31 October 2024
On Wednesday 30 October, Sauli Niinistö, former President of Finland, published its report “Safer Together – Strengthening Europe’s Civilian and Military Preparedness and Readiness”. Together with the Letta and Draghi reports, as well as the final report of the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture, this Niinisö report serves as a backbone of the political guidelines of the new European Commission.
As strengthening Europe’s preparedness is a matter of urgency in the face of a new reality marked by increased risk and deep uncertainty, this report assesses the complex challenges that the EU faces and develops recommendations on how to enhance the EU’s civilian and military preparedness and readiness for future crises.
It underlines the need for an ambitious new approach to preparedness and readiness, including around 80 recommendations for both short-term and medium to long-term actions. While the report focuses largely on security concerns prompted by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine (including the protection of critical infrastructures and the continued provision of SGIs), Niinistö warns that the “threat of war” should not be “undermining” EU efforts to prepare for climate change. Amongst others, Sauli Niinistö recommends to center climate resilience and adaptation in its next multi-year budget. It also calls for the EU to address the skills gap and risks of labour shortages during crises, including mapping the workforce and creating labour mobility mechanisms.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
As part of the evaluation process by the European Parliament and ahead of their hearings, the 27 Commissioners-designate provided comprehensive replies to the European Parliament's written questions. The European Parliament published those replies on Tuesday 22 October.
Regarding the topics of focus for SGI Europe’s Sustainability Board, key highlights were the need to develop an Action Plan for Affordable Energy and revise the Net-Zero targets, enhance the competitive and sustainable mobility plan via a Sustainable Transport Investment Plan, and bring to life a Water Resilience Strategy and a Circular Economy Framework.
In his replies, Wopke Hoekstra (Climate, Net Zero, and Clean Growth) has committed to contributing to the work of EVP-designate Séjourné on the Clean Industrial Deal by revising the EU’s climate policies to meet net-zero targets. Refining the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) will also be crucial to his mission to effectively cut emissions while ensuring long-term sustainability.
Jessika Roswall (Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy) will establish a European Water Resilience Strategy to address water quality, availability, and resilience, while ensuring the measures are tailored to the specific conditions of each Member State. She will, in particular, focus on the strict enforcement of existing laws, boost investments in water infrastructure, and reduce the administrative burden. Roswall will also implement a Circular Economy Act to stimulate demand for secondary raw materials, reduce dependency on primary resources, and create a unified EU waste market.
Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Sustainable Transport and Tourism) will aim to align environmental goals with the transport sector's economic needs. He plans to introduce a Sustainable Transport Investment Plan supporting energy transition and sustainable fuel production. Additionally, he will coordinate an EU Port Strategy to boost security, sustainability, and competitiveness across ports.
Finally, Dan Jørgensson (Energy and Housing) will develop an Action Plan for Affordable Energy to cut energy costs for households, industries, and energy-intensive sectors, supporting a clean energy transition.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
In their responses to the European Parliament’s written questions, several Commissioners-designate have touched upon topics relevant to SGI Europe’s Internal Market Board.
Amongst those, EVP-designate Stéphane Séjourné outlined that the Clean Industrial Deal will aim to support net-zero industries by ‘improv[ing] permits and access to infrastructures, access to energy and raw materials, access to public and private funding [and] access to skills and technologies’. Closely connected to that, the Circular Economy Act will seek to create incentives for using secondary materials. The revision of the legislative framework for public procurement will aim to promote buying European and buying green, while simultaneously simplifying procurement legislation, all in consultation with entreprises and local authorities.
On her side, EVP-designate Teresa Ribera will develop a new state aid framework that aims to avoid subsidy races between Member States but allows Member States to ‘provide swift and effective State aid as part of the Clean Industrial Deal’.
Raffaele Fitto also highlighted that overcoming regional disparities must remain the core of the Cohesion Policy and that local and regional authorities should be more involved in the decision-making processes related to the use of the Cohesion Funds.
Finally, Valdis Dombrovskis will coordinate the Implementation Dialogues, which all Commissioners will organise with stakeholders every six months, and lead the work on reducing the administrative burden.
Dan Jørgensen will exchange with Member States on how best to revise state aid rules for housing, balancing the need to maintain competition in the sector and to provide social housing for the most vulnerable. Additionally, he will work with Fitto to allow Member States to double their cohesion investment in affordable housing.
Their hearings will take place in the next two weeks, with Dan Jørgensen on 5 November (14:30-17:30), Valdis Dombrovskis on 7 November (14:30-17:30), and Raffaele Fitto, Stéphane Séjourné and Teresa Ribera on the 12 November (respectively at 9:00-12:00, 14:30-17:30 and 18:30-21:30.
Contact: Ruben Sansom
Finally, at the heart of the activities of SGI Europe’s Social Affairs Board, Roxana Minzatu (EVP-designate for People, Skills and Preparedness) provided written replies to the questions provided by the European Parliament (and in particular, the committee on Employment and Social Affairs and Culture and Education).
In her written response, Minzatu emphasises the creation of the Quality Jobs Roadmap as a critical component in achieving the 2030 targets on employment, skills, and poverty, alongside the to-be-proposed Action Plan for the EPSR and Anti-poverty strategy, both of which would also fall under her responsibility. The roadmap is also indicated to touch upon, or at least relate to, areas such as the right to disconnect, algorithmic management and fair labour mobility.
Minzatu’s response also places the development of a Union of Skills at the centre of the Commission’s strategy to address labour and skills shortages. Priorities include policies and investments focused on building basic and digital skills, boosting vocational education and training, and targeting the Commission's work on strategic fields such as STEM.
Her confirmation hearing in the Parliament will take place on 12 November and will be led by the EMPL and CULT committees, with the participation of the FEMM and LIBE committees.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
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