14 November 2025
On 12 November 2025, SGI Europe participated in the Macro-Economic Dialogue at the Political Level (MEDPOL). The discussion brought together Stephanie Lose, Danish Minister for Economic Affairs; Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity; Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank; Paschal Donohoe, President of the Eurogroup; and representatives of the European social partners.
Speaking on behalf of SGI Europe, General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti emphasised that Europe’s competitiveness depends on the strength and accessibility of its essential services. Education, housing, healthcare, water, transport, and digital infrastructure play a decisive role in enabling labour market participation, supporting successful transitions, and maintaining the economic attractiveness of all regions. Investing in people and in services of general interest, therefore, remains central to productivity, cohesion, and inclusion.
Ronzitti also underscored the importance of maintaining long-term investment capacity amid tightening fiscal conditions. With the gradual phasing out of NextGenerationEU and increasing pressures linked to defence spending, careful sequencing of consolidation efforts will be required. SGI Europe stressed that the next Multiannual Financial Framework should place competitiveness, cohesion, and preparedness on an equal footing and ensure predictable support for skills, infrastructure, and innovation.
A further point highlighted was the need to approach competitiveness as a shared European endeavour. Cooperation between Member States, transparent governance, and the involvement of social partners and regional authorities are essential to designing policies that deliver lasting impact. In this context, SGI Europe sees potential in a future European Competitiveness Fund, provided it builds on local expertise and follows a genuinely partnership-based approach.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On Thursday 13 November 2025, SGI Europe participated in the implementation dialogue on public support for affordable housing, organized by the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera.
Participants ranged from tenants’ and property owners’ associations, housing providers, and the financial sector to representatives of local and national authorities, and each gave their views on the existing issues related to public funding of housing projects. One of the main points addressed during the exchange was the ongoing revision of the SGEI State aid rules, also known as the SGEI Decision, to incentivise investments in affordable housing. Other potential EU measures to support Member States, regional and local authorities in addressing the housing crisis were also discussed.
SGI Europe Secretary General Valeria Ronzitti highlighted that the revision of SGEI State aid rules presents a crucial opportunity to modernise how investment in public services is delivered, emphasising that SGEIs are not residual tools to fix market failures, but structural enablers of Europe’s competitiveness and its social model. While the revision of the rules offers welcome simplification and clarification, it must maintain sufficient flexibility and respect the principle of subsidiarity, since housing is a Member State competence. She also emphasised that a new SGEI for affordable housing should not drive public support away from social housing and the most vulnerable.
Aside from the revision of the SGEI rules, the results of the dialogue will inform other Commission work to tackle the housing crisis, in particular the upcoming European Affordable Housing Plan.
Contact: Raquel Carro-Andollo
On 12 November, the European Commission started the first of a series of structured implementation dialogues under the EU Water Resilience Strategy with Member States.
The latest report reveals only 39.5% of EU surface water bodies currently achieve good ecological status, underscoring the urgent need for faster progress across Europe to protect waters and manage flood risks. The dialogues will run between 2025 and 2027 with each Member State, with a focus on high-level political issues such as the impact on climate change, chaired by Commissioner Jessika Roswall and the relevant national Minister(s) responsible for water management, and involving technical preparatory meetings. The primary aim is to assist Member States in complying with the country-specific recommendations formulated under the assessment of the Water Framework Directive and Floods Directive to improve water management by the 2027 deadline.
Whilst welcoming the focus on such dialogues, SGI Europe's position on the strategy raises a series of critical concerns, including the emphasis on expensive "end-of-pipe" and technology-based solutions, while overlooking stronger prevention-at-source measures. SGI Europe insists that strict enforcement of the Polluter-Pays Principle (PPP) is essential. This requires polluting sectors, such as pharmaceuticals and agriculture, to fully bear the financial responsibility for their contamination, ensuring the costs do not fall unfairly on water service providers and consumers.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
Yesterday, 13 November, SGI Europe attended the 2025 European Education and Skills Summit. Hosted by executive vice-president Minzatu, the summit brought together ministers, policymakers and stakeholders focusing on future-proofing education and training systems, addressing basic skills gaps, and strengthening cooperation between education providers, enterprises and social partners.
In her opening speech, Executive Vice-President Minzatu underlined the critical need to better align our education today with the needs of the labour market. She pointed to a growing mismatch between what we teach and what we need, saying that the promise of education leading to work is not as true as it once was.
The summit centred on reinforcing the need for Europe’s education and training systems to respond to evolving economic and societal demands. The continued promotion of VET and Centres of Vocational Excellence was highlighted as one way to address this challenge. A special focus was also placed on strengthening basic and civic competences, framing education and civic engagement as among the strongest guarantees of a prosperous democracy.
At the summit’s closing panel, EVP Minzatu was joined by Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. Virkkunen emphasised the centrality of digital skills for Europe’s competitiveness and social inclusion, connecting the discussion to the recently launched European Democracy Shield. She highlighted the need to update skills strategies in light of rapid technological change regularly and stressed that quality education starts with investment in teachers, noting that education, critical thinking, and digital literacy are essential for building societal resilience.
SGI Europe will continue to follow developments related to the Union of Skills, the Teachers and Trainers Agenda, and the Commission’s work to strengthen the link between education and training systems and the needs of enterprises across Europe.
Contact: Astrid Nordberg
On 13 November, the European Parliament adopted its negotiating position on simplified sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements, with 382 votes in favour, 249 against, and 13 abstentions (through an alternative majority of the right-of-centre parties). This action aims to reduce administrative burdens on companies, further elaborating on the European Commission's Omnibus I simplification package.
The position significantly reduces the scope of mandatory sustainability reporting compared to the Commission's proposal. The obligation proposes to apply only to businesses meeting higher thresholds, where over 1,750 people are employed and having a net annual turnover exceeding €450 million. Reporting standards are to be further simplified, with sector-specific reporting becoming voluntary.
The proposal also protects smaller companies by preventing large business partners from demanding information beyond the voluntary standards set out in the Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for SMEs (VSME). This change effectively excludes over 10.000 of SMEs and small mid-caps from mandatory reporting under the CSRD and the EU Taxonomy Regulation.
For due diligence purposes, obligations are restricted to very large corporations (over 5,000 employees and €1.5 billion in turnover), and the requirement for a Paris Agreement-compatible transition plan has been removed. Lastly, to facilitate compliance, the Commission was called upon to establish a new digital portal providing free access to templates, guidelines, and information on all EU reporting requirements.
The trilogue negotiations between the EU Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament will commence on 18 November, aiming to finalise the legislation by the end of 2025.
Contact: Raquel Carro-Andollo
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