The European Economic and Social Committee held a debate today on the state of the European economy and the prospects for deepening the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) with Pierre Moscovici, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs. The EESC members sent through Commissioner Moscovici a clear message to the upcoming Eurogroup, Ecofin and European Council meetings that the European citizens and economic actors urgently need to see a sense of ownership and direction by the European leadership – notably when discussing the missing blocks of a genuine EMU. The EU integration process and the euro can ...
33 schools from across Europe to come to Brussels to discuss the future of the EU. Today the EESC selected the schools which will be participating in this year's edition of Your Europe Your Say!, its flagship event for youth. In 2017, the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome will be the theme of the Committee’s annual "Your Europe, Your Say!" youth event, offering young people from around Europe the opportunity to share their ideas about the EU of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Each of the schools - which were selected from over 680 applications at a draw, will send a delegation of 3 students and a teacher to Brussels to participate in a youth plenary session on 30-31 March 2017, back to back with the ...
Hungarian NGO Artemisio Foundation awarded first prize for championing diverse and multicultural society in Hungary
Today the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has awarded its 2016 Civil Society Prize to five organisations and individuals from across Europe who have demonstrated outstanding examples of solidarity towards refugees and migrants. The first prize went to the Hungarian NGO Artemisio Foundation (14 000 EUR), while the German organisation SOS Mediterrannee, the Greek baker Dionysis Arvanitakis, a branch of the Spanish NGO SOS Racismo and the Greek NGO Iliaktida (Sunbeam) received 9 000 EUR each.
The EESC Plenary today highlighted the importance of the collaborative economy and the functional economy as new business models for a more sustainable Europe. But it also called on the Commission to ensure that the collaborative economy does not increase job insecurity and the opportunity for tax avoidance. Nudge thinking is one way to achieve this. The Committee debated a number of key issues affecting Europe's future economic development with Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen. The EESC proposes the development of a new way to regulate and measure a new economy with different standards. The time has come for Europe to begin an economic transition from over-exploitation of ...
The record number of 284 applications for this year's EESC Civil Society Prize on Migration, has clearly shown that migration and the integration of refugees continues to be a major area of action and concern for European Civil Society. The 2016 Prize will reward model and inspiring projects that represent the best of human solidarity in Europe and which have demonstrated real on the ground impact.
At the 3rd meeting of the joint seminar between the EESC and the EU-Russia Forum on 23 November 2016, the representatives of both EU and Russia civil society organisations exchanged on the situation for civil society in Russia and in the EU and on migration.
"Contacts between the civil societies on both sides form an integral part of EU-Russia economic and social relations. Ensuring that Russian and EU civil societies can interact freely and thus contribute to building mutual trust and understanding is of utmost importance", declared Dilyana Slavova, President of the External Relations section at the EESC.
COP22 (Conference of the Parties) is taking place in Marrakech, Morocco, from 7-18 November 2016. The Paris Agreement adopted at COP21 December 2015 set out the long-term goal of limiting global warming “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C”. With its recent ratification by several countries and the EU, it officially entered into force on 4 November 2016. The EESC welcomes this historical event and calls on both the Parties to the Paris Agreement as well as the non-state actors to make every effort to turn the Marrakesh session into a true COP of Action ...
BRUSSELS - The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have started a two-day high-level dialogue on the future of work bringing together more than 300 representatives of the social partners and civil society in Europe. They are expected to map out the main drivers of change which are transforming jobs and the economy in Europe.
Following the extraordinary meeting of the Bureau of the European Economic and Social Committee, held on 10 November 2016, the President made the following statement. I wish to voice my very serious concern at the current situation in Turkey concerning respect for the fundamental rights. While the crime committed in attempting to seize power by violence is to be strongly condemned, under no circumstances can an attempted coup d'état serve to justify any deviation from respect of the fundamental rights. It moreover gives cause for alarm that citizens, civil society organisations, journalists and ...
Exactly 20 years since the first Cork Declaration, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR) organised a joint conference on balanced territorial development under the title ...
