This is a consultative body that gives representatives of European interest groups, a formal platform to express their points of views on EU issues. These views are then forwarded to the relevant EU bodies, thus it forms a bridge between business and civil society and EU decision making.
Members of the EESC are drawn from representative organisations of employers, employees and other interest groups, there are 344 members drawn from all EU member states broadly in proportion to population. The Committee works through 6 sections addressing: Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment, Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion, Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, External Relations, The Single Market, Production and Consumption, Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, a new section Consultative Committee on Industrial Change has recently been incorporated into the EESC structure. The Committee also maintains links with similar interest groups in other groups through its External Relations section.
Global Health issues are relevant to EESC sections dealing with economic and social conditions and the external relations section. The President of the EESC has called for a stronger role for civil society in the governance of the EU and in global governance.