News

  • The 2021-2025 Euratom research and training programme is hugely important, says the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), and budget allocated in the Commission proposal is proportionate to its objectives and should be maintained regardless of Brexit. Investing in education and training is a central factor in attracting young people to research and technology careers.

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    Representatives of civil society bodies discussed in Brussels the current situation of Montenegro's EU accession negotiation at the 12th meeting of the EU-Montenegro Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee (JCC). All the participants welcomed in a final joint declaration the accelerated growth of Montenegro's economy in 2018, as well as the fall of unemployment.

  • The EU is the crucial actor in coordinating and financing the national and regional fight against climate change. It supports bottom-up climate action globally but there is much more that it could be doing in Europe. The EESC says clearly that without action by citizens, communities, municipalities, businesses and other groups of civil society we will simply not be able to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. In order to be able to implement smaller and micro projects, which are key to reaching these goals, it is critical to facilitate access to finance.  

     

  • Active involvement of civil society is crucial, says EESC

    As the Commission is getting ready to publish the second edition of the Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) next year, the EESC highlights that poor, fragmented and uneven implementation of the EU environmental legislation is a serious problem in many EU Member States. Current shortcomings in implementation of EU environment protection measures are undermining people's trust in the effectiveness of EU legislation. Ensuring proper implementation of the EU's environmental law must therefore become a priority for the EU and Member States, e.g. through adequate financing and stronger involvement of civil society.

  • A lot is already happening on the ground for the implementation of the SDGs – both as top-down goals with governments and institutions providing the driving force and as bottom-up initiatives by non-state actors and civil society. National and local sustainable development strategies, which are successfully involving civil society, were presented at one of a series of events on this topic at the EESC last week. However, an overarching European strategy, which would provide the coherence and guidance needed for the implementation of the SDGs at national and local level, is still missing.

  • Although industry 4.0 is still a relatively new concept, many experts are already announcing a fifth industrial revolution that will bring about a new paradigm of cooperation and interaction between humans and machines. This is one of the main conclusions of the conference on industry 5.0 organised by the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 22 November.

  • Statement by Luca Jahier, President of the European Economic and Social Committee
    On 25 November the EU Heads of State signed the Withdrawal Agreement after nearly two years of exhausting and complex negotiations. They agreed on a compromise based on a balance of rights and obligations, and close cooperation, that takes due account of the unique relation between the United Kingdom and the European Union after over 45 years of integration.

  • The 12th Civil Society Media Seminar on Reasserting Europe's values, held in Athens, started on 22 November. It gathered more than 150 participants from the three Groups of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) together with press and communication officers and journalists from the Greek media.

  • The EESC holds a conference in Bucharest on the importance of a serious dialogue about the EU with Europe's young generation

    On 13 November, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a conference entitled "Let's talk Europe! Communicating the EU to young people". The conference was held in conjunction with an EESC extraordinary Bureau meeting in Bucharest ahead of Romania taking over the presidency of the Council of the European Union.

  • The EU and Japan signed on 17 July 2018 an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that will boost growth and create a free trade area with a combined market of around 640 million consumers. This is the first EPA signed by the EU which includes specific commitments related to the fight against climate change, and the EESC and its Japanese counterparts will be responsible to monitor its social and environmental impact.