution on the involvement of organised civil society in the implementation and monitoring of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) the European Economic and Social Committee calls for clear rules to effectively involve social partners and civil society organisations in the Member states' strategies to bring the economy back on track.