Newsflash - 19 November 2021

SGI Europe’s assessment of the COP26 in Glasgow

SGI Europe welcomes the consensus reached by global leaders from over 190 countries in Glasgow (United Kingdom), after two weeks of negotiations. The COP26 concluded its sessions with a global Glasgow Climate Pact, pledging to keep limiting global warming to 1.5 C degrees and additionally agreed to invest 100 billion dollars per year to support vulnerable and developing countries hit by climate change. The fight against climate change should now remain on the agenda of all, and its severe impacts on the environment, economy and social life should be clearly recognised in order to anticipate the transition.

Furthermore, SGI Europe:

• Welcomes that all parties at the COP26 were able to agree for the first time to accelerate efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, and recognised the need for support towards a just transition. Divesting from fossil fuels and accelerate the transition to decarbonised and renewable will be key in delivering the climate targets in Europe and the world.
• Deems it necessary to report on the decarbonisation progress in each country. Therefore, the so-called Paris Agreement Rulebook, which fixes this kind of transparency and reporting requirements for all parties to track progress against their emission reduction targets, is welcomed.
• Welcomed the clear recognition of the impacts of climate change disproportionality affecting poorer households and the challenges it brings in the fight against inequalities in the transition. We call upon the European Commission to continue to engage with EU Social Partners to support workers and employers in the transition. The integration of the social dimension must remain a key aspect in the energy and climate transition to reach acceptability for all.
• Highlights that emission reductions require several tools to meet the climate targets, and welcomes the inclusion in the Rulebook under Article 6 of a mechanism to set out the functioning of international carbon markets to support further global cooperation on emission reductions. The proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism should be another climate tool to encourage decarbonisation of the economy, with its diplomatic implementation taking into account the EU trading partners.
• Welcomes, looking beyond the measures of mitigation, the new EU pledge of 100 million euros in finance for the Climate Adaptation Fund. SGI Europe pleads to look beyond CO2 reduction measures, prepare and act to protect biodiversity and the ecosystem for the guarantee of healthy soil and safe water supply.
• Urges, whilst further steps were taken to reduce the emission reduction in the transport sector by pledging to further boost the roll-out of zero emission vehicles (ZEV), to give a clear priority and deliver on concrete actions to boost public transportation and shifting to rail freight transportation. This will be a vital pillar for the economic, social and environmental recovery in the short and long-term. Public transportation and delivering a modal shift to rail freight will be key to reach the ambitious climate targets.

Contact: Henriette Gleau

SGI Europe at the final conference of the EU Social Partners' project on “Skills, innovation and the provision of and access to training”

On 18 November, cross-industry EU social partners (SGI Europe, ETUC, BusinessEurope, SMEunited) held the final conference of their joint project on skills, innovation, and the provision of and access to training.

During the final conference, the research team of Association for International and Comparative Studies on Labour Law and Industrial Relations (ADAPT) presented the project’s final report which analysed how to improve the different training systems and ensure inclusive, quality, and effective skills provision and long-term skills strategies as a way to foster innovation and in order to encourage better innovation outcomes through the engagement of social partners.

The conference included a keynote speech from European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Mr Nicolas Schmit, followed by an exchange on the key recommendations of the European Social Partners. SGI Europe underlined the need to involve the social partners in reforming the national skills strategies, better use the EU financial resources for training and innovation and ensure effective social dialogue to foster skills anticipation and development.

Find more about our key recommendation in the final report of the project.

Contact: Stefan Enica

European Parliament adopts its position on Minimum Wages

On 11 November, the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee adopted their position on the proposal for a directive on adequate minimum wages, including a negotiating mandate to bypass a plenary vote. The draft-negotiating mandate was adopted with 37 votes to 10, with 7 abstentions. MEP Marianne Vind (DK, S&D), however, demanded for the plenary to get a chance to vote on the position. Together with some Scandinavian MEPs, MEP Vind launched a petition to get at least 71 signatories — 10 per cent of the Parliament’s members — supporting her appeal.

In the EU, 21 out of 27 countries have a statutory minimum wage, whilst in the other six (Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden), wage levels are determined through collective bargaining. There are concerns that a common EU minimum wage would undermine that approach.

On 11 November, Milena Angelova, Vice-President of SGI Europe, addressed the EPP event ‘Adequate and fair minimum wages – setting the course for a strong social Europe’ at the invitation of MEP Dennis Radtke, co-rapporteur. She stressed that rather than setting prescriptive requirements, the Directive should only provide a framework for Member States and social partners tailored to their national situation. In its current form, the proposed Directive is likely to lead to many court rulings with no legal certainty for employers or workers.

Whilst agreeing that further efforts are needed regarding the convergence of wages, any future actions should fully respect the competence and autonomy of the national social partners regarding wage-setting processes. Ms Angelova emphasised that establishing thresholds for adequacy in a Directive is too far-reaching. Besides the question of EU competence, this will interfere with the collective bargaining systems and the process for setting nationally relevant criteria. SGI Europe encourages the European Parliament and Council not to rush into an agreement without taking into account the key concerns of all stakeholders.

