1 April 2022
Following the last Plenary session of 25-26 March, during which President Pascal Bolo and General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti presented SGI Europe’s core messages on health and climate change, the Conference on the Future of Europe is nearing its final phase.
Members of the Plenary (citizens, MEPs, national parliamentarians, representatives of the Council, the Commission, social partners, civil society and representatives of local and regional authorities) and the nine Working Groups started working on the Conference’s final proposals.
The draft proposals are mainly based on recommendations from the European Citizens’ Panels and national panels, ideas gathered through the Multilingual Digital Platform, and inputs from the debates in Plenary and Working Group sessions.
During the next plenary session on 8-9 April in Strasbourg, the nine Working Groups will present their consolidated proposals. The plenary is expected to put forward its final proposals by consensus to the Executive Board in late April. The final report will then be delivered to the Presidents of the EU institutions during the last event of the Conference, on Europe Day (9 May) in Strasbourg.
Contact: Antonio Astolfi
The work and activities of SGI Europe and its members in the context of the Conference will be discussed in a dedicated panel during an event organised by the Rubes Trivia Foundation taking place between May 4 and 6 in Urbino, Italy.
The International Festival of Health and Safety at Work, jointly organised with the University of Urbino, aims to become a recurring high-level event on the European scene focusing on a crucial topic, such as health and safety in the workplace. The theme chosen for the first edition of the Festival will focus on participation as the new challenge of prevention. The objective is to create a productive moment of exchange, reflection and analysis, bringing together institutions, enterprises, workers, and civil society.
You can find the full agenda, as well as register for the Festival (hybrid participation is possible), on the website www.festivalsalutesicurezzalavoro.it/en/.
Contact: Antonio Astolfi
On Wednesday 30 March 2022, the European Commission presented a package of proposals in the context of the implementation of the Circular Economy Action Plan, including a Communication on making sustainable products the norm, an EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, a Proposal for a Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products, a Proposal for a directive on Empowering consumers for the green transition and a Proposal on the revision of the Construction Product Regulation.
This set of proposals aims at further pushing the EU into a leading role in implementing the principle of circular economy in citizens’ and enterprises’ ways of life and at making physical goods more friendly to the environment, circular, and energy-efficient throughout their whole lifecycle, from the design phase through to daily use, repurposing and end-of-life. They also intend to empower further consumers in the green transition.
SGI Europe’s Environment Task Force will closely monitor the developments of the proposals, identifying possible future actions in the upcoming institutional négociations.
Contact: Ariel Carpanini
The European Commission’s Social Dialogue initiative will consist of two elements: a chapeau Communication on strengthening social dialogue in the European Union and a proposal for a Council Recommendation on the role of social dialogue at the national level. To prepare the ground for this package, the European Commission is organising a sequence of dedicated Social Partners hearings. In this context, two hearings took place this week: the first one was dedicated to “the supporting framework for social partners agreements”, and the second one on the review of the sectoral social dialogue.
The hearing on the supporting frame for social partners agreements (SPA) aimed to enhance and clarify the Commission’s support for SPA and the treatment of future social partners’ requests for implementation into EU law. During the hearing, the European Commission explained its intention to provide, upon request of the social partners, indicative/informal feedback and legal/administrative support intended at flagging issues that could potentially impact the implementation of the SPA. The Commission also clarified that, after formal submission of a social partner’s request for the implementation of a SPA via a Council directive, the Commission would conduct an assessment which would consist of assessing appropriateness by having regard to economic, political, and social considerations and other relevant elements; a legal analysis of the clauses of the; the coherence with other EU legal acts; the representativeness of the signatory parties; and proportionate impact assessment. The social dialogue initiative, which will clarify all these points, is expected for Autumn 2022.
On its side, the hearing on the review of sectoral social dialogue focused on four key objectives: to improve the contribution of sectoral social dialogue to EU policy-making; to strengthen the outcomes and impact of sectoral social dialogue; to modernise and align the organisation of sectoral social dialogue; to contribute to a future-proof sectoral social dialogue and improve the Commission’s support. In this context, the Commission will explore the development of new tools such as the establishment of a network of Social Dialogue Coordinators in the different Directorates-General of the European Commission, better targeted financial support for the implementation of autonomous agreements and the establishment of flexible clusters for sectoral social dialogue to foster more cooperation and synergies.
SGI Europe, together with the Social Affairs Board, will monitor the developments ahead of the publication of the communication on Social Dialogue expected after the summer.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On Monday 28 March, the Platform on Sustainable Finance (PSF) has launched ‘The Extended Environmental Taxonomy’ report of the subgroup 3, also known as a “traffic light” taxonomy. The report is not only trying to define the categories as initially envisaged for environmental performance but describes how environmental activities can transition between the categories.
This proposal aims to simplify the pathway to sustainability: a red label would flag activities with a significantly harmful environmental impact that must urgently address that impact or be phased out, whilst an amber label would flag activities that can be improved.
On Wednesday 30 March, the Platform also presented the ‘Taxo 4’ report for the remaining four environmental objectives of the EU Taxonomy. The four priorities are ensuring sustainable use of water and marine resources, protecting and restoring biodiversity and ecosystems, transitioning to a circular economy, and preventing and controlling pollution.
The report sets out PSF’s recommendations to the EC. It contains suggestions relating to Technical Screening Criteria (TSC) for objectives 3 to 6 and recommendations to improve the Taxonomy’s design and criteria. Targeted activities (amongst others, electric power generation and urban wastewater treatment) correspond to the work of each Sector Team (ST).
The platform will release additional criteria in May, including other activities to substantially contribute to the environmental objectives. The European Commission will publish a delegated act on those four objectives later.
Both reports are published and can be accessed here.
Contact: Stefan Enica
On 24 March, the EU co-legislators (European Parliament and European Council) reached the agreement on the Digital Markets Act, which marks the end of the trilogue negotiations and is now to be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Council.
According to reports, the gatekeepers will be prevented from ‘bundling, favouring their default settings, such as virtual assistants and web browsers, combining data from different services etc. The next step in the legislative process will be voting on the agreement as part of the plenary session, expected during the 4-7 July session or in September, for publication in the Official Journal of EU in October and entry into force six months after publication (in April 2023).
Following that step, gatekeepers would have two months to notify their services, and the European Commission would have then two months to designate them as gatekeepers. Finally, gatekeepers would have another 6 months to comply with the new rules and obligations following the designation. Eventually, after this process, gatekeepers will be required to abide by the rules from 2024 onwards. The lead rapporteur, MEP Andreas Schwab (EPP, DE), expressed criticism regarding this rather late effectiveness of the act.
SGI Europe follows DMA’s sister legislative act, the Digital Services act, still being negotiated.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
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