19 March 2021
On Monday 15 March, Valeria Ronzitti, General Secretary, represented SGI Europe at the Macroeconomic Dialogue at political level. Held as a virtual conference, the MEDPOL featured the participation of ECB President Christine Lagarde, Eurogroup President Pascal Donohue and European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, as well Luca Visentini (ETUC General Secretary), Markus J. Beyrer (BusinessEurope Director General) and Véronique Willems (SMEunited General Secretary). You can read more on our website.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On 15 March, Jean-Eudes Moncomble, chair of SGI Europe Sustainability Board, addressed the European Economic and Social Committee hearing on the upcoming EESC Opinion on the new EU strategy on adaptation to climate change, currently in preparation by Mr Dimitris Dimitriadis, rapporteur.
The EESC opinion on the strategy will provide the perspective of the social partners and civil society on the European Commission’s recent strategy on adaptation to climate change, which was adopted on 24 February 2021.
In this context, Mr Moncomble highlighted that SGIs are at the frontline in responding to the challenges of climate change, by setting out and implementing long-term plans for adapting. He provided examples from different sectors, such as water, transport, energy, waste management and telecommunications, which are equally faced with significant risks and dangers caused by more recurring and violent extreme weather events. Mr Moncomble highlighted the need for a global reflection on these issues in the context of a sustainable development that paves the way towards a resilient and inclusive society.
He concluded by highlighting two highways to increase the resilience of our infrastructures in the face of climate change by developing and distributing new technologies which are less polluting and consuming, whilst addressing the global dimension to fight climate change, boosting international cooperation and working on the transferability of technologies.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
On 18 March, SGI Europe submitted its input to the European Commission feedback on the Security of Network and Information System Directive (NIS 2 Directive).
In its response, SGI Europe took the opportunity to comment on the proposal since it has identified that the new draft could have a negative impact on many of its members that are providers of services of general interest and subject to the Directive. The Commission now includes all public and private entities in the relevant sectors in the scope of the proposal. The only exception from the scope is for Micro- and Small Enterprise as defined by the Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC. SGI Europe is once again forced to point out the unsuitability of the European SME definition, which continues to be a burden for many SGI members all across Europe.
Expanding the scope of the proposal would impose a list of mandatory cybersecurity measures on all Local Public Services Enterprises (LPSEs) in the relevant sectors, regardless of size, actual facilities operated or the acute risk of their potential disruption. Such a lack of differentiation would constitute an excessive burden for a majority of LPSEs, especially the smaller ones.
You can read the full response of SGI Europe position on NIS 2 Directive.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
On 15 March, SGI Europe, together with other employers’ organisations, met the sub-group on Social Taxonomy of the Platform on Sustainable Finance to discuss the objectives and employers’ potential contributions.
SGI Europe underlined that investment in social infrastructure, both private and public, is far from reaching the level needed to cater for the EU’s current population and that specifically health and housing sectors, are by and large, the responsibility of local authorities, which are often subject to tight budget constraints.
SGI Europe emphasized that investments in health and housing could become more attractive for private capital as these sectors tap into a secure and steady publicly backed source of income, having low volatility of returns and low correlations with other market’ risks.
The Social Taxonomy should help unlock the pool of private capital held by institutional investors, by helping the social infrastructure investments to be better recognized as valuable investments assets, through more transparency on how social infrastructures perform in terms of sustainability’ risks. The Social Taxonomy, and the definition of what could be considered as significant contribution for accessibility and availability within health and housing sectors, was further discussed in the plenary of the Platform on Sustainable Finance which took place on 18 March.
Contact: Stefan Enica
On 17 March, the European Movement International organised an event “The role of European Citizens in shaping the EU Green Deal”, which featured the participation of SGI Europe.
On this occasion, SGI Europe highlighted the importance of the COVID19 crisis, and the need to avoid going back to business as usual. It is indeed high time to take a different look at the green transition and take a new path towards a healthy environment and a sustainable economy that works for people.
The success of the climate transition will only happen with its social acceptance by citizens. It needs to integrate two important factors: a fair and just transition, and the integration of digitalisation. The digital development can be a facilitating tool towards a sustainable economy and society (via the circular economy, energy efficiency, public transportation and smart infrastructures). It can however also lead to digital social divides, leaving some citizens behind in the green and digital transition.
A fair and just transition, addressing both the green and digital dimensions, is a vital step to take to realise our objectives of a carbon-neutral Europe, and can only be realised by including these issues across all EU Green Deal climate policies.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
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