18 November 2022
On 16 November, SGI Europe Water Task Force, chaired by Michele Falcone met in a hybrid format to discuss, amongst others, pressing issues of the water sector, including the recent publication of the proposal for a revision of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) and the proposed Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation (SUR).
On this occasion, the Water Task Force also welcomed as guest speaker MEP Sarah Wiener (Greens/AT), who is rapporteur on the SUR in the European Parliament. During this session, SGI Europe members explained their full support towards the initial proposal of the European Commission, which sets a mandatory EU target to reduce the use of chemicals and pesticides by 50% in 2023 and link the regulation strongly to the ambitious goals of the EU Green Deal.
To this end, members highlighted the importance of the protection of drinking water resources as a central piece of the new regulation, calling for banning the use of chemicals and pesticides – or at least reducing massively emissions of pollutants into the environment – whilst strengthening the “polluter pays” principle to ensure coherence with the Zero Pollution Action Plan.
The Water TF will follow the legislative development on the file closely, and members will be kept updated on the next upcoming steps.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
On 11 November, the European Commission published its autumn economic forecast, which highlights the impact of the spillovers of Russia’s such as high energy prices fuelling inflation, people across Europe struggling with rising living costs, and European enterprises losing competitiveness.
In this new comprehensive report, the European Commission warns that the economic outlook for next year has weakened and only 0,3% growth of the EU economy is forecast for next year. The European Commission hopes that a strong labour market, coupled with reforms and investments through the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, should support the economy.
The Commission encourages Member States to focus on supporting the most vulnerable with targeted measures, aligning fiscal and monetary policies to tackle inflation, and securing our future energy supplies as fast as possible. Despite the challenging environment, the labour market has continued performing strongly, with employment and participation at their highest in decades.
In the first half of 2022, the post-pandemic economic expansion raised the number of employed persons in the EU to an all-time high of 213,4 million. Labour markets are expected to react to the slowing of economic activity with a lag, but should remain resilient.
The European Commission finally recalls the extreme uncertainty of the present economic and geopolitical environment. Longer-lasting inflation and potential disorderly adjustments on global financial markets to the new high interest rates are important risk factors. Both are amplified by the potential for inconsistency between fiscal and monetary policy objectives.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On 15 November 2022, the European Commission adopted the draft text of the “De Minimis Regulation”, which proposes to update some aspects of the exemption regime for “state aid” of small amount (under de minimis Regulation, SGEI de minimis Regulation), for which there is no obligation to notify to the European Commission.
The importance of the De Minimis Regulation for small amounts of measures is enormous, especially with a threshold set at EUR200 000 over 3 years for determining whether the support is considered as “state aid”. The new De Minimis Regulation would increase this ceiling to EUR 275 000, taking into account the inflation.
Another important novelty is strengthening the transparency requirements by introducing a mandatory public register at national or EU level where Member States provide complete information on de minimis aid granted by any authority. This would mean a change for a number of Member States that do not have such registers in place, and rely on self-declaration by the beneficiaries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Sweden).
If adopted, the new De Minimis Regulation will enter into force on 1 January 2024 and shall apply until 31 December 2030. An open consultation is ongoing on the following page, with a deadline set on 10 January 2023.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
On 15 and 16 November, the 2022 Forum on Vocational Excellence took place in San Sebastian, Spain, for discussing the latest developments on the European initiative on Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVE). The event was jointly organised by the European Commission and the Basque government, with the support of the European Training Foundation (ETF), Cedefop and EACEA, as well as the Community of Practice on CoVEs.
The Forum disseminated the initiative on Centres of Vocational Excellence and aimed at supporting networking and partnerships to apply for Erasmus+ calls for applications and increasing the number of organisations working on the vocational excellence initiative. It also connected the experiences and know-how of CoVEs with policy-making and allowed them to share practices of ongoing CoVE projects.
SGI Europe strongly supports and encourages financing the development of Centers of Vocational Excellence, which can act as intermediary bodies and facilitate the collaboration between employers and VET providers, bringing sectoral developments faster into training programs and reducing costs for VET providers. The project ‘’Green Skills in VET’’, ran by SGI Europe with the support of the European Commission, underlines concrete examples of collaboration between SGI providers and VET organizations regarding the construction of professional profiles and green skills, and shows how social partners play a decisive role in the implementation of the green transition, in collaboration with local and European institutions.
Contact: Stefan Enica
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