13 December 2024
On Monday 9 December, Employers of Poland and SGI Europe organised an event, ‘Strengthened Competitiveness - An Opportunity or a Necessity for the European Union?’, hosted by the Employers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee.
Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe’s General Secretary, gave an opening address. She highlighted the need for the EU to develop its own brand of competitiveness, rather than seeking to copy the models adopted by the US or China. This model ‘à l'européenne’ should be based on strengthening the services of general interest and public services that enable European industry to upscale and grow.
The event focused on various sectors: notably energy, healthcare and digital. Regarding energy, Ruud Kempener, Deputy Head of Unit for Energy Security and Safety in DG ENER of the European Commission, outlined some of the Commission’s main plans for the next mandate.
Kempener indicated that in the short term, the Commission will launch an Affordability of Energy Action Plan to drive down energy prices. Looking further ahead, the key deliverable is the Electrification Action Plan. The Action Plan will be part of the Clean Industrial Deal and will seek to address barriers to electrification, such as insufficient infrastructure and limited interoperability. The Commission will also look to use existing state aid flexibility to support energy production, storage and transmission. To provide more support to clean technology manufacturing in the EU, it will adopt a Clean Technology Investment Strategy.
Contact: Benoît Cassorla
On Monday 9 December, SGI Europe’s General Assembly adopted the Opinion on ‘SGIs in the Clean Industrial Deal’. In this opinion, SGI Europe argues that the essentiality of services of general interest is in the development of net-zero industries. By providing the services that industries require, such as green energy, clean water, circular waste management, and sustainable public transport, SGIs constitute the basis of the growth and competitiveness of the industries that contribute to the green transition.
At the same time, they independently develop innovative technologies that allow for the creation of a circular economy and reduce import dependencies for raw materials.
Many of the challenges to upscaling Net-Zero industries mentioned in the Draghi Report and the Commission’s stocktaking of the Clean Transition Dialogues – including high energy prices, a lack of integrated value chains, insufficiently developed infrastructures, and high important dependencies for critical raw materials – relate directly to the provision of SGIs. Therefore, SGI Europe calls on the Commission to strengthen SGIs through the Clean Industrial Deal by:
The Clean Industrial Deal is one of the Commission’s ‘100 day initiatives’, which means it will be launched within 100 days of the new Commission taking office at the beginning of December. It will be the Commission’s overarching strategy to scale up Net-Zero industries in the EU, ensuring that the EU can meet the climate targets set out in the Green Deal and boost the competitiveness of European industry.
Contact: Ruben Sansom
SGI Europe and its partners from the 'Finance for the European Pillar of Social Rights' project will organise the Finance4EPSR project workshop on Friday 17 January 2025, from 10:00 to 15:30, in Brussels (Gateway building Luchthaven Brussel Nationaal 1 J, 1930 Zaventem). Online participation will also be available.
In line with the objectives of the project, one of the main goals of the meeting will be to deepen the knowledge of the practical impact of a Social Taxonomy into the business life of enterprises delivering services of general interest (SGIs) and to develop a methodology for guiding non-financial reporting about social objectives to foster SGIs contributions towards the implementation of the EPSR, as well as to deepen the knowledge on the practical impact of a Social Taxonomy into the business life of enterprises delivering services of general interest.
The workshop organised in January will allow participants to discuss aspects and characteristics that should be considered when implementing sustainable finance requirements. To participate in the event, you can register here.
Contact: Cecilia Martin
On 5 December 2024, the EU cross-industry social partners finished negotiating their joint contribution to the pact for social dialogue during a meeting set up by the European Commission, gathering representatives of SGI Europe, BusinessEurope, SMEunited and the ETUC. This contribution is a direct follow-up to the Val Duchesse social partners summit of 31 January 2024. The Val Duchesse declaration adopted then included the launch of a Pact for European social dialogue: a series of bipartite and tripartite meetings to identify how to reinforce social dialogue further at the EU level.
The now-agreed contribution between the EU cross-sectoral social partners intends to shape this process and identify new avenues for the European Commission to improve its support for social dialogue and new joint commitments for the EU social partners to autonomously improve their working methods. It includes notably the call to the Commission to consult social partners in a timely and meaningful way on policy initiatives that do not fall under the scope of articles 153 and 154 and the joint commitment of the EU organisation to regularly prepare a multi-annual Work Programme to address the key economic and social challenges facing European labour markets and identifying the appropriate instruments to tackle these challenges.
The contribution, once agreed upon by all four cross-sectoral organisations, will be sent and discussed with the European Commission with a view to transforming it into “the Pact for Social Dialogue” at the beginning of 2025.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On 9 December, the European Environment Agency (EEA) issued a stark warning about the pervasive presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in Europe’s waters, jeopardising the objectives of the EU’s Water Framework Directive. The EEA highlighted data from nearly 1,300 monitoring sites between 2018 and 2022 in its report. The findings reveal that 51–60% of rivers, 11–35% of lakes, and 47–100% of coastal and transitional waters contained PFOS levels exceeding water quality standards.
Particularly alarming is the situation in France, where 100% of reported water bodies surpassed these thresholds. The EEA concluded that achieving “good chemical status” of surface waters by the Directive's 2027 target is now unlikely, further underscoring the need to expand the list of monitored substances to include more PFAS. However, a proposal to this effect has faced resistance from some Member States since discussions began in 2022.
Meanwhile, efforts to address water resilience are gaining momentum in the European Parliament. On 26 November, the Environment Committee (ENVI) decided to draft an own initiative report on a European water resilience strategy. While non-binding, such reports enable MEPs to shape the legislative debate and signal priorities. The initiative follows the European Commission's commitment to advancing water resilience, with input expected from the Agriculture Committee.
The convergence of escalating PFAS pollution and the political focus on resilience highlights the urgent need for comprehensive EU action. Balancing stricter pollutant controls with broader resilience measures will be critical to safeguarding Europe’s water resources in the years ahead.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
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