12 May 2023
On Europe Day (9 May 2023), the European Commission officially launched the European Year of Skills. For 12 months, the EU Year of Skills will put skills at the heart of the EU policy debate in the context of the twin transition. It will support calls for significant investments to upskill and reskill in light of the emerging needs and to strengthen the EU’s competitiveness and resilience.
The EU Year of Skills was launched with a dedicated “EU Year of Skills Festival”, which gathered decision-makers, companies and citizens to address the ‘skills transition’. It featured both examples from enterprises and citizens, a keynote opening by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as well as the participation of commissioners Margrethe Vestager (EVP for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age), Margaritis Schinas (VP for Promoting the EU Way of Life), and Nicolas Schmit (Jobs and Social Rights). Mats Persson, Minister of Education of Sweden, and Valeriya Ionan, Deputy Minister for Eurointegration at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, as well as MEP Dragoş Pîslaru (Renew, RO) and Loucas Fourlas (EPP, CY), also presented their views on the current challenges and the way forward.
SGI Europe welcomes the launch of the European Year of Skills, which should play a central role in supporting skills forecasts, addressing skills mismatches and the adequacy between skills' availabilities and jobs’ needs, and improving the cooperation between employers, trade unions and education & VET providers. You can consult SGI Europe’s recommendations on skills in the final report of our project, Green Skills in VET.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
On 9 May, SGI Europe’s Energy Task Force adopted its proposed amendments to the reform of the Electricity Market Design (EMD) presented by the European Commission in March 2023.
In its position, SGI Europe highlights that the new revised market design must offer consumers stable prices of low-cost and low-carbon sources and anchor this at the root of the needed evolutions. Every measurement taken when revising the EMD will have to address the security of supply in the energy sector not to harm consumers and the economy throughout the EU.
To become carbon neutral by 2050, the EU requires significant changes in the whole energy value chain: the goal is first to consume less energy and then consume low-carbon energy. Safeguarding this goal, electricity will have a key role to play alongside low-carbon technologies, renewable and decarbonised gases, district heating systems (wherever economically feasible), and a new hydrogen market.
Along those lines, SGI Europe has presented its recommendations for amendments with MEP Nicolas Gonzalez Casares (S&D, Spain), rapporteur, as well as the shadow rapporteurs from the other political groups. A state of play and further updates on the EMD’s development will be presented during SGI Europe’s Extraordinary Energy Task Force meeting on 31 May.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
On May 11, 2023, the European Parliament Plenary adopted the motion for a resolution on a "Roadmap for a Social Europe: two years after Porto" (401 votes in favour, 139 against and 41 abstentions).
The day before, on 10 May 2023, a debate gave the opportunity for the Council to highlight several legislative initiatives which have been adopted since the Porto Social Summit in 2021, such as the minimum wage and the pay transparency directives, as well as non-legislative initiatives such as the Care strategy and Child Guarantee. Going forward, non-legislative initiatives such as the Council recommendation on social dialogue will be equally significant once adopted by the (co-) legislators. The European Commission also emphasised in this occasion the importance of strong social policies in the EU, with the key objective of a sustainable development where the economic, social, and environmental dimensions stand on an equal footing.
SGI Europe welcomes the adoption of the resolution by the European Parliament. Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe’s General Secretary, will participate to the Porto Social Forum which will take place on 27 May 2023. This forum will be an occasion to take stock of the implementation of the commitments made two years ago in Porto, and reflect on the way forward. Two main issues will be at the core of the debate in Porto: the European Year of Skills as a driver for the twin transitions and the European social model as a geopolitical lever.
Contact: Benoît Cassorla
On 8 May 2023, the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) adopted its resolution on strengthening social dialogue with 38 votes in favour, 2 against and 4 abstentions. The resolution is the European Parliament’s reaction to the European Commission’s Social Dialogue package, which includes a communication and a proposal for a Council recommendation aimed at reinforcing and promoting social dialogue at EU level.
With this resolution, the European Parliament recalls that social dialogue is a crucial element of the European social model and plays a vital role in driving economic and social resilience, competitiveness, fairness, and sustainable growth. Social dialogue helps to find balanced solutions to new and existing challenges faced by the labour market and working conditions. The European Parliament nonetheless points out that the percentage of workers covered by collective agreements declined significantly and that this is a cause of great concern. Among different proposals, the EMPL committee notably calls for the Commission to give a clear mandate to the new social dialogue coordinators within the different DGs of the European Commission, and to define what their roles, rights and responsibilities entail. The EMPL committee also calls on the Commission to strongly enforce the social clause in the existing EU Public Procurement Directive and to revise the directive in order to further strengthen social clauses in public contracts. Finally, the Parliament insists that the Commission to maintain its logistical support for sectoral social dialogue committees while increasing its financial, legal and political support.
As a cross-industry EU social partner, SGI Europe was involved in the preparation of the Social dialogue package, and continues to monitor its implementation to give a new impetus to social dialogue, both at EU and at national levels.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
In March 2023, MEP Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, NL) asked a written question regarding the conditions for receiving aid under the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF). On 26 April, the European Commission provided an answer, highlighting that state aid rules can only complement private investments as long as the measures are necessary and proportionate.
MEP Eickhout asked more precisely why, in the last amendment of the TCTF, the Commission did not place restrictions on share buybacks, dividends, or higher variable remuneration and introduced conditions to promote a better quality of work and upskilling for companies receiving state aid. As the TCFT aims to facilitate the roll-out of renewable energy, decarbonising industry, and the production of strategic equipment necessary to transition to net zero, MEP Eickhout pointed out that corporations should also use their own profits to finance the green transition.
On 26 April, on behalf of EVP Vestager, the European Commission answered that state aid rules could only complement private investments as long as the measures are necessary and proportionate. Additionally, they must go beyond the regulatory minimum standards, meaning that measures merely complying with existing standards are not eligible. The European Commission pointed out that for achieving the green transition, other instruments, such as the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), also play a significant role in ensuring that companies internalise the external emissions costs.
SGI Europe supports that state aid control has developed from enforcement to a policy tool for channelling investments to achieve EU goals. Well-designed support schemes, where public money does not crowd out private investment but facilitates each other, can help achieve the EU’s environmental goals in the long term.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
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