27 January 2023
On 25 January 2023, the European Commission presented its initiative “Strengthening Social Dialogue”. Comprising a proposal for a Council recommendation and a communication, the package builds upon the 2016 quadripartite statement “A New Start for Social Dialogue” and renews the Commission’s commitment to social dialogue as a cornerstone of the EU social market economy and its competitiveness. SGI Europe and its member organisations value this initiative and contributed to its inception through dedicated hearings with the European Commission.
SGI Europe welcomes the new tools provided to Member States to guarantee better structural support for social partners. We call for national governments to use the Recommendations to give a new impetus to national collective bargaining and structurally reinforce social partners across the EU. SGI Europe will make full use of the new tools proposed in the communication, such as the social dialogue coordinators or the new format for tripartite institutional hearings on important labour market issues.
In the context of the review of the EU sectoral social dialogue, SGI Europe further calls for the Commission to continue discussing with sectoral social partners in order to provide them with strong and sustainable support to achieve quality results.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
Following the presentation by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of the priorities of the Swedish Presidency at the plenary of the European Parliament last week, several Swedish ministers exchanged with the EP committees’ members and further discussed the files on their agendas.
On Monday 23 January, Romina Pourmokhtari, Minister for Climate and Environment for Sweden, addressed the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). The Minister shared the Swedish Presidency's priorities, including on CO2 emission standards and on carbon removal certifications. The presidency will also tackle biodiversity loss, in line with the commitments of the COP15. They will also work to improve air quality and promote a zero-pollution ambition and a circular economy through the regulations on eco-design for sustainable products, packaging, packaging waste and waste shipments.
On Tuesday 24 January, Mrs Elisabeth Svantesson, Minister for Finance, exchanged with the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON). The Minister shared with MEPs Swedish Presidency’s priorities: continuous financial support to Ukraine, the review of economic governance, the implementation of the RRF, and progress on tax-related files. On the very same day, Anna Tenje, Minister for the Elderly and Social Security, and Paulina Bandberg, Swedish Minister for Gender Equality and Deputy Minister for Employment, presented the Swedish Council Presidency Programme the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL). The topics touched upon include Russia's war against Ukraine, migration, including the Integration in the labour market, platform work, social dialogue, minimum wage, pay transparency, skills and the care sector.
Finally, Johan Forssell, Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, and Erik Slottner, Minister for Public Administration, exchanged with the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), underlining that the single market and the EU competitiveness will be a key priority area.
SGI Europe is currently finalising its policy kit for the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which presents its positions on the key priorities identified in the Presidency programme.
Contact: Benoît Cassorla
On 26 January, SGI Europe took part to the hearing organized by the European Economic and Social Committee on ”Towards green collective bargaining in Europe: assessment of good practices and prospects”. This hearing gathered different stakeholders who presented their views to feed the reflection of the EESC on an upcoming opinion on the topic.
SGI Europe, as a representative of SGIs and as an EU social partner, addressed a panel about the role of collective bargaining in the promotion of a green economy. Maria del Carmen Barrera Chamorro, rapporteur of the exploratory opinion with Marinel Danut Muresan, co-rapportuer, expressed in their opening remakrs that better regulatory frameworks and incentive policies for involving social partners at all levels in the EU and Member States are needed for a just green transition. Social dialogue is essential to reach the ambition of a just green transition, with collective bargaining as a key component to this end.
SGI Europe recalled that, as highlighted in the EU Social Partners’ Work Programme 2022-2024, decarbonisation is having undeniable effects on employment and the way enterprises will operate in the future. It will therefore be key to share and promote environmental sustainability projects that supports the green transition, with social partners playing a key role to facilitate the discussions and the negotiations to identify early future skills needs, as well as how to implement them while respecting the specificities of member states and of the different sectors.
The examples and points raised during the discussions will be taken into account in the preparation of the opinion of the EESC. SGI Europe will continue monitoring this work.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
Since Friday 20 January, the European Commission is running an open public consultation for the revision of Late Payments Directive, which aims at reducing payment delays and preventing in particular small and medium sized enterprises from going bankrupt. The deadline to answer the questionnaire is 17 March 2023. In parallel, the Commission is also seeking evidence in order to collect feedbacks from stakeholders on the understanding of the problem. The deadline to submit the feedback is 9 February 2023. The Commission plans to publish the revision of the directive by summer 2023.
As highlighted in the Impact Assessment, about 25% of all bankruptcies is due to delays in payments. The 2011 late payment directive sets minimum standard rules for payments: public authorities have to pay for the goods and services that they procure within 30 day, while enterprises have to pay their invoices within 60 days. However, the Directive only regulates Government-to-business (G2B) payment terms, leaving the Business-to-Business (B2B) unregulated, which might lead to coercive practices imposed by larger companies. The Impact Assessment foresees the possibility of expanding the regulation also on B2B, defining the notion of “clarity”, developing “tools” for monitoring and enforcing compliance, and developing means of redress.
Before the adoption in 2011, SGI Europe was active the directive’s negotiations. Notably, SGI Europe lobbied in order to make sure that the directive would not discriminate between private and public utility undertakings, with the argumentation that country and sector effects are more important drivers of payment terms than any other company characteristics. SGI Europe highlighted that the main drivers of late payment are linked to business norms/culture, economic conditions and market power imbalances.
SGI Europe is now assessing the directive and will respond to the public consultation and closely follow the legislative process.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
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