Comité Económico e Social Europeu
The EESC organised debates with organised civil society in all Member States between 2 September and 2 November 2016. The debates were coordinated by three EESC members ('trios') from the country concerned, often in co-operation with the European Commission (15 debates) or the national Economic and Social Council (7 debates).
Successful experiences and promising practices from the 2016 EESC Civil Society Prize
The "Smart Cities" project is a follow-up to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) own-initiative opinion on smart cities as a driver of a new European industrial policy, adopted in July 2015.
Twenty-one months into deep recession a new and untried Coalition government chose deficit reduction and welfare-to-work as its main priorities, confronting the UK’s numerically weakened trade union movement in its public sector heartlands over pensions, pay and jobs.
The social dialogue and industrial relations in Bulgaria are developing in an unfavorable environment. A trend towards decentralisation of collective bargaining and abandoning the practice of extending the branch collective agreements is observed. All these developments are gradually diminishing the collective bargaining coverage.
This study examines whether it would be appropriate to introduce a guaranteed minimum income (GMI) at European level. It begins by describing the features of GMI systems implemented in the Member States for individuals of working age who are fit for work as well as the challenges they encounter and current trends. The study then looks at the legal feasibility of a binding European instrument relating to GMI schemes.
The event will stimulate a debate on the impacts of climate change on employment and the ways in which climate change is being addressed from a labour perspective. It will highlight the increasingly important role of the social partners, workers and employers organizations, in the dialogue on climate policy, and address possibilities for strengthening the decent work dimension in the future climate agreement.
The following study gives an overview of the current economic and social situation in Austria, with a particular focus on explaining the Austrian labour relations model and the importance of social partnership and its role in developments since the onset of the global economic crisis in 2008-2009.
Radical labour market reforms were implemented in Germany between 2002 and 2005, reforms that overturned the received idea that Germany was suffering from "reform paralysis". However, the part of these reforms that specifically concerned labour law was very small; their main purpose was to overhaul the social security and activation system for the unemployed and others of working age who are in need of support in line with a "work first" strategy. These reforms were extremely controversial and changed the party-political landscape in Germany.
In 2004 the European Union experienced its biggest enlargement so far, welcoming 10 new Member States. A decade later, members of the Employers' Group representing employers' organisations from these countries summarise the changes that have taken place thanks to accession to the EU.
