Newsflash - 27 June 2025

SGI Day x A.C.C.E.S project final conference showcases the importance of SGIs for Europe’s green and social transitions

On 25 June 2025, in the context of SGIs Day, SGI Europe hosted the final conference of the Accessible Climate-Conscious Essential Services (A.C.C.E.S.) project at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) from 9:30 to 12:30.

After a video message from EVP Roxana Minzatu, the event featured the active participation of Mario Nava, Director-General at the European Commission DG EMPL, MEP Idoia Mendia (member of the European Parliament EMPL committee and Vice-Chair of the Intergroup on Social Economy and Services of General Interest), EESC members Sophia Reisecker and Mira-Maria Danisman, as well as project partners.

The conference brought together providers of services of general interest and social partners to discuss the future of essential services across Europe.

A strong political message emerged from the discussions: SGIs are strategic assets for Europe’s green and social transitions. SGI Europe is therefore calling for an ambitious Action Plan for SGIs that unites currently fragmented services under a coherent framework. This will better reflect the interdependence of SGIs and enable integrated policymaking.

We thank the project partners and all the participants for their valuable contributions and continued commitment to building accessible, resilient, and affordable essential services for all.

You can consult the A.C.C.E.S. project reports on our website.

Contact: Cecilia Martin

SGI Europe adopts its Opinion on EU Quality Jobs Roadmap

On 25 June 2025, SGI Europe’s General Assembly adopted its official opinion on the upcoming Quality Jobs Roadmap (QJR). You can consult the Opinion here. With this adoption, SGI Europe reaffirms its strong commitment to contribute constructively to this important process, bringing the voice of employers delivering essential services across Europe.

The opinion highlights SGI Europe’s core message: quality jobs must be developed in ways that are realistic, sustainable, and rooted in the diverse realities of labour markets, particularly in essential sectors such as health, care, energy, education, and transport. SGI Europe cautions against prescriptive EU-level definitions and instead calls for a roadmap that promotes flexible, enabling frameworks built on shared responsibility and social dialogue.

Emphasising subsidiarity and the central role of sectoral and local actors, SGI Europe stresses the need for practical tools, capacity-building, and financial support, instead of additional regulation. It also underlines the importance of addressing labour and skills shortages, administrative burden and evolving workforce needs, including the implications of digitalisation and AI.

SGI Europe stands ready to play its full role in this process, ensuring that the roadmap supports both better jobs and better SGIs, with job quality and service quality advancing hand in hand.

Contact: Guillaume Afellat

SGI Europe publishes Opinion on EU Security and Preparedness

On 25 June, the SGI Europe General Assembly adopted its Opinion paper “Security and Preparedness – the Need for a Multi-Dimensional Security Approach to Protect Critical Infrastructures in Times of Crisis.” Drafted with input from each Task Force of the Sustainability Board, the paper reflects cross-sectoral insights from energy, water, transport, waste management, and telecommunications.

The paper identifies three key threats to the stability of essential services: economic downturns, climate change, geopolitical tensions, and internal insecurity. These risks, it argues, must be treated as top security priorities at the EU level, as they increasingly threaten the resilience of critical infrastructure and the services of general interest (SGIs).

To address this, SGI Europe calls for integrated and forward-looking EU policies that protect essential services, support EU competitiveness, social cohesion, climate awareness, and economic stability.

Key policy recommendations include:

• Adopt a “multi-dimensional resilience” approach: Shift from pure protection to structural resilience that ensures service continuity.
• Advance “Preparedness by Design”: Embed this principle in the upcoming EU Climate Adaptation Plan to bolster systemic resilience.
• Ensure coherent implementation: Align key EU laws on infrastructure and cybersecurity to form a consistent protective framework.
• Create a European digital platform: Support stakeholder networking and practical information exchange to guide legal updates.
• Build shared EU responsibility governance: Harmonise cross-border security standards and coordinate with NATO resilience frameworks.
• Protect digital safety across sectors: Retain Article 13(1) of the INSPIRE Directive to prevent sensitive geodata disclosure.

SGI Europe urges EU policymakers to adopt a proactive, integrated approach to safeguard Europe’s vital services against an evolving risk landscape.

The SGI Europe Security and Preparedness opinion paper is now on our website.

Contact: Henriette Gleau

SGI Europe General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti addresses the EU priorities and the next MFF on the EMI’s EuropeanChats

On Thursday 26 June, Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe General Secretary, addressed the latest EuropeanChats discussion, organised by the European Movement International. On this occasion, she emphasised the need for a holistic and pragmatic approach to security as the EU prepares for discussions on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

Ms Ronzitti highlighted that European citizens now place security as a top priority for future EU spending. However, “security” – as a concept – must extend beyond defence and military investment. It must also encompass critical infrastructures like healthcare, education, water, energy, transport, digital services and public broadcasters. “Military spending alone will not do if you don’t have strong and resilient services of general interest,” she noted, warning that failing to deliver on this broader vision could fuel support for anti-EU populists.

As highlighted in the communication of the European Commission, “The road to the next multiannual financial framework” and the resolution of the European Parliament on the next MFF, SGI Europe advocates for an MFF that recognises and funds “European public goods”. This should include defence, but also infrastructures that support societal resilience and strategic autonomy.

She also called for more ambitious investment tools, notably tapping into underused mechanisms like InvestEU and leveraging the role of national promotional banks. Rather than pitting new priorities against old ones, SGI Europe argues for a genuine rethinking of EU budget architecture. She urged a more coordinated and inclusive process, warning against rushed regulation and highlighting SGI Europe’s commitment to a pragmatic, non-ideological approach that delivers for all.

Contact: Maxime Staelens

Publication of the new Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF)

On Wednesday 25 June, the European Commission adopted the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF). This new framework aims to accelerate the EU's green transition by simplifying state aid rules for clean energy and decarbonisation investments. Replacing the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, the CISAF will cover a period up to 31 December 2030.

This new framework allows for faster and more streamlined approval processes for Member States to invest in clean energy projects. Most of the measures raise the threshold above which State aid must be declared to the European Commission, enabling Member States to invest more rapidly in these five areas:

• Roll-out of renewable energy and low-carbon fuels through fast-track procedures to allow even faster implementation of the Clean Industry Deal;
• Temporary electricity price relief for energy-intensive users to ensure the transition to low-cost clean electricity, allowing Member States to grant support to companies operating in sectors particularly exposed to international trade and highly dependent on electricity for their production;
• Decarbonisation of existing production facilities covering technologies like electrification, hydrogen, and carbon capture;
• Development of clean tech manufacturing capacity in the EU;
• De-risking of investments in clean energy, decarbonisation, clean tech, energy infrastructure projects and projects supporting the circular economy.

SGI Europe responded on 25 April 2025 to the call for evidence on the CISAF (response available here), and welcomes the more flexible definitions of renewable hydrogen, the integration of both CAPEX and OPEX aid, as well as the new flexibility in designing capacity mechanisms and non-fossil flexibility tools.

Contact: Maxime Staelens

Publication of SGI Europe’s activity report for 2024

On Wednesday 25 June 2025, SGI Europe published and presented its Activity Report 2024. Recapping the activities of calendar year 2023, this report provides a particular focus on the activities carried out by our boards and task forces, the EU elections, and SGI Europe’s Manifesto 2024-2029, as well as the Clean Transition Dialogues and the Val Duchesse and La Hulpe High-Level Conferences. You can consult it here.

Contact: Maxime Staelens