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 believes that the Communication on Tourism and transport in 2020 and beyond should be a strategic policy tool for rethinking the EU sustainable model of tourism and transport and calls for a comprehensive package of measures.
Aviz adoptat on 25/09/2019 - Bureau decision date: 19/03/2019
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the action of the Union following its accession to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications
Aviz adoptat on 30/03/2017 - Bureau decision date: 20/09/2016
Impact assessments of any legislative proposals must be integrated and accorded due importance to the economic, social and environmental dimensions, including for SMEs. The Committee has called for the Parliament, the Council and the European Commission to agree on a common methodology on impact assessments and evaluations, which could also serve as a prompt for the Committee. It is extremely concerned by the findings on the shortcomings of social and environmental impact assessments and the follow-up to consultations. It calls on the Commission to be more transparent and to give fully documented reasons why a particular measure or proposal is or is not to be submitted for impact assessment and/or an ex-post analysis.
EESC opinion: Nautical and maritime tourism diversification strategies
It its opinion, the EESC highlights a number of issues, two of which are: 1. During the various hearings that the EESC has held, not only for this opinion on the Outermost regions (ORs), but also for previous opinions, a strong feeling emerged that the derogations and special measures foreseen for ORs in article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union TFEU are being inadequately implemented. The EESC firmly believes that the terms of Article 349 (TFEU) need to be properly implemented in relation to certain European policies, such as competition, public procurement, fisheries and the environment, so as to take account of the ORs' specific geographical and climatic circumstances. The EESC urgently calls on the European Commission to draw up and publish an in-depth analysis of the application of the above-mentioned Article. 2. The EESC has also looked very carefully into the POSEI (Programme of Options Specifically Relating to Remoteness and Insularity).