
Wednesday 11 December: Statement by Donald Tusk, and Debate with Maroš Šefčovič – Thursday, 12 December: Debate on the theme From development to partnership and 2019 Civil Society Prize awards ceremony with Helena Dalli at 11 a.m.
06/12/2019
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) calls for more robust EU housing policies and, at a public conference held in Brussels on 4 December 2019, has asked the EU to adopt urgent common measures in this field: housing policies at European level must make affordable houses available for all Europeans.
04/12/2019
This year, the EESC honors outstanding citizens' initiatives that champion equal opportunities for women and men and contribute to empowering women in society and the economy
03/12/2019
EESC debate takes stock and discusses steps to take
02/12/2019
The EESC President
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Discover Your Europe, Your Say! (YEYS) – Your voice matters, our digital publication enhanced with animation and multimedia content (videos, photos galleries). Click here for the digital publication
Meedingen naar de prijs voor het maatschappelijk middenveld 2019 van het Europees Economisch en Sociaal Comité (EESC) kan vanaf nu. Thema dit jaar is Meer vrouwen in de Europese samenleving en economie, en de prijs zal gaan naar innovatieve initiatieven en projecten die worden ingezet in de strijd voor gelijke kansen voor vrouwen en mannen en gelijke behandeling op alle vlakken van het economische en maatschappelijke leven.
Komende evenementen
Adviezen in de kijker
Taxation policies are fundamental for the SDGs as they determine the economic environment in which investment, employment, and innovation take place while providing the government with revenues for financing public spending. Businesses are global drivers of productivity, inclusive economic growth, job creation, investment and innovation. Private sector expertise holds the keys to unlocking many of the challenges linked to sustainable development. Tax bases should be as broad as possible allowing tax rates to be as non-distortive as possible.
This own-initiative opinion refers to what a comprehensive approach to industrial policy should include, in order to reposition European production of goods and services in the global context, on the basis of an eco-social open market model that responds to the tradition and the future of the EU.
When it comes to development and EU-Africa relations, the EESC consistently emphasised the importance of sustainable development and cooperation based on the rule of law and the respect for human rights. Initiatives focused on trade, investment and business relations with Africa could be welcomed, but not to the detriment of traditional development policies focusing on reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
A system of corporate liability for human rights abuses is currently being negotiated in the UN, within the UNHRC’s open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises concerning human rights (OEIGWG), established by the UN General Assembly on 26 June 2014. The mandate of the working group is to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises.
Against a background of rising poverty levels during the crisis, levels that remain high in many Member States, in particular among the unemployed, this own-initiative opinion would address the huge differences in levels of protection under national unemployment insurance systems within the EU.
Possible standards in this respect could be: