EESC Closes Last Plenary of Current Term of Office

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has hosted its end-of-term ceremony during the last plenary session before the renewal of the institution in October.  Luca Jahier, president of the EESC since April 2018, expressed his gratitude to all of the members and highlighted the important contribution of the civil society organisations represented at the…

Europe Needs Housing Action Plan

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has sounded the alarm and called for an urgent European housing action plan, stressing that an EU strategy is essential to ensure universal access to decent, sustainable and affordable housing in the future. Decent and affordable housing is running short in the EU and, for this reason, a…

COVID-19 recovery package

In the presence of Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, EESC President Luca Jahier voices full support for Commission COVID-19 recovery package on eve of make-or-break EU summit: “Let there be no backtracking” President Jahier expressed criticism for the recent EU Council proposal to give national governments the power to veto a country’s reform programmes under the package…

Celebrating European Solidarity

Today is the 70th Anniversary of the signing of the Schuman Declaration, which was originally presented by French foreign minister Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950. The Declaration proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, to enable these countries to pool…

The EU must rise from the ashes of the #Coronacrisis

By Luca Jahier, President of the European Economic and Social CommitteeStrong support to the European Commission and the European Parliament: EUCO cannot fail! Ahead of the Heads of state and government Council meeting next week and in the light of the solid package of measures proposed on 9 April by the Eurogroup to support the…

MFF: Heading for the Worst Budget Ever?

Statement by Luca Jahier, President of the European Economic and Social Committee: For weeks, I have been seriously concerned about the news filtering on the preparation of the Extraordinary European Council, which is expected to discuss the Multi-Annual Financial Framework on 20 February. Today EP plenary debate in Strasbourg has fully confirmed my long-standing concerns….