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.
EESC, Van Maerlant Building, Rue Van Maerlant 2, room VMA 3
Brussels
Belgium
The Day of the Liberal Professions will take place on 2 May 2023 at the EESC in Brussels. This annual event brings together key players from Europe's liberal professions, as well as key policy makers from the European Commission, European Parliament and Member States.
The Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) under the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) met again for the first time in person since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic on 24 April 2023. The meeting was held in a great spirit and with renewed enthusiasm for cooperation between the joint DAGs. During the meeting Members took stock of the work of the respective DAGs since the 2022 joint online meeting, and identified opportunities for fruitful cooperation on joint priorities. The Joint statement was adopted on 20 June.
The EESC´s Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (CCMI) organised a first hearing on the review of the CO2 emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, with the participation of many civil society stakeholders.
How do we effectively make use of the results of citizens’ panels and public consultations?
JDE 62, Rue Belliard 99
Brussels
Belgium
The Conference on the Future of Europe brought to the forefront the importance of citizens having a say in EU policy, as well as how to facilitate their views. In the context of the EESC's opinion on citizen's panels an public consultation, this public hearing aims to examine these tools: What works? What doesn't? Who is the best placed to organise such deliberation?
The EU-Serbia Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) held its 15th meeting on 21 April 2023 in Brussels, Belgium. It is a platform established within the institutional framework of the EU‑Serbia Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), enabling representatives of both the EU and the Serbian civil society to monitor the country's accession negotiations, discuss issues of common interest and point out concerns to be tackled on the Serbian path towards the European Union.
With this debate, the ECO section is providing ex-ante input to the European Commission, in preparation for the upcoming 2023 strategic foresight cycle that wants to shed light on the strategic decisions needed to ensure a socially and economically sustainable Europe with a stronger role in the world in the coming decades.
The 3rd annual All DAGs meeting will take place in a hybrid format on Monday 17 April 2023 09:30-12:30 in JDE62 (and via Interactio).
As the Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) are approaching the end of the current mandate, the objective of the event is to take stock of past challenges and achievements, including preliminary results for some of the DAGs' desk studies and also give the opportunity to do benchmarking in preparation for the next DAG mandates. This strategic time of feedback and preparation will include presentations by the EU DAG chairs and discussions between all EU DAG members.
During this meeting, the EU DAG discussed with the expert the final draft report for the desk study on "Non-Standard employment and platform work on the international arena – with a specific focus on the point of view from Korea". It was likewise an opportunity for members to receive an update from DG Trade on the implementation of the TSD Chapter and the follow-up of the recommendations of the Panel of Experts. The EU DAG Chair also reported on the hearing of the DAGs at the European Parliament's INTA Committee meeting, held on 21 March 2023.
Finally, the members summarized the 2020-2023 mandate and exchanged views on the future priorities of the EU DAG.