Newsflash - 3 May 2024

SGI Europe's intervention at the closing event of the European Year of Skills

On Tuesday 30 April 2024, Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe General Secretary, addressed the political panel "Skills revolution: an imperative for the Europe of today and tomorrow" at the final event of EU Year of Skills - 'The European Year of Skills – what comes next?'.

The conference was a large-scale event where hundreds of participants shared successful skills stories and discussed the legacy of the European Year of Skills. The political panel featured speakers such as Nicolas Schmit, Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, João Albuquerque, MEP (S&D, PT), Christie Morreale, Vice-President of the Walloon Government, and representatives of the EU social partners.

The speakers reflected on what has been achieved in the European Year of Skills and what action is needed in the future. In her speech, Valeria Ronzitti focused on the impact of digitalisation on skills development and vocational education and training in SGIs. She stated that the digital transformation means that SGIs need to adapt to changing expectations from citizens and enterprises and provide continuous, simple, convenient and meaningful digital interactions with public services and access to services in a more personalised way. She further stressed the importance of a multifaceted strategy focused on significant investment in digital infrastructure, adapting curricula to include digital skills and comprehensive training for educators.

Contact: Guillaume Afellat

First meeting of SGI's Europe Internal Market Board of 2024

 On Tuesday 30 April, SGI Europe's new Internal Market Board met for the first time. The Internal Market Board will focus on transversal topics such as the development of the Single Market, sustainable finance, public procurement or competition policy.

The first meeting of the year focused specifically on two main topics: public procurement, including an exchange of views with the European Commission on green and social public procurement, and the EU Competitiveness Deal.

In the coming months, the Board will focus on highlighting the importance of SGIs for European economic competitiveness, advocating for a Green Single Market with strategic public procurement, and developing an Action Plan for SGIs with suggestions for the next Commission.

Contact: Ruben Sansom

The Council adopted the reform of EU economic governance

On Monday 29 April 2024, the Council of the European Union adopted three pieces of legislation to reform the EU economic and fiscal governance framework.

The reform's overall objective is to gradually reduce debt ratios and deficits in a gradual, realistic, sustained, and growth-friendly manner while protecting reforms and investments in strategic areas such as digital, green, or defence. At the same time, the new framework will provide appropriate room for counter-cyclical policies and help address existing macroeconomic imbalances. The new legislation will significantly improve the framework and provide effective and applicable rules for all EU countries.

SGI Europe has been calling for such revision of the EU economic governance framework for over a decade. SGI Europe welcomes the delivery of this revision on time for the upcoming 2024 EU elections. It highlights that the lift of the general escape clause has now been compensated with a proper reform featuring long-term planning. SGI Europe will remain vigilant towards the EU institutions to acknowledge the importance of public investment, structural interdependencies across the EU, and each member state's unique circumstances.

Contact: Benoît Cassorla

The Council adopts European Commission's proposal to delay reporting obligations for certain sectors in ESRS and third-country companies

On 29 April, the Council approved the directive to time limits for adopting the sustainability reporting standards under the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) of EU companies in specific sectors, particularly SMEs, and third-country undertakings in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Last year, the European Commission proposed to postpone the adoption of the reporting standards under the CSRD to 30 June 2026. This will allow companies to focus on the first set of the ESRS and a limited reporting requirement to transition to the reporting obligations.

The directive is part of the first package of measures to rationalise reporting requirements. It is consistent with the SME Relief Package, which aims to ease the burden of SMEs from reporting obligations. In parallel to this relief postponement, the EFRAG group launched this year a public consultation on the Exposure Draft ESRS for listed SMEs (ESRS LSME ED) and the Exposure Draft for the voluntary reporting standard for non-listed SMEs (VSME ED), which is still open for feedback by 21 May. After the evaluation, this will be a direct recommendation to the European Commission on how and when SMEs must report under the ESRS.

The directive has been adopted and will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union, which will enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication. 

Contact: Henriette Gleau