European Economic and Social Committee
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC or just ESC) is a subsidiary body of the European Union . In it are employers' organizations , trade unions and other interest groups (such as farmers and consumers ) represented. In the political system of the EU it is supposed to represent the “organized civil society” and serves together with the Committee of the Regions as an advisory body. The composition, organization and tasks of the EESC are regulated in Articles 300 to 304 of the TFEU . It was established in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome . The EESC is based in Brussels .
Members
The EESC is composed of 350 members who are spread across the EU Member States based on population size. The exact distribution key is regulated in Article 7 of Protocol No. 36 to the EU / AEU Treaty .
| Number of members | States |
|---|---|
| 24 | Germany , France , Italy , United Kingdom |
| 21st | Poland , Spain |
| 15th | Romania |
| 12 | Belgium , Greece , Netherlands , Austria , Portugal , Sweden , Czech Republic , Hungary , Bulgaria |
| 9 | Denmark , Finland , Ireland , Lithuania , Slovakia , Croatia |
| 7th | Latvia , Slovenia |
| 6th | Estonia |
| 5 | Luxembourg , Cyprus , Malta |
The members are divided into three groups:
- Group I: Employers
- Group II: employees
- Group III: Various interests
The three groups are roughly the same size with around 110 to 120 members. There can also be individual members who do not belong to any group.
The committee members are appointed by the Council of the EU on the proposal of the governments of the member states. But they are completely independent politically in their work. Their term of office lasts five years, with re-appointment being permitted. The ESC appoints a president and two vice-presidents from the three different groups from among its members for a period of two and a half years. In April 2018, the following were appointed: the Italian Luca Jahier as President, the Spanish Isabel Caño Aguilar and the Bulgarian Dr. Milena Angelova as Vice Presidents. General Secretary - responsible for administrative and budget management, implementation of resolutions and communication with partner institutions - has been Gianluca Brunetti since November 16, 2018.
Well-known German members of the EESC are Göke Frerichs († 2014) and Gerd Wolf.
tasks
The EESC only has an advisory role (see Art. 300 (1) TFEU) and therefore does not make any legislative decisions itself.
A consultation is compulsory in cases where it is expressly provided for in the Treaties (e.g. on issues relating to EU economic or social policy); on the other hand, in other cases, the EESC can optionally be consulted at the discretion of Parliament, the Council or the Commission.
He then comments on the European Commission's proposals for EU legal acts . In political consultations with the Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament , the EESC sets out the position of its members and represents their interests.
In addition to the nine plenary sessions per year, the EESC members meet in six sub-committees, known as sections, each responsible for a specific policy area:
- Economic and Monetary Union , Economic and Social Cohesion
- Internal market , production and consumption
- Agriculture, rural development, environmental protection
- External relations
- Employment, social issues, citizenship
- Transport, energy, infrastructures, information society
Study groups consisting of three to eighteen members work for the specialist groups. These can also call in external experts.
The EESC is not limited to economic and social issues. Rather, he has the right to deal with himself in all questions relating to the Union's area of responsibility. He can submit own-initiative opinions on this. Opinions are adopted by simple majority at the EESC plenary sessions and published in the Official Journal of the European Union . Around 150 such opinions are issued each year, around 15 percent of which are own-initiative opinions.
After the ECSC Treaty expired in July 2002, the EESC also took over the responsibilities of the ECSC Advisory Committee and also set up the Commission for Industrial Change , which deals with the coal and steel sector and problems of economic modernization.
criticism
It remains unclear how exactly the members of the EESC are determined. Members are proposed by the governments of the member states. In addition, the EESC does not adequately define its own membership. The term civil society seems to apply only to a limited extent to members of the EESC. Among the current German members there is also a representative of a company (Deutsche Bahn AG) in the third group. The secondary organ is also generally referred to as unnecessary in places. The liberal group in the European Parliament ALDE criticized the expenditure for the EESC. Indeed, the EESC has an unclear idea of civil society . This term is a collective term for the citizens of European member states who are organized in countless associations. In the subtitle of the quarterly EESC info sheet , this is called the "bridge between Europe and organized civil society". As an advisory body to the EU institutions, the EESC wants to speak for the whole of Europe and be a bridge between Europe and civil society, in which European citizens act as subjects of European sovereignty.
Web links
- Official website
- List of members
- Group I Official Website
- Group II Official Website
- Group III Official Website
- The files of the European Economic and Social Committee are deposited in the Historical Archives of the EU in Florence
- EESC on Europa Digital
Individual evidence
- ^ European Economic and Social Committee Overview.
- ↑ according to Art. 51 TEU are "protocols and annexes part of the contracts"
- ↑ Luca Jahier, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) . In: eesc.europa.eu . 18/04/2018.
- ↑ Isabel Caño Aguilar, EESC Vice-President responsible for communications . In: eesc.europa.eu . 18/04/2018.
- ↑ Milena Angelova, EESC Vice-President for Budget . In: eesc.europa.eu . 18/04/2018.
- ↑ Geiger / Kahn / Kotzur: EU / AEUV, commentary . 5th edition. Munich 2010, Art. 304, Rn. 2/4
- ↑ Europe . Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Public Relations Department. Archived from the original on April 22, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Bernd Hüttemann : European government and German interests . Democracy, lobbyism and Art. 11 TEU, first conclusions from "EBD Exklusiv", November 16, 2010 in Berlin. In: EU-in-BRIEF . No. 1 , 2011, ISSN 2191-8252 ( europaeische-bewegung.de (PDF)). europaeische-bewegung.de ( Memento of the original from April 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 5.
- ↑ euractiv.com
