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.
This Directive will set out a horizontal framework to foster the contribution of businesses operating in the single market to the respect of the human rights and environment in their own operations and through their value chains, by identifying, preventing, mitigating and accounting for their adverse human rights, and environmental impacts, and having adequate governance, management systems and measures in place to this end.
Most consumers say they want to pay attention to the environmental impact, but complain that only partial information is available. In its opinion, the EESC stresses the need to make every effort to ensure that better information on reparability is made available to consumers and to combat unfair practices.
Download — Stanovisko EHSV: Empowering the consumer for the green transition
The EESC welcomes the European Commission's objective of strengthening the semiconductor ecosystem, significantly increasing resilience and security of supply and reducing external dependencies.
Download — Stanovisko EHSV: A Chips Act for the EU
The Commission is proposing to the European Parliament and Council to sign up to a declaration of rights and principles that will guide the digital transformation in the EU. The declaration aims to give everyone a clear reference point about the kind of digital transformation Europe promotes and defends. It will also provide a guide for policy makers and companies when dealing with new technologies.
Download — Stanovisko EHSV: Digital Decade Principles
The EESC welcomes the Data Act Regulation and highlights the need to implement it without any discrimination against people who have difficulty accessing the internet or data. The EESC considers it important to guarantee respect of safety and ethical standards, multiple and sufficient conditions for data functionality, cybersecurity procedures and the proper storage of data on EU territory, on the assumption that individuals should be in control of the data they generate in accordance with the objectives of strategic autonomy and technological independence.
The Commission is proposing to the European Parliament and Council to sign up to a declaration of rights and principles that will guide the digital transformation in the EU. The declaration aims to give everyone a clear reference point about the kind of digital transformation Europe promotes and defends. It will also provide a guide for policy makers and companies when dealing with new technologies
Download — Stanovisko EHSV: Digital rights and principles
The EESC welcomes the European Commission's decision to prolong the State aid Temporary Framework stemming from the pandemic. However, these measures are too exceptional for them to be extended to the general framework and therefore become permanent.
Download — Stanovisko EHSV: A competition policy fit for new challenges
European Union statistics clearly show the enormous amounts of packaging materials currently used for the safety, hygiene, transportation, conservation, presentation and application of all kinds of goods – be they for industrial purposes, construction work, communication systems or individual consumption. Most of them are of carbonic or metallic origin, which are limited resources. A largely predominant part of the waste of these packaging materials can, and mostly do, have a negative environmental impact and may seriously endanger human health as well as animal and plant well-being. Material transformation and recycling for the reuse of the basic substances can only very partially reduce the many problems connected.
Download — Stanovisko EHSV: Making packaging a safe, affordable and eco-friendly industry