Contact: Guillaume Afellat

European Commission’s stakeholder Event on the Concessions Directive (including on the exclusion of water from its scope)

On Monday 15 November 2021, the European Commission held a stakeholder event in the context of the ongoing monitoring and reporting of the Concessions Directive. The current EU public procurement rules request that the European Commission review its functioning and assess the economic effects of the exclusion in the field of water on the internal market.

The meeting was divided into two sessions, addressing both the overall implementation and functioning of the Concessions Directive, and the exclusion of the water sector from its scope.

The first session was opened by Ms Maive Rute, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, who put the public procurement package into the broader political perspective and emphasised the role of public investments in ensuring the twin transition.

Takeaways of the ensuing panel discussion, gathering representatives of national/local authorities and of associations, highlighted issues regarding the short length of the concessions – 5 years – for attracting potential concession holders, whilst there are still concerns regarding the legal certainty when it comes to defining the concession.

The afternoon session, dedicated to the economic effects of the water exclusion, was opened with the presentation of the Preliminary results of a study on the organisation of the water provision and its (non-)exclusion from the concessions obligation. During the following panel discussion, Dr. Henning Grotelüschen (from SGI Europe’s German member RWW Rheinisch-Westfälische Wasserwerksgesellschaft mbH) highlighted the importance of the wide discretion (at the level of national, regional, and local authorities) in providing, commissioning, and organising services of general interest (SGIs).

SGI Europe will monitor developments regarding the review of the Concessions Directive, which will also be a discussion point in the upcoming Public Services Board on 2 December 2021.

Contact: Manca Pocivavsek

European Commission presents its Communication on “A Competition Policy fit for new challenges”

On Thursday 18 November 2021, the European Commission published a communication titled:  "A competition policy fit for new challenges", examining the state of play of the initiatives currently in the pipeline of DG Competition.

The communication points out the State Aid Framework on Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI), a tool for setting up ambitious pan-European projects currently under revision. Furthermore, the Communication also mentions the Climate, Environmental Protection and Energy Aid Guidelines (CEEAG), aimed at providing the necessary support to make the green transition a reality and which should be adopted by the end of the year. References are also made to priority revisions for SGI Europe such as the Broadband State Aid Guidelines and the General Block Exemption Regulation (for which the public consultation to respond to the draft is open until 8 December 2021).

The communication also announced the upcoming publication of a Staff Working Document summarising the outcomes of the evaluation of the 2012 SGEI Package, concerning healthcare and social services, in the first quarter of 2022.

Considering the pandemic, the State Aid Temporary Framework was also prolonged for a sixth time until the end of June 2022. In addition to the prolongation, new tools to kick-start a more sustainable recovery were set up to close the investment gap. The temporary framework will now allow Member States to support sectors and companies to invest in line with the principle of do-no-significant-harm. Another tool - the Solvency Support - will enable Member States to leverage private funds and make them available for investments in SMEs.

Contact: Manca Pocivavsek

European Commission published the new EU Soil Strategy

On 17 November, the European Commission published the new EU Soil Strategy to ensure European soils are restored, resilient, and adequately protected by 2050. This strategy was presented together with two other proposals to stop deforestation and support innovative sustainable waste management with the revised Regulation on waste shipment. Key element of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 for tackling the climate and biodiversity crises, the new strategy should promote healthy soils to ensure food security and a rich biodiversity and balanced ecosystem, with a mix of concrete measures, voluntary and legally binding measures.

SGI Europe welcomes the efforts of the strategy to call for the same level of protection to soils that exists for water, marine environment and air in the EU, which are clearly interlinked for the promotion of a healthy environment. This aligns with SGI Europe’s policy recommendation to ensure an impactful systematic protection of soil and the environment through coherence of EU acts to keep providing safe EU water resources.

For this, the Commission will introduce a new Soil Health Law proposal in 2023. Here, the Commission will take into account the revision of the Urban Waste-water Treatment Directive (envisaged for June 2022) and the Sewage Sludge Directive and assess options for ensuring the reduction of nutrient losses by at least 50% to enforce a legally binding target to avoid drainage of wetlands, peatlands and protection of soils, which is expected to be unveiled in mid-December.

Contact: Henriette Gleau

Agreement on the budget 2022 of the European Union

On Monday 15 November, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached an informal political agreement on a proposal from the European Commission for the 2022 EU budget, which is the second under the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027.

Once officially approved, with €169.5 billion for commitments and €170.6 billion for payments, the budget would allow the EU to keep mobilising funds for tackling the consequences of the pandemic whilst investing into a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe.

By breaking down the budget, the bulk of the funds will be directed toward the following initiatives:

• €49.7 billion in commitments to support the recovery;
• €53.1 billion for the Common Agricultural Policy;
• €12.2 billion for Horizon Europe;
• €1.2 billion under the Just Transition Fund;
• €2.8 billion for the Connecting Europe Facility and €3.4 billion for Erasmus+.

The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament will now have to officially adopt the budget, with the vote in the Parliament Plenary expected on 24 November concluding the process.

Contact: Antonio Astolfi