17 May 2024
On Tuesday 14 May 2024, SGI France, the French section of SGI Europe, together with the Fédération des élus des Entreprises publiques locales (FedEpl), organised, in Paris, a dedicated event with candidates to the next EU elections.
Representatives from almost all lists, including Nicolas Bay (Reconquête), Jean-Marc German (Parti Socialiste - Place Publique), Fabienne Keller (Renaissance), Isabelle Le Callennec (Les Républicains), Laurent Miermont (Parti Communiste français), Arash Saeidi (La France Insoumise) and Mounir Satouri (Europe Ecologie- Les Verts), gathered for a lunch debate. This diverse group shared a common commitment to the future of SGIs, discussing crucial issues such as investment support, SGIs’ competitiveness, the EU Green Deal, and the housing crisis.
Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe General Secretary, concluded the event. She welcomed the French candidates' commitment to the value of Services of General Interest (SGIs) at the EU and national levels. Ms Ronzitti also pointed out the importance of strong support from all groups of the European Parliament for creating a European Parliament’s intergroup on SGIs under the next EU term.
Contact: Benoît Cassorla
Launched last week, SGI Europe launched its initiative 'Companies For Democracy', which aims to inspire and motivate companies and enterprises to actively promote civic participation, especially in the lead-up to the upcoming EU elections.
As the initiative's first partners, the Rubes Triva Foundation (with its motto “Well-being starts with safety at work. The future starts with your vote”), Gruppo Veritas, and Civocracy (a Civic Tech organisation) have joined to strengthen democracy and promote free, fair, and representative elections.
More on the website www.companiesfordemocracy.eu.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
Last week, SGI Europe officially launched its initiative ‘Companies For Democracy’, which will bring together companies and enterprises using their voice to engage their audiences, clients, users, consumers, and employees on the importance of acting beyond economic purpose and protecting our democracies.
As more than 400 million EU citizens will head to vote in less than a month, SGI Europe has also joined the 906 campaign, a nonpartisan, pro-democratic campaign launched by B Lab Europe, GOPA Com., Earth4All (Club of Rome), and Civocracy. The 906 initiative intends to unite and support European companies through a joint social media campaign to raise awareness and increase turnout by 5 million voters (i.e. a 1% increase compared to 2019).
You can find more about the 906 campaign at https://9o6-movement-for-democracy.eu/
On Monday 13 May 2024, SGI Europe addressed the meeting of the Macro-Economic Dialogue at Political Level (MEDPOL). The meeting brought together, amongst others, Vincent van Peteghem (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Belgium), Valdis Dombrovskis (Executive Vice-President, European Commission), Paschal Donohoe (Eurogroup President), Luis de Guindos (Vice-President, ECB), and social partners, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities of strengthening the EU’s economic base.
On this occasion, Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe General Secretary, called to urgently remedy structural shortages of qualified labour, which have prompted many enterprises to hoard labour. She added that, in line with the recommendations from the Report of Enrico Letta, the Single Market must become a key instrument to respond to skills and labour shortages. She further emphasised that since the sovereign debt crisis, EU public investment has been weaker than in the US. She stated that addressing the investment challenge must be the priority for the EU to maintain its leadership on the global stage. SGI Europe concluded that strategic use of private and public resources and the delivery of crucial EU Public Goods would be needed to develop a competitive ‘All-industry strategy’ to counteract the instruments recently put in place by other global actors.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
This week, the IFAT – an international fair dedicated to water, wastewater and critical raw material recycling – was held in Munich. The fair takes place every two years and provides a networking platform for companies, stakeholders, and representatives in the recycling, waste/water, business, and environment sectors to exchange ideas, knowledge, and innovative solutions for industries and municipalities.
At this event, SGI Europe and BDEW presented the state of play of its project "Accessible Climate- Conscious Essential Services” (A.C.C.E.S.), focusing on the water sector. SGI Europe presented a first outlook on the water survey results collected from various companies and stakeholders on this occasion. Further, it elaborated on the implications of climate change and digitalisation in the water sector. The main challenges highlighted are mainly in the administrative sector and the need for engineering expertise and IT experts in digitalisation. The consequences of climate change – such as droughts and extreme floods – further intensify the need to invest and upgrade the water infrastructure securely and efficiently.
The project gathers insights from providers of essential services in the water, energy and housing sectors regarding the challenges and opportunities in delivering high-quality, sustainable and accessible water services in Europe. Following desk research, the project will focus on the three critical sectors through dedicated workshops in 2025.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
On Tuesday 14 May, SGI Europe attended the stakeholder dialogue in the European Committee of the Regions titled ‘Shock-proofing European regions: Strengthening local and regional economic resilience in the strategic evolution of the Single Market’.
The discussion, hosted by rapporteur Ilpo Heltimoinen, aimed to help the rapporteur draft an opinion on how to strengthen regions’ economic competitiveness and resilience. Given the increasing focus on boosting Europe's economic competitiveness, it came at a particularly timely moment.
The rapporteur stressed that overall economic competitiveness and regional economic resilience are two sides of the same coin. SGI Europe indicated that strong services of general interest, such as public transport and energy provision, are a key part of this regional resilience and competitiveness. They ensure that talented people stay in the region and contribute to its economic development, as well as providing the groundwork on which the rest of the economy can grow.
The report will build on the ‘Freedom to Stay’ coined in Enrico Letta’s report on the future of the single market. This means that all regions must provide sufficient services and opportunities for people to feel they can develop without needing to move elsewhere. SGIs are crucial to achieving this objective, so we call on the future European Commission to propose a dedicated Action Plan on SGIs, which will specify what must be done to ensure that citizens in all regions can access high-quality SGIs.
Contact: Ruben Sansom
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