This study aims to outline the most significant features of the national economic and social councils of the Member States of the European Union in the light of the doctoral thesis defended by the author at the Catholic University of Murcia (Spain).
The economic and social councils (ESCs) are currently the most significant examples existing in democratic countries applying the rule of law of economic and social stakeholder participation in public decision-making processes. They are, without a doubt, institutions which, in addition to coming from Europe, serve with reasonable success as channels for the opinions of European society in economic and social affairs, through the groups to which the citizens belong, to yield this form of dialogue between organisations with totally opposed interests with the aim of achieving solutions, agreements or compacts where possible.