AFAEMME's President, new member of the European Economic and Social Committee

AFAEMME's President, as Vice-President of the Spanish Confederation of SMEs (CEPYME), has been nominated by the Spanish Government and appointed by the Council of the European Union as new member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) for a 5 years period. The appointment took place at the European Parliament in Brussels on October 6th.

Committed to European integration, the EESC contributes to strengthening the democratic legitimacy and effectiveness of the European Union by enabling civil society organisations from the Member States to express their views at European level. This Committee fulfils three key missions:

• helping to ensure that European policies and legislation tie in better with economic, social and civic circumstances on the ground, by assisting the European Parliament, Council and European Commission, making use of EESC members' experience and representativeness, dialogue and efforts to secure consensus serving the general interest;
• promoting the development of a more participatory European Union which is more in touch with popular opinion, by acting as an institutional forum representing, informing, expressing the views of and securing dialogue with organised civil society;
• promoting the values on which European integration is founded and advancing, in Europe and across the world, the cause of democracy and participatory democracy, as well as the role of civil society organisations.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body that gives representatives of Europe's socio-occupational interest groups and others, a formal platform to express their points of views on EU issues. Its opinions are forwarded to the Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament. It thus has a key role to play in the Union's decision-making process.

Members of the EESC are divided into 3 groups: 1) Employers, 2) Workers and 3) Various Interests. Ms. de Felipe belongs to the "Employers" group.

The task of members is to issue opinions on matters of European interest to the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament. On average the EESC delivers 170 advisory documents and opinions a year.

Ms. de Felipe is also part of two of the Committee's sections (the section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion (ECO); and the section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship (SOC)) and of the Euromed Follow-up Committee which besides monitoring the situation in the region from the viewpoint of civil society, focuses on the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU’s work in the Mediterranean region and their impact on the cooperation between the EU and its partner countries.