4 June 2021
On 1 June, SGI Europe and the EU Social Partners (BusinessEurope, SMEUnited and ETUC) met with European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Commissioner Nicolas Schmit to discuss the upcoming ‘Fit for 55 Package’. The Package, expected for July 2021, will propose to revise relevant EU legislations to deliver the increased greenhouse gas emission reduction target of 55%, without compromising on the fairness of the transition.
During the meeting, SGI Europe, represented by General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti, emphasised that SGIs have the highest interest in making this vision of a climate neutral Europe a reality, urging the European Commission to ensure that the new ambitions are aligned with all EU climate and energy files and take into account the related challenges that come with this ambition.
SGI Europe supports the need for an efficient carbon pricing to send an economic signal to market actors to allow decarbonisation by the most efficient final energy carrier, (electricity and, for sectors which are hard to abate, hydrogen). The ETS must provide a fair carbon price and create a level-playing field for all technologies to incentivise investments that foster the decarbonisation of the European economy.
The transition must also be just, both for workers and for citizens, providing qualified jobs and financing solutions to renovate homes and buy carbon-free appliances. To that aim, SGI Europe calls for deploying “Just-Tax transition plans” to accompany citizens, in parallel of the ongoing review of the Energy Taxation Directive.
Expected to be proposed on 14 July, the “Fit for 55 Package” will remain at the top of the EU agenda as a key set of proposals to implement the EU Green Deal and realise the ambitions of the EU in facing climate change.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
Last Friday, SGI Europe and the Employers Group of the European Economic and Social Committee organised a joint event “The EU Green Deal: From Vision to Action”.
Amongst others, speakers included Nathan Fabian, chair of the European Commission Expert Group Platform for Sustainable Finances, Stefano Mallia, President of the EESC Employers Group, Maria Espirito Santo, Deputy Director General at the Portuguese Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Valeria Ronzitti, General Secretary of SGI Europe, Filippo Brandolini, Vice-President of SGI Europe, and Jean-Eudes Moncomble, chair of SGI Europe Sustainability Board.
You can read the report of the meeting on our website, and re-watch it on Twitter.
SGI Europe had the opportunity to speak in the first panel of the High-Level Conference ‘’The role of regions and cities in delivering high quality apprenticeships for all’’, organized by the European Alliance for Apprenticeships and European Committee of the Regions on 3 June.
SGI Europe underlined the need to improve the professional guidance and to better communicate the role that apprenticeships can play in fostering employability and career progression. Also, SGI Europe emphasized that it is essential that apprenticeships cover a wide range of sectors and occupations to increase their attractiveness.
SGI Europe highlighted that the existing articulations between education and training programmes and the labour market are insufficient, especially in the context of the new skills demanded, such as the green skills. SGI Europe reinforced that in line with the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the opportunities for quality apprenticeships should be accessible for all, including the categories facing challenges in entering on the labour market.
Contact: Stefan Enica
On 2 June 2021, the European Commission presented the European Semester Spring Package, which focuses on providing fiscal guidance to Member States as they continue the process of gradually reopening their economies. This guidance aims to help Member States strengthen their economic recoveries, making the best possible use of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU.
Based on the Commission’s Spring 2021 Economic Forecast, the general escape clause will continue to be applied in 2022 and is expected to be deactivated as of 2023. The Commission’s guidance provides that fiscal policy needs to remain supportive in 2021 and 2022.
As part of the package, the Commission has also adopted a report to assess Member States’ compliance with the deficit and debt criteria of the Treaty under Article 126(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) for all EU Member States except Romania, which is already in the corrective arm of the Pact.
The Commission has also adopted a proposal for Employment Guidelines for 2021, the tenth enhanced surveillance report for Greece and post-programme surveillance reports for Ireland, Spain, Cyprus, and Portugal.
The Commission asserts in this package that Member States should make the best use of the unique window of opportunity provided by the RRF to support the economic recovery, foster higher potential growth and improve their underlying fiscal positions in the medium to long term.
In this context the Commission also states that the crisis has highlighted the relevance and importance of many of the challenges that the Commission sought to discuss and address in the public debate on the economic governance framework. Consequently, the Commission now believes that relaunching the public consultation on the framework will allow the Commission to reflect on these challenges and draw lessons.
The Communication confirms the Commission's intention to relaunch the public debate on the economic governance framework once the recovery takes hold. SGI Europe strongly welcomes this possibility as public services employers and providers strongly believe that the COVID crisis should allow Europe to draw the lesson that productive public investment in essential services and in key physical and social infrastructures should no longer be considered as a cost but as long-term investments in the future. The European Economic governance should provide a framework for these investments to take place in the future.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
With the votes in the Austrian and Polish Parliaments on 27 May, all Member States (MS) have completed the ratification process of the Own Resources Decision (ORD) which will now enable the European Commission (EC) to fast-track the Next Generation EU (NGEU) programme by starting to borrow in the capital markets already in June and making funds available under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
Two provisions of the ORD stand out as the key pillars of the EU’s strategy to recover from the fallouts of the pandemic:
The ratification of the ORD was in fact the precondition for the roll-out of the RRF, that with a financial envelope of €672.5 billion represents the central part of the NGEU providing Member States with the necessary support to set the recovery on track.
Next steps:
As of today, 23 Member States have submitted their recovery plans. According to the EC Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission will provide a first assessment of the plans in the second half of June.
The Council will then have a month to make its own assessment.
Therefore, with the upcoming Slovenian Presidency planning to have a decision at the July ECOFIN, the first payments of the RRF - with a pre-financing of 13 percent of the total amount allocated to each Member State – might be allocated in July.
Contact: Antonio Astolfi
On Monday 31 May, in the context of POLITICO’s AI Summit, Bostjan Koritnik, Minister for Public Administration of Slovenia, gave an update on their priorities on the digital policies, less than one month before the start of the Slovenian presidency of the Council.
The Minister clearly emphasised the Artificial Intelligence Law Act as a highly important file, where they will try to make as much progress as possible and to achieve an agreement on the joint position in December to start negotiating with the EU Parliament. Whilst the Artificial Intelligence can immensely contribute to the development of different sectors such as health, transport, agriculture, and tourism, it is at the same time important to reach high level of trust and responsible AI, which should focus on common interest and people. To improve the excellence of the AI, more efforts should be put in place to develop skills to fill the competence gaps. The Minister further explained that a smart regulation should never hamper the innovation.
Regarding other digital policies, the Slovenian presidency will continue its work on both the NIS 2 and on the DSA and the DMA. For the latter, the Minister however, pointed out that the effective enforcement is crucial for the success of the regulation and therefore, finding a common standpoint is necessary. Whilst he believes that the Portuguese presidency can still make big step forward, the goal of the Slovenian presidency will however be to reach an advanced stage of both files.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
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