European Economic and Social Committee

The Committee is one of the institution of the European Union, and was set up by the Treaty of Rome 1957 in order to involve economic and social groups in the establishment of the common market. The Committee has 222 members who are nominated by the Member States and appointed for four-year terms. The members of the Committee belong to one of three groups:

Employers	Group I
Trades Unions	Group II
Special Interest Groups (e.g. farmers)	Group III

The main task of the Committee is to issue opinions on proposals and other matters referred to it by the Commission and the Council. It may also adopt opinions on its own initiative. The Amsterdam Treaty further broadens the areas for referral and allows it to be consulted by the European Parliament.

The Committee’s consultative opinions (TypDoc AC), own-initiative opinions (TypDoc AE) and other opinions (TypDoc IE) are included in Sector 5 of the CELEX database, which is available as the Proposals database.

For further information, visit the European Economic and Social Committee Web site