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.
The EESC welcomes the simpler and more transparent economic governance framework, the reduction of the pro-cyclical bias, the improvement in national ownership and strengthened enforcement, the differentiation and more tailored fiscal adjustment path of each Member State, based on a common-risk framework. However, the Committee proposes replacing the requirement obliging any Member State with a budget deficit of over 3% to cut that deficit by an average of 0.5% of GDP annually, and emphasises that the "technical trajectory" should be first in the hands of national governments and, at a second stage, be the result of a technical dialogue with the European Commission In due course. In due time, but by 2026 at the latest, an EU fiscal capacity should be established to meet at least some of the investment needs for common priorities and to allow Member States the fiscal space to meet the fiscal costs of the multiple transitions.
EESC opinion: New economic governance rules fit for the future
The EESC welcomes the implementation of the remaining elements of the international standards agreed by the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision, from the perspective of both timing and substance, as they are meant to enhance the stability of the financial market in the EU, and thus not to expose European citizens to increased financial market risks. The EESC also stresses that financial market stability is a crucial prerequisite for overall economic stability, whereas the sound regulation and surveillance of the banking sector is essential in order to prevent the threat of turbulences and crisis.