29 November 2024
On Wednesday, 27 November, the European Parliament approved the college of Commission for the second mandate of President Ursula von der Leyen at the European Commission, paving the way for an entry into office on 1 December. 370 members of the European Parliament voted on Wednesday in favour, with 282 MEPs voting against and 36 abstentions.
Following the vote, SGI Europe expressed its satisfaction with the outcome, which ended a period of instability and political negotiations and confirmed the start of the new EU institutional cycle on 1 December 2024. Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe's General Secretary, commented that the new Commission will now need to build upon the past five years and a renewed commitment to the objectives of the EU Green Deal. SGI Europe calls for identifying and shaping an EU competitiveness model, balancing economic growth, social and territorial cohesion, simplifying the regulatory burden, and addressing the massive investment gaps.
SGI Europe looks forward to positively contributing to the EU agenda for the next five years and highlights the need to include SGIs – and the sectors in which they are active – at the core of the EU social and economic model.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
On Thursday 28 November, the A.C.C.E.S. project partners organised the first sectoral workshop dedicated to housing. The event brought together experts, policymakers, and practitioners from across Europe to explore essential aspects of defining and measuring the accessibility, affordability, and quality of housing while responding to the evolving challenges posed by climate change.
The workshop featured presentations from Isabelle Maquet, European Commission Semester Officer, and Hans Dubois, researcher at Eurofound, outlining the current indicators and how they are used regarding housing quality and resilience across the EU today. To further explore the topic, give a localised perspective and showcase how housing indicators are applied in practice, experts and practitioners from Austria, Belgium, France, and Spain shared their experiences and practices in collecting data on housing.
The event was a success thanks to all the participants who contributed their insights and knowledge to the workshop and the experts and organisations whose presentations gave context and inspiration. The insights gathered from the sectoral workshop will feed into the future work of the A.C.C.E.S. project and contribute to more accessible, sustainable and climate-conscious essential services.
Two more sectoral workshops dedicated to the energy and water sectors will be organised, respectively, in January and February 2025.
Contact: Cecilia Martin
Last Friday (20 November), SGI Europe joined and addressed the event organised by the European Trade Union Confederation to pay tribute to Emilio Gabaglio, ETUC General Secretary from 1991 until 2003, who passed away in October 2024.
Focusing on the legacy of Mr Gabaglio, this event – which gathered representatives from the European Parliament, the European Commission, national trade unions and EU employers' organisations – allowed a reflection on the evolution of social dialogue for the past 30 years and how intricate the relationship between social dialogue and democracy is.
Addressing the event, Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe General Secretary, highlighted in particular the first successful negotiations between EU social partners (ETUC, CEEP/SGI Europe and UNICE/BusinessEurope) on fixed-term contracts in 1999 and how this agreement paved the way to respect and mutual recognition, at EU level, between trade unions and employers' organisation.
Ms Ronzitti concluded her address by highlighting that "Emilio Gabaglio was not just an interlocutor; he was a builder of democracy. And it is our duty to ensure that his legacy continues to live on in the policies we adopt, the decisions we make, and the values we choose to defend."
Contact: Benoît Cassorla
The Commission presented on 26 November the first European Semester Autumn Package since the reform of the EU's new economic governance framework entered into force in April 2024. The Autumn package is the first step of a European Semester, delivering the objectives of the reform to make the framework simpler, more transparent, and more effective, with greater national ownership.
The European Semester Autumn Package comes as the EU economy returns to modest growth after prolonged stagnation. The Commission asserts that, while Member States pursue fiscal adjustment where needed, public investment is expected to increase in 2025 in almost all Member States, with a significant contribution from NextGenerationEU's Recovery and Resilience Facility and EU funds in several Member States.
In the package, the Commission includes its first assessment of the medium-term plans, its evaluation of the draft budgetary plans and the next steps to be taken under the excessive deficit procedure.
The Council and the Eurogroup will discuss the elements presented in the European Semester Autumn Fiscal Package. Once the Council has endorsed the medium-term plans, the Commission will monitor whether Member States respect the commitments contained within those plans for the whole period covered. Member States will present annual progress reports to facilitate effective monitoring and enforcement.
The Commission will present the second part of the European Semester Autumn Package, including the Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy, the euro area recommendation, the Alert Mechanism Report and the proposal for a Joint Employment Report, in the coming weeks.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On Monday 25 November, the OECD Global Deal published its 4th edition of the Global Deal Flagship Report, focused this year on 'Shaping Transitions to Decent Work: Social Dialogue for a Better Future'.
Highlighting how social dialogue fosters innovation, productivity, and quality jobs and contributes to shaping labour market transformations, the report focuses on five critical areas of action:
It also presents 14 case studies from Global Deal partners worldwide, providing actionable examples for policymakers and stakeholders. Amongst those, the EU Social Partners' Framework Agreement on Digitalisation is included as a good practice related to adopting AI in workplaces and how social partners can agree on a common approach.
The report is available on the OECD Global Deal website, with an executive summary and a brief introductory video.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
On Tuesday 19 November, SGI Europe participated in the Urban Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement meeting. The meeting took place in Haarlem (NL) and brought together a wide range of members of the partnership, including cities, regional authorities, governments, and expert organisations.
The partnership aims to encourage and facilitate the use of public procurement in a manner that contributes to innovation, sustainability and social welfare. It does so through advocacy efforts and providing a platform for procurers to share best practices.
One of the main recent achievements of the partnership is the launch of an online platform for sharing resources, such as e-learning modules, examples and other materials. It also includes a page for sharing news, events and blog posts.
Much of the meeting revolved around establishing the objectives for the partnership for the coming years. SGI Europe will be most involved in the platform's advocacy work. This will start by contributing to the platform's work on the public consultation on the 2014 public procurement package, which the European Commission will launch later this month.
Contact: Ruben Sansom
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