Newsflash - 13 January 2023

Presentation of the Labour Migration Platform to tackle labour shortages

On Tuesday 10 January 2023, the European Commission organized the first meeting of the Labour Migration Platform. This kick-off meeting follows the launch of the joint statement of the European Commission and the European Social and Economic Partners on 19 December 2022, renewing the joint commitment of the Partnership for Integration to integrate refugees and other migrants into the EU labour market.

Ylva Johansson, Commissioner for Home Affairs, and Nicolas Schmit, Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, made the welcoming introduction to migration and employment experts from EU Member States as well as representatives from Social and Economic partners.This first meeting was the occasion to discuss labour market challenges and the opportunities of labour migration to help tackle these. Member States also exchanged challenges, views and best practices they are facing at the national level.

SGI Europe, as one of the EU cross-industry social partners involved in Partnership for Integration, welcomes the Labour Migration Platform. This platform is well in line with the need to work on employment and migration issues as two related issues. SGI Europe therefore also supports the close cooperation between the European Commission’s DG EMPL (employment, social affairs, and inclusion) and DG HOME (migration and home affairs).

This platform will enable regular exchanges between Member States’ experts at the operational level, and all relevant stakeholders such as social partners. To build bridges between migration and employment, Social Partners have a key role to connect employers and enterprises with Member States and EU migration experts.

Provisional interinstitutional agreement on new Pay transparency rules

On 15 December 2022, the European Parliament and the Council reached a provisional agreement on new pay transparency measures. Under the new rules, employers will be required to provide more transparency and ensure that they are adopting and implementing the “equal pay principle” for all.

The proposed directive is part of a multi-faceted approach to address the gender pay gap and increase the economic empowerment of women across the EU. It also includes, amongst other things, the revision of the Work-Life Balance directive and the Women on Boards directive.

Key measures included in the Pay Transparency directive include:

• Pay transparency before employment: Employers will be required to provide information about the initial pay level or its range in the job vacancy notice or before the job interview. Employers will not be allowed to ask prospective workers about their pay history.
• Reporting on the gender pay gap: Employers with at least 100 employees will have to publish information on the gender pay gap.
• Joint pay assessment: When pay reporting reveals a gender pay gap of at least 5 per cent which cannot be justified based on objective gender-neutral factors, employers will have to carry out a pay assessment in cooperation with workers' representatives.
• Pay setting and career progression: Employers must make accessible to workers a description of the gender-neutral criteria used to define pay and career progression.
• Right to information for employees: Employees will have the right to request information on their individual pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by gender, for categories of workers doing the same work or work of equal value.

For victims of pay discrimination, the directive provides:

• Compensation for workers: Workers who face gender pay discrimination can receive compensation, including full recovery of back-pay and related bonuses or payments in kind.
• Burden of proof on employers: When the employer does not fulfil its transparency obligations, it will be for the employer to prove that there was no pay discrimination.

Sanctions will include fines: Member States should establish specific penalties for infringements, including fines. Equality bodies and workers' representatives may act in legal or administrative proceedings on behalf of workers.

The European Parliament will confirm the provisional agreement first via a vote in the Employment Committee on 25 January, and a plenary vote on 29 March. The Council already validated the provisional agreement on 23 December during the last meeting of the COREPER I of 2022, and the final approval is expected at the EPSCO Council scheduled on 13 March 2023.

SGI Europe response to the public consultation on the De Minimis regulation

On 10 January, SGI Europe responded to the public consultation on the proposed revision of Commission regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid. This important Commission regulation sets a threshold below which granting of economic advantage is deemed no aid. SGI Europe’s response focuses on two angles: the increasing of the threshold and the proposed introduction of a mandatory register. You can find it here.

While welcoming the intention of increasing the threshold, SGI Europe calls for better taking into account the current inflation and raising it with more ambition (up to EUR 500.000 over 3 consecutive fiscal years). This would also disburden the workload of the Commission and bring under scrutiny only potentially distortive measures.

SGI Europe also opposes the introduction of a mandatory public register. Currently, 11 Member States do not have a central register and rely on self-declaration by the beneficiaries. Obliging public authorities to set up mandatory registers would increase administrative burden. In practice, public authorities may have difficulties identifying structures of ownership and control of beneficiaries that might be considered as one undertaking under the de minimis regulation.

The final text is expected to be adopted after consultation with Member States. SGI Europe will remain vigilant to future developments.

First contribution of SGI Europe to the 2023 EU Year of Skills

In the context of the 2023 European Year of Skills, SGI Europe aims to increase the visibility and its activities related to skills forecasts and skills intelligence. A specific focus will be put on the impact of the green transition and the most-in-demand occupations, as well as exchanging best practices and improved collaboration between employers and VET providers.

In this framework, SGI Europe and the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE) published two reports summarising the key findings of the “Green Skills in VET” project, co-funded by the European Commission. The report focuses on the skills needs of SGI providers operating in the water, energy, and transport sector in selected countries (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal).

It addresses the promotion of the strategic role of VET in meeting the objectives of the EU Green Deal, modernizing skills strategies and training programs, and using social dialogue to boost sustainable development. SGI Europe’s report also proposes key policy recommendations to various stakeholders, including the European Commission, the EU Member States, national and European social partners, and VET providers.

You can access the final report available in English, and the political report available in English, Spanish, German, and French.

Publication of FAQ documents on the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and Disclosure Act

On 20 December 2022, the European Commission published two sets of FAQ documents related to the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act (on the technical screening criteria) and the Disclosure Act (on the implementation of Article 8 of the Taxonomy regulation and the Delegated Act). These documents were jointly prepared by the Platform on Sustainable Finance and its Commission secretariat.

With these two documents, the Commission aims to support non-financial and financial institutions to understand the reporting of the EU Taxonomy. The first FAQ document on the Climate Delegated Act contains technical clarifications on the technical screening criteria (TSC) and clarifies the provisions already contained in the legislation. The FAQ is divided into horizontal questions, sector-specific questions, and questions on recurring “do no significant harm” (DNSH) criteria. It answers questions such as “How should GHG emissions for TSC be calculated?” and “How about companies without any Taxonomy-aligned activities? Will they lose access to finance?”

The FAQ document on the Disclosure Act highlights that non-financial undertakings will have to start reporting their Taxonomy KPIs from 1 January 2023. Financial undertakings will have to report on their green asset ratio (GAR) and green investment ratio (GIR) from 1 January 2024. The document gives further guidance on how to report on these.

Regarding the timeline for the complementary Delegated Act on nuclear and natural gas, non-financial undertakings should disclose eligibility, non-eligibility and alignment of nuclear energy and fossil gas related activities as of 1 January 2023.

In 2023, the EU Taxonomy will remain at the top of the agenda of activities for the Sustainability Board.