14 April 2023
In the context of the preparation of the exploratory opinion requested by the future Spanish presidency on “Measures to improve mental health” (rapporteur: Milena Angelova, also VP of SGI Europe), the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) organised a public hearing. The aim of the event was to gather inputs from policymakers, civil society organisations and social partners, which will feed into the EESC's opinion and the upcoming initiative of the European Commission on the issue.
On Tuesday 11 April 2023, SGI Europe General Secretary, Valeria Ronzitti, took part in this public hearing, highlighting some key elements of SGI Europe’s positions on mental health. First, SGI Europe strongly welcomes the intention of the European Commission to propose a new EU strategy on mental health, which should works towards an approach to mental health which is timebound, defines responsibilities, funding, and indicators to monitor progress across Member States.
SGI Europe welcomes the report of the EESC, as it sets the emphasis on the need to develop a more comprehensive approach to mental health as a complex issue resulting from biological, psychological, social, educational and cultural factors.
Finally, the impact of socio-economic and environmental factors on Mental health, including the important benefits of improving the access to affordable and quality services of general interest (housing, energy, waste/water…), need to be taking into account when it comes to the measures to improve European people’s mental health.
Contact: Benoît Cassorla
On 13 April, SGI Europe took part in the event “Access to Water - Tackling water poverty and its implications for social policies”, organised by the European Economic Social Committee (EESC). Next to SGI Europe, the event also gathered experts on the issues of water security and affordability, such as Aqua Publica Europea, the OECD, European Water Regulators (WAREG) as well as trade unions (EPSU). The discussions will also feed into the ongoing preparations for an "EU Blue Deal" initiative by the EESC, which should on EU Institutions to address water as a priority at European scale.
During the event, SGI Europe highlighted the importance of including EU social partners and highlighted the importance of social dialogue to facilitate collective bargaining to address water poverty, green job creation and upskilling the workforce to ensure continued access to quality water supply. Additionally, SGI Europe highlighted the importance of preventing pollution before any other measures. The Polluter Pays Principle must be a key element to protect a sustainable water supply in the future. Finally, a strong plea was made for continue to consider water as a public good and not a commercial product, and therefore keeping water out of concession contracts.
The discussions during the event will feed into the preparation of the EESC own-initiative opinion on Water Poverty, and which will look into measures to be taken to tackle water poverty and its effects, notably on the most vulnerable. It also aims to open a reflection on how to mitigate the social, political and economic effects of water poverty, and its impact on human health, also in view of Europe's turbulent geopolitical situation.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
On Tuesday 11 April, the European Commission launched the first phase consultation of the EU social partners on the European Works Councils. The consultation is the direct follow-up of the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 2 February 2023, calling for a revision of the European Works Councils Directive.
In this context, the Commission welcomed the resolution of the European Parliament, stating that the Parliament’s requests, including the concrete proposals made in the annex to the resolution, would be assessed in the light of ensuring legal certainty for workers and employers and safeguarding and promoting employment and industrial activities in Europe, and will be conducted following Article 154 TFEU.
Accordingly, and in light of the Commission’s 2018 evaluation of the European Works Council Directive (2009/38/EC), the consultation paper identifies a number of areas in which measures could be envisaged to address issues that may prevent the recast Directive from fulfilling its objectives. These areas include the notion of transnational matter, the definition of consultation, the use of confidentiality restrictions, the framework for setting up EWCs, access to justice, enforcement (redress and sanctions) and exemptions from the scope of the recast Directive.
European Works Councils (EWCs) are an instrument for organising transnational social dialogue in multinational companies of a certain size. EU law on EWCs ‘aims to bridge the gap between increasingly transnational corporate decision-making and workers’ nationally defined and nationally confined information and consultation rights.
SGI Europe will duly consider the content of the consultation document, within the remit of its Social Affairs Board, in order to determine the response to bring to the questions of the Commission.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On 4 April 2023, the European Commission published new templates to assist Member states in designing measures to be included in their National Recovery and Resilience Plans, in compliance with current state aid rules. Those templates are updating the 11 State aid guiding templates published in December 2020, and provided guidance when:
As many of the State aid Guidelines were revised (through the Guidelines on State aid for Climate, Environmental protection and Energy, State aid Framework for Research, Development and Innovation, the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, and the amended General Block Exemption Regulation), the recent update aligns the templates with the recent revisions.
Templates which were updated include, amongst others, the Energy and hydrogen infrastructure, the Energy from renewable sources, the District heating and/or cooling, generation and distribution infrastructure, the District heating and/or cooling, generation and distribution infrastructure, the Energy efficiency in buildings, and the Recharge and refuel. You can access all of them here.
These Guidelines are important since every granting of selective advantage that is attributable to the state, constitutes state aid (if it does not fall under the de minimis Regulation or is deemed automatically compatible under the General Block Exemption Regulation) and needs to be notified to the Commission. The Guidelines clarify when the notification is not needed and thus contribute to faster disbursement of investments under the NRRP.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
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