29 January 2021
On Thursday 21 January, the European Movement International held the fifth edition of EuropeanChats, featuring Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe General Secretary, and Luca Visentini, ETUC General Secretary, and moderated by Petros Fassoulas, Secretary General, European Movement International.
This is a live series of online discussions from the European Movement International featuring members of their network from across Europe. Issues covered by speakers addressed the COVID-19 crisis and the EU response to it, the Conference on the Future of Europe as well as the place of the EU in the world, following the election of Joe Biden as US President. You can re-watch the conversation here.
On Wednesday 27 January, The European Commission presented its Green Paper on ageing, launching a broad policy debate on the challenges and opportunities of Europe's ageing society via a dedicated public consultation.
In its response to the preliminary feedback consultation of the European Commission, SGI Europe highlighted that demography is one of the mega-trends that is transforming European societies, and that active ageing, care and pensions belong to the long-term impacts of this trend, including on the sustainability of public budgets. SGI Europe also contributed to the final report of the High-Level Group of Experts on Pensions, which provided analysis and policy advice relating to the role of supplementary pensions in contributing to adequacy of old age incomes and the development of their market in the EU.
The European Commission Green Paper frames the debate on ageing by setting out the speed and scale of the demographic changes in our society, as well as the impact this has across our policies, and the questions we need to ask ourselves in response. This covers everything from promoting healthy lifestyles and lifelong learning to strengthening health and care systems to cater for an older population. It underlines the need to bring more people into the workforce, highlights the opportunities for job creation and looks at the impact of ageing on our careers, wellbeing, pensions, social protection and productivity.
The Green Paper takes a life-cycle approach, reflecting the universal impact of ageing on all generations and stages in life. In doing so, it highlights the importance of striking the right balance between sustainable solutions for our welfare systems and strengthening intergenerational solidarity.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
In the framework of the Integrated Projects 2020-2021 of the European social dialogue, SGI Europe participated in the second Cluster Seminar on Circular Economy for social partners from Finland, Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain, on Thursday 28 January 2021.
The project aims to assess the impact of the circular economy transition on employment, labour markets and working conditions. To this purpose, the Cluster seminar participants had the chance to exchange views and good practices of the adaptation to the circular economy and to discuss the preliminary results of the study accompanying this project.
The three sessions of the Cluster seminar presented where Slovenia, Finland, Spain and the Netherlands stand with regard to the transition to Circular Economy, as well as the impacts that the shift towards circular economy model could have on employment volume, on competitiveness, on organisation of work and the working conditions.
SGI Europe highlighted the challenges faced by the services of general interest providers regarding the circular economy transition and reaffirmed SGIs determined involvement in designing and implementing the solutions for delivering high quality sustainable public services according to the current and future environmental demands.
Contact: Ștefan Enică
This Wednesday 27 January, the European Parliament’s Committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) have officially adopted its own-initiative report on the New Circular Economy Action Plan (NCEAP). The report, adopted with 66 votes in favour, 6 against and 7 abstentions was prepared by Jan Huitema (NL, Renew) and should be endorsed by the plenary in February.
SGI Europe strongly supports the principle that “no waste is the best waste”. Preventative measures are key and for a good reason on top of the waste hierarchy legislation. SGI Europe also calls for an effective system to develop an end of waste criteria at EU-level, along with new requirements for recycled content for proper product categories. Improving the enforcement of the waste hierarchy in every Member State will contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emission.
In their report, the MEPs focused on three main circular economy dimensions: environment protection, job creation and economic growth. The new proposal covers the entire product cycle, from product policy over key value chains and sectors to waste policy. It also calls on the European Commission to propose binding EU targets for the reduction of EU’s material and consumption footprint and for the reduction of the use of primary raw materials as well as a proposal on product-specific binding targets for recycled content.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
Yesterday [Thursday 28 January], The European Commission has decided to prolong until 31 December 2021 the State aid Temporary Framework adopted on 19 March 2020 to support the economy in the context of the coronavirus outbreak, whilst expanding its scope by increasing the ceilings and by allowing the conversion of certain repayable instruments into direct grants until the end of next year.
Taking into account the continued economic uncertainty and prolonged government measures to limit economic activity in order to stop the spread of the virus, the amendment also increases the ceilings set out in the Temporary Framework for certain support measures:
With regard to limited amounts of aid granted under the Temporary Framework, the previous ceilings per company are now effectively doubled (taking into account the availability of de minimis support). These can be combined with de minimis aid of up to €200,000 per company over a period of three financial years, subject to complying with the requirements of the relevant de minimis.
For companies especially hit by the coronavirus crisis, with turnover losses of at least 30% during the eligible period compared to the same period of 2019, the State can contribute to the part of the fixed costs of companies that are not covered by their revenues , in an amount up to €10 million per company (previously €3 million).
The Commission will also enable Member States to convert until 31 December 2022 repayable instruments (e.g. guarantees, loans, repayable advances) granted under the Temporary Framework into other forms of aid, such as direct grants, provided the conditions of the Temporary Framework are met. In principle, such conversion may not exceed the new ceilings for limited amounts of aid (€225,000 per company active in the primary production of agricultural products, €270,000 per company active in the fishery and aquaculture sector, and €1.8 million per company active in all other sectors). This aims to provide incentives for Member States to choose, in the first place, repayable instruments as a form of aid.
SGI Europe is currently looking for a Policy Officer – Services of General Interest, Internal Market and Competition. You can find all the information on the vacancy here.
Contact: Manuela Mattiello
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