Introducing the common currency in turbulent times
Event type
Debate
Location
Brussels
Belgium
On 1 January 2023, Croatia became the 20th member of the euro area. The introduction of the euro was preceded by a long process of convergence and Croatia's accession to the euro area comes in a time of economic challenges following the pandemic and due to the war in Ukraine. High inflation and high debt coupled with low growth prospects will challenge policy makers in the euro area and central bankers in the months to come. Against this background, the ECO section will organise a debate to discuss the prospects for Croatia and the euro area, also in view of future enlargements.
Representatives of the European and Ukrainian Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs), set up under the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, held their sixth joint meeting on 26 January 2023. The objective of the meeting was to prepare a set of recommendations for the EU-Ukraine Trade and Sustainable Development Sub-Committee and the Civil Society Forum, which will take place in March 2023.
In order to prepare an exploratory opinion requested by the upcoming Spanish presidency, the EESC is organising a remote public hearing "Towards green collective bargaining in Europe: assessment of good practices and future prospects", on 26 January 2023.
By including perspectives from relevant institutional stakeholders, social partners and experts, the event will explore the role of collective bargaining in promoting environmental sustainability and the decarbonisation of the economy, and will look at recent experiences and best practices of green collective bargaining. The input will then feed into the EESC's opinion.
575th plenary session, with the following guests: Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, Jessika Roswall, Minister for EU Affairs, Sweden, Margrethe Vestager and Guillaume Lafortune.
This 25th meeting of the EU DAG for Korea was the occasion for the members who participated at the joint meetings in Seoul on 13-14 September 2022 to report back to the EU DAG, and for the European Commission's DG TRADE to report from the meeting of the Committee on Trade and Sustainable Development.
The Chair of the Delegation for relations with the Korean Peninsula of the European Parliament also took part in the meeting and reported on the EP delegation's mission to Seoul, which also took place this autumn.
In addition to that, the EU DAG members discussed the preliminary draft inception report for the desk study on platform work.
The 13th meeting of the EU Domestic Advisory Group under the EU-Ukraine DCFTA took place via a videoconference on 17 January 2023. Please click on the programme tab to consult the topics on the agenda.
This online public hearing on carbon removal certification aims to take stock of current certification schemes, looking at different methodologies, and discuss what an EU-wide certification framework needs to provide for in practice to make it transparent, reliable and avoid greenwashing.
To prepare its opinion on "Strengthening the role and independence of equality bodies", the European Economic and Social Committee is organising a hybrid public hearing.
Equality bodies combat discrimination at the national level through prevention and assistance to victims. However, their tasks and resources vary significantly across EU countries, resulting in different levels of effectiveness.
The hearing will address how to improve the powers of equality bodies to better fight discrimination, by gathering inputs from institutions, social partners and other civil society organisations.
A socially and economically sustainable Europe for a stronger role in the world
Event type
Public hearing
Location
Online event
1040 Brussels
Belgium
The hearing will deal with the topic of next year Strategic Foresight Report, as indicated at the end of this year report ("The next annual Strategic Foresight Report will focus on the key upcoming challenges and opportunities that Europe will face in the decades to come, providing strategic insights relevant for strengthening the global role of the EU."), so to offer to the Commission a timely and proactive input aimed to make the all process more participatory and open.
The hearing will focus on the economic and social aspects that could reinforce the role of the EU and notably on what strategic decisions need to be made to ensure a socially and economically sustainable Europe with a stronger role in the world in the coming decades.
More specifically, the hearing will discuss:
Economic sustainability understood as managing the transformation of the economy to ensure it remains within the planetary boundaries.
Social sustainability understood as the result of appropriate policies that ensure the affordability and wellbeing for current and future generations over the long-term, in order to enable the sustainability pathways.
Speakers will represent social partners and other civil society organisations as well as representatives of all the EESC Sections/CCMI so to provide a wide array of views throughout the all policy spectrum.
The ACP-EU Follow-up Committee gathered on 12 and 13 January 2023 to discuss a number of topical issues for the ACP-EU partnership, namely the Youth Action Plan in EU external action, circular economy, civil society in the context of the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and the latest developments around the participation of civil society in the Economic Partnership Agreements.
