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.
Recent economic shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have brought energy poverty to the forefront of social and political debate. While EU policies increasingly address energy poverty, gender considerations remain overlooked. This study addresses this gap and aims to increase the understanding of the gender-energy poverty nexus, analysing existing literature and EU and national policies.
The study aims at understanding the links between space and the civil society and explaining how the latter is involved and consulted in EU space policy-making.
This study investigates the major climate-related risks for households in the EU by quantifying the relationship between a set of selected climate-hazards metrics, households’ income by source, and sector-specific expenditures, capturing both the climate induced cost of impacts and adaptation measures. This analysis is complemented with the assessment of mitigation policy costs for households using a mixed modelling approach.
The study reviews recent analyses to understand the green or circular skills of the future which have been identified thus far in sectoral and EU-wide research. Moreover, it examines EU Initiatives on skills development for circularity, by highlighting some limitations of these instruments and making suggestions for improvement.
This study looks at the Conference on the Future of Europe’s (CoFoE) proposals on European democracy and the role of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). It explores different options for institutional reform of the EESC to best serve its purpose and increase citizens’ participation. To do this, the study examines different forms of participatory and deliberative practices, the current functions of the EESC, and the roles and structures of selected National Economic and Social Councils (NESCs).
Consequences for employment in regions undergoing energy transitions
This study examines the socio-economic situation of three lignite regions in the process of transitioning out of coal mining: Lusatia in Germany, Wielkopolska in Poland, and Upper Nitra in Slovakia. It assesses the effectiveness of various instruments, factors and approaches in creating quality jobs, employment, and economic growth.
The decline of employment in the European agriculture sector increases the need of EU and non-EU seasonal workers at peaks of planting and harvesting activities. EU citizens’ freedom and right to work across the Union allows the proper functioning of the market economy by providing labour where and when it is needed. Still, after 30 years of the single market, once seasonal workers arrive at their destination, they are subject to fragmented, often localised, employment arrangements and rules.