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.
In a debate at the EESC plenary session on 25 March, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for an Economy that Works for People, Valdis Dombrovskis said that most of the national recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) are still at an early stage and that "there is still a lot of work to do before the plans are mature enough". He also stressed that trade policy has a key role to play in getting the EU economy back on track.
At its March plenary session, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) hosted a debate with Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, to discuss the state of play of the accession of the Western Balkan partners. EESC members showed their convincement that integrating the Western Balkan partners in the EU is a geostrategic investment in peace and economic growth.
In a plenary session debate with the Commissioner for Equality, the EESC welcomed the new EU Disability Rights Strategy for the next decade, describing it as a key moment for the rights of persons with disabilities. Its implementation is even more important in light of the COVID-19 pandemic which is taking its heaviest toll on Europe's most vulnerable, including persons with disabilities.
Gymnasieelever från hela Europa, som deltog i det ungdomstoppmöte om klimatet som Europeiska ekonomiska och sociala kommittén (EESK) anordnade online den 18–19 mars 2021, framförde konkreta förslag till Europeiska kommissionens verkställande vice ordförande Frans Timmermans.
Italy's national anti-mafia prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho has called on Europe to act as a single country against organised crime, with enhanced monitoring systems and immediate judicial responses. An online conference hosted by the EESC discussed the ability of mafias to infiltrate the legal economy, and the even more dangerous threat this poses at a time of pandemic.
Reconstruction after the pandemic must be an opportunity to rebuild Europe on a new foundation of democratic participation. It would be a huge mistake if the fate and future of so many were to be decided by so few, the EESC 2021 Civil Society Days heard.
The projects which took home the prize are just a snapshot of the immense efforts undertaken by countless civil society organisations, companies and individuals on the ground, demonstrating that without them the price paid for the pandemic would be much higher
Europeiska ekonomiska och sociala kommittén (EESK) har antagit en resolution där den framhåller att det organiserade civila samhällets organisationer kan ge ett ovärderligt bidrag till de nationella planerna för återhämtning och resiliens och måste höras i denna process.
The forthcoming Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) is a sign of new thinking at EU level, bringing citizens right into the heart of policy-making with concrete power to drive systematic change,said Commission Vice-PresidentDubravka Šuica at the EESC Plenary.
23 projects from the EU and the UK have received the award for their outstanding contribution to fighting COVID-19 and its disastrous consequences.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) announced the laureates of its Civil Solidarity Prize, launched in 2020 as a one-off award with the theme "Civil Society against COVID-19".