26 February 2021
On Monday 22 February, Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe General Secretary, and Duarte Veiga da Cunha, representing the Portuguese section of SGI Europe, took part in the informal meeting of employment and social policy ministers organised by the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union, calling for a new paradigm post-COVID. More on our press release.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On Wednesday 24 February, SGI Europe General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti addressed the event “Shaping the #postCOVID #recovery to forge the #FutureofEurope” organised by the Employers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).
Held ahead of the plenary of the EESC, the event also featured Stefano Mallia, President of the EESC Employers’ Group, Pekka Pesonen, General Secretary of COPA-COGECA, and Christian Verschueren, General Secretary of EuroCommerce. You can replay the debate on the Twitter page of the Employers’ Group of the EESC.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
In the framework of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, launched by the European Commission on September 2020, SGI Europe took part to the consultation organised by DG Home with the European Social and Economic Partners and exchanged views with EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson on the “Talent Partnerships” proposal, on 26 February.
At this occasion, SGI Europe underlined that building partnerships and networks with third countries to improve the EU talent pipeline is a strategic decision with potential benefits for all skills levels, and that it is essential to directly involve employers, with focus on pre-departure trainings, and flexible agreements which can be adapted to the specific country needs in both destination and origin.
Services of general interest (SGIs) providers and public services’ employers have an essential role to play in creating job placements for migrants. Many unfilled vacancies co-exist with high unemployment throughout Europe. During the consultation, SGI Europe indicated that improving the mobility schemes in the field of education and research, creating stronger sectoral partnerships, and offering technical assistance for building cooperation and trust are essential elements for enlarging the talent pool for the European SGIs and public employers.
Contact: Ștefan Enică
On 24 February, the European Commission adopted its revised Climate Adaptation Strategy, setting out the path to prepare for the unavoidable impacts of climate change. As expressed in our opinion on the EU Green Deal, climate change already has a significant negative impact on our infrastructures and it continues to worsen each year. SGI Europe calls on the Commission to take a holistic approach that takes into account the sectors of energy, transport, water, waste management and telecommunication and lays out a strategy that takes the necessary precautions within the social, economic and environmental dimensions.
Especially for the water sector, climate change challenges such as droughts and flooding, micro plastic pollutants and pharmaceutical residues pose a growing challenge to surface water and groundwater quality. Their impact on water is expected to increase with an ageing and more consuming European population and will be intensified by lower river flows due to climate change.
The strategy made it therefore an integral part of its actions. The Strategy highlights that nature-based solutions are essential for sustaining healthy water, oceans, and soils. It states that it must play a bigger role in land-use management and infrastructure planning, to reduce costs, provide climate-resilient services, and improve compliance with Water Framework Directive requirements for good ecological status as well as the Floods Directive’s promotion of sustainable land use practices and improvement of water retention.
In this context, SGI Europe welcomes the strategy and yet highlights that if the EU Green Deal and its EU climate policies should become a success, it will mean reducing pollutions at source and consequently implementing the precautionary and polluter pays principle and ensuring it becomes an integral part of the solution to reach for a resilient and carbon-neutral EU economy.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
On Wednesday 3 March, SGI Europe’s Water Task Force will welcome Ms Veronica Manfredi, Director for Quality and Life at the European Commission’s DG Environment, to discuss the Zero Pollution Action Plan from 11:00 to 12:00.
SGI Europe submitted on 10 February its response to the consultation on the Zero Pollution Action Plan. The Zero Pollution is a holistic and cross-sectoral action plan covering the energy, transport, water, wastewater and waste management sector looking at air, soil and water pollution.
Starting at 10:00, the meeting of the Water Task Force will also address discussions on SGI Europe contributions to the Sludge Directive, the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, the Drinking Water Directive and the Pharmaceutical Strategy.
Should you be interested in attending this meeting, please contact Henriette Gleau, Policy Officer Sustainability.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
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