24 June 2022
The UN International Day for Public Service was celebrated on 23 June 2022. On this occasion, several SGI Europe members and national sections organised actions and campaigns highlighting the role of services of general interest in our European society, as well as the urgent need to ensure their continuity in the future and the continued supply of public transport, electricity, heating, water and high-speed internet or the proper management of wastewater and waste.
Amongst others, the German Association of Local Public Utilities launched their platform https://daseinsvorsorge.vku.de/, which brings together and highlights their membership's contribution and activities, providers of SGIs at the local and municipal level, as well as the need to support skills development and prevent staff shortages. In France, SGI Europe President Pascal Bolo also addressed the Day of Public Service by recalling the crucial need to address investment gaps in services of general interest to address the ongoing transitions. Finally, in the Netherlands, the Association of Dutch Municipalities presented a new report, "State of the implementation", which focuses on the role of municipalities in addressing the challenges stemming from the twin transition, the articulation between the different administrative levels and calling for further empowering the local.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
On Monday 20 June, the European Commission organised an exchange of views with social partners on the review of the 2014 Council Recommendation on a Quality Framework for Traineeships (QFT). The evaluation takes stock of the development of traineeship frameworks in light of labour market changes over the past eight years.
The QFT is concerned with facilitating entry into the labour market for young people by assuring quality for the transition from education, unemployment or inactivity to work. Therefore, amongst other principles, the QFT seeks to ensure sufficient and relevant learning experience, upskilling, and decent working conditions for trainees.
While a lot has improved in the diversity of national frameworks for traineeship schemes, the Commission put forward several remaining issues. These include access to social protection, fair remuneration, and excessive use of traineeships. Furthermore, there is a need for a critical evaluation of the traineeships' functionality as a mechanism for entering the labour market.
SGI Europe welcomes the initiative of the European Commission to evaluate different dimensions of quality criteria for traineeships. Furthermore, a dedicated focus should be put on improving the cooperation between stakeholders to align traineeships and labour market needs, implementing relevant quality assurance measures via awareness-raising and promoting good practices.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On Tuesday 21 June, SGI Europe contributed to the consultation of the European Commission on Open data – availability of public datasets. The proposed regulation establishes the list of high-value datasets belonging to the thematic categories set out in the Open Data Directive – which replaced the PSI Directive (see SGI Europe's position on it here) – and lays down the arrangements for publishing and reusing high-value datasets.
In August 2020, SGI Europe responded to the call for feedback on the roadmap. At the time, SGI Europe pointed out concerns about publishing specific sensitive data (critical infrastructures, data affecting business models – commercially sensitive data).
In response to the draft text, SGI Europe pointed out concerns about increased administrative burden for all public sector bodies. The implementing regulation introduces an obligation for individual public sector bodies, regardless of their size and level of activities, to set up individual APIs and reformat data, which would put a disproportionate financial and administrative burden on local enterprises. SGI Europe suggests less burdensome solutions to ensure the availability and usability of datasets, in line with the directive's provisions. Encouraging synergies and cooperation between local, regional and national public sector bodies and institutions, should be better supported to create economies of scale and prevent redundancies in formatting and making available datasets.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
On Wednesday 22 June, MEPs voted on a set of key Fit for 55 proposals aiming at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030.
The European Parliament, which had rejected the report on the revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) two weeks ago, accepted it with 439 votes in favour. The compromise – supported by the EPP, S&D, Renew and parts of the Greens – will open the negotiations with the Council to begin, with the MEPs' aim of reducing emissions from the ETS sectors by 63% by 2030.
In its position paper, SGI Europe welcomed the European Commission's ambition to strengthen and extend the ETS. The ETS must remain one of the main EU instruments to fight climate change. SGI Europe also called for a meaningful carbon price to drive cost-effective energy transition by promoting renewable and low-carbon technology investments.
MEPs also approved the position on the Carbon-Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). To ensure consistency with the revision of the ETS, the position of the European Parliament on the CBAM calls for the free allowances in the ETS sectors covered by the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to be phased out from 2027 and disappear by 2032.
During this plenary session, MEPs also agreed on their position on the Social Climate Fund (SCF) to help those most affected by energy and mobility poverty, on the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) setting biding annual GHG emissions reduction targets on the sectors outside the scope of the EU ETS, including transport, buildings and waste, as well as the revision of the CO2 emission performance standards for new cars and vans.
Contact: Ariel Carpanini
On 14 June, under the framework of the Temporary Protection Directive, the European Commission published guidance for Member States regarding the integration of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war into the EU labour market.
The guidance describes measures that can be taken by Member States based on lessons learnt and best practices gathered so far, building on previous measures at EU level. The communication mentions several concrete examples of EU-funded projects that can serve as inspiration for Member States' initiatives, including the project' Labour INT', jointly coordinated by SGI Europe and ETUC, for the successful example of the multi-stakeholder partnerships.
SGI Europe welcomes that the guidance emphasises the importance of fast recognition of skills and qualifications, targeted reskilling, VET and practical workplace experience. Additionally, SGI Europe believes that the integration process has a strong social dimension and that access to essential services such as housing, childcare, education and healthcare should stay at the base of the process.
Contact: Stefan Enica
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