14 April 2022
On 8 and 9 April, the Conference on the Future of Europe debated the policy recommendations tabled by the Chairs and spokespersons of nine Working Groups. The proposals wrap up different streams of inputs from the European Citizens’ Panels, national panels, working groups, debates in the Plenary as well as from ideas uploaded in the Multilingual Digital Platform.
Representing SGI Europe, General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti addressed five debate sessions laying out our positions on “Stronger economy, social justice and jobs”, “Climate change and the environment” “Health”, “Migration” and “Education, culture, youth”. Highlighting the need to give a full and proper follow-up to the proposals put forward by citizens in an open and transparent manner, Valeria Ronzitti also emphasised the central role of SGIs will play in translating the proposals into a tangible reality for citizens.
You can watch recordings from all the Working Group meetings on the Parliament’s Multimedia Centre. The final Conference Plenary session is scheduled for 29-30 April in Strasbourg, where proposals are expected to be approved by the Plenary on a consensual basis. The Conference’s Executive Board will include these proposals in the Conference’s final report, which will then be delivered to the Presidents of the EU institutions on 9 May in Strasbourg during a dedicated ceremony that will bring the Conference to a close.
Contact: Antonio Astolfi
In the framework of the EU project ‘Green Skills in VET’, SGI Europe and the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE) will organise a workshop dedicated to the transport sector on 24 May, from 10:00 to 16:00. The meeting will be held online.
The workshop will focus on raising awareness regarding the green skills shortages within the transport sector, and regarding VET providers development of teaching methods and staff competences to deliver green-oriented trainings.
The research team of the Association for International and Comparative Studies in Labour and Industrial Relations (ADAPT) will present the project’s findings, capturing the green skills provision’ state of play in the transport sector. The workshop will provide a platform for exchanging best practices amongst SGI and VET providers.
SGI Europe members who are interested in attending the workshop can contact Stefan Enica, SGI Europe Projects Officer (Stefan.enica@sgieurope.org)
Contact: Stefan Enica
SGI Europe associated member ‘Rubes Triva Foundation’, in collaboration with the University of Urbino, is organising the International Festival of Health and Safety at Work from 4-6 May 2022.
The festival, which will focus and reflect on a wide array of issues related to health and safety in the workplace, will bring together high-level speakers from Italian and EU institutions, academics, social partners and experts.
The theme chosen for the first edition of the Festival is ‘participation as the new challenge of prevention’. The objective will be to create a platform to gather expertise and experiences, studies and reflections involving relevant stakeholders.
In line with the goal of the festival of providing an EU and international perspective, SGI Europe will organise a dedicated panel on the Conference for the Future of Europe in the morning of 4 May, from 10:00-13:00. The keynote speaker of the panel will be Maroš Šefčovič, European Commission’s Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight.
Participation in the CoFoE and in the Festival sessions is possible both in-person and remotely by selecting the appropriate option when registering. To register please go to the website of the festival, select the item “to participate” from the menu and choose one or more sessions of interest.
Contact: Antonio Astolfi
The European Commission is launching a new structured multi-level stakeholder platform, the EU Investors Dialogue on Energy, bringing together experts from energy and finance sectors in all EU countries to assess and upgrade financing schemes to mobilise financing in the context of the EU Green Deal.
The EU Investors Dialogue on Energy will aim to establish a forum of energy and financial experts dedicated to discussing and find solutions to investment barriers for energy projects and making practical recommendations on how to address them. The dialogue will be structured around 5 different Working Group (WG) dedicated to each segment of the energy value chain: energy production, transmission and distribution, energy storage, heating and cooling and services and prosumers.
The Commission will select up to 20 members per WG, for a term of 3,5 years. WGs will meet 6 times a year in Brussels or online, and will collaborate on analysing support schemes, advising how to streamline investments and guiding financing towards innovative solutions.
The Investors Dialogue Team presented the objectives of the Platform and each WG during an introductory webinar held on Friday 8 April. Deadline for application is on 24 April. SGI Europe is committed to participate in the EU Investors Dialogue on Energy as it is a step forward in enabling the EU goal of climate neutrality by 2050 which will require an unprecedented level of investment in the energy sector.
Contact: Ariel Carpanini
On Friday 7 April, the European Commission published a study on SME’s costs to comply with tax obligations, encompassing all EU Member States and the UK, with the fiscal year 2019 as reference. It highlights that SMEs, including local public services enterprises (LPSEs) often face a comparative disadvantage to large-scaled enterprises as the burden of compliance falls disproportionately on them relative to their size and because they often do not have sufficient financial and human resources to manage regulatory obligations.
The study evaluates five categories of taxes: “Corporate Income Tax”, “Value Added Tax”, “Wage related taxes and contributions”, “Property and real estate tax” and “Local and regional taxes.” The scope of the study is furthermore limited to the industrial sectors such as “Manufacturing”, “Construction”, “Wholesale and retail trade”, “Accommodation and food service activities” and “Professional, scientific and technical activities”.
The study highlighted that property or local taxes are deemed as less complex to comply with, whilst VAT and wage taxes are perceived more burdensome by SMEs. The main reason for finding VAT complex is the lack of harmonisation of the registration process across Member States and the registration process itself. Solutions to this could be having a single VAT registration requirement, Raising the turnover threshold and the possibility to file VAT statements quarterly or annually.
In the context of Fit 4 Future Platform, SGI Europe is a co-rapporteur on the topic “Business friendly VAT,” regarding which, together with the leading rapporteur, we aim at giving suggestions on how to streamline and simplify the current legislation regulating VAT.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
On 11 April, the Commission published the latest edition of the Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) Quarterly Review, with a specific thematic focus on the gender pay gap amongst young workers, on the occasion of the 2022 European Year of Youth. The ESDE quarterly reviews provide an overview of recent social and labour market developments in the EU, accompanied by specific thematic analyses.
The latest edition shows that Real GDP in the EU increased by 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2021 (0.3% in the euro area), after growing by 2.2% (2.3% in the euro area) in the third quarter. Furthermore, in the fourth quarter of 2021, total employment increased for the third quarter in a row and, for the year 2021 as a whole, total employment increased by 1.2% in the EU and 1.1% in the euro area. However, In the fourth quarter of 2021, the level of the unmet labour demand, as expressed by the job vacancy rate, was estimated at 2.6% in the EU. This represents an increase of 0.8pp compared to the same quarter in 2020. The labour shortage indicator, a sentiment indicator in the manufacturing sector, increased again in the first quarter of 2022, and stood at 25.9%.
The specific thematic focus of the ESDE further emphasises a difficult situation for young workers. Young women (aged 25-29) face a 7.2% unadjusted gender pay gap at the start of their professional careers in the EU labour market. This is about half of the pay gap for all workers, indicating larger pay inequalities amongst older workers.
However, the review also notes that pay differences between young women and men are difficult to explain based on available data and the situation varies considerably from country to country. In addition, certain differences in worker characteristics account for substantial pay differences, but they operate in different directions – notably, young men tend to earn more because they work in higher paid economic activities whereas young women tend to earn higher wages because they are better educated.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
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