24 May 2024
On Thursday 23 May, the EU cross-industry social partners – SGI Europe, the European Trade Union Confederation, BusinessEurope and SMEunited – issued a joint statement ahead of the EU elections.
Highlighting “that participation in these elections is not just about electing policymakers; it is about securing a bright future for all and addressing the key challenges of our time”, social partners call “on those who are eligible to vote in the upcoming European elections to make their voices heard” and “collectively shape a bright future that works for all, respecting diversity, openness and tolerance.”
You can find the joint statement here.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
On Thursday 23 May, SGI Europe addressed the final conference on the “Implementation of European Social Partners Autonomous Framework Agreement on Digitalisation and Support for Social Dialogue”, organised with the EU cross-industry social partners (ETUC, BusinessEurope and SMEunited).
This final conference allowed discussions on the Autonomous Framework Agreement signed in 2020, which addressed various topics, including digital skills, modalities of connecting and disconnecting, artificial intelligence (AI) and guaranteeing the human in control principle, and respect for human dignity and surveillance.
Following four cluster seminars and workshops carried out throughout 2023 and 2024 in Dublin, Madrid, Warsaw, and Vienna, the final conference was also the occasion to present the new digital tool created by the social partners and learn from national social partners how they implemented the agreement (with examples from Cyprus, Denmark, Belgium, Bulgaria, Austria, and Spain).
During the final conference, it was apparent that the Agreement and the Digital Tool developed successfully, which resulted from a joint approach between trade unions and employers’ organisations at the EU and national levels.
Contact: Cecilia Martin
On Monday 17 June 2024, from 14:00 to 17:30, SGI Europe will organise an event called “The Green Single Market as a Lever for Sustainable Competitiveness”, which will be held in Brussels at the European Economic and Social Committee. You can also register here.
The objective will be to explore the contribution of services of general interest to the Green Single Market and discuss the role of SGIs as actors and enablers of EU competitiveness. This event will feed SGI Europe's contribution to Mario Draghi's report on the future of EU competitiveness.
The first panel on “The Contribution of SGIs to the Green Single Market” will be the occasion for SGIs providers and employers’ sectoral organisations and companies to explain how their contribution is vital to the Single Market and the Green Deal, with SGIs as a bridge between the Green Deal and the Single Market.
The second panel on “SGIs as enablers and actors of the EU competitiveness” will highlight how SGIs are at the core of the future of a competitive, fair, and green EU economy. This will be the occasion for SGIs’ providers and employers to introduce their approach to EU competitiveness, from a perspective different from that of the classic business community, showing their role as enablers and actors of EU competitiveness.
Contact: Benoît Cassorla
On 22 May, the European Commission held a dedicated hearing with the EU Social Partners on the Council Recommendation on a fair transition towards climate neutrality.
This recommendation was adopted in 2022 and provides guidance to Member States on how to design comprehensive policy measures to ensure a just transition. On this occasion, SGI Europe highlighted the importance of continuing to implement the EU Green Deal in a fair and just manner through the Clean Transition Dialogues, a dedicated platform for social partners to pilot the transition and dedicated green transition dialogues with social partners at the sectoral level. At the national level, SGI Europe called for better transversal coordination in preparing national plans amongst different sectors, with labour markets provided with instruments to safeguard quality jobs through a dedicated strategic and institutional framework that ensures a platform for national social partners for coordination and implementation strategies.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
This week, Milena Angeliva, SGI Europe Vice-President and rapporteur of the European Economic and Social Committee on the exploratory opinion on “Measures to improve mental health”, penned an article in the latest issue of the European Public Mosaic (EPuM) - Open Journal on Public Service (published by the Public Administration School of Catalonia), which focused on social rights, their key challenges and contributes to the international debate on the management of public services and innovation in public administration.
Focusing on “Mental health: cornerstone of the European way of life, wellbeing and social prosperity”, Ms Angelova highlights that, aggravated by the recent crises faced by Europe, mental health is a growing concern across the EU, with children and youngsters, women, older people and those exposed to excessive stress, especially vulnerable to risks of mental health disorders.
Building upon the 2023 European Commission’s communication ‘A comprehensive approach to mental health’ and the work of the Spanish and Belgian presidencies of the Council of the EU, she calls on this occasion for the successful improvement, promotion and prevention of mental health issues and for setting a complex, multidisciplinary, life-long approach firmly embedded as a transversal top priority in policy-making at EU and national level. The urgent reform of health systems is vital to enable those delivering integrated and planned long-term interventions and care to cure and prevent medical conditions.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
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