6 May 2022
On 29-30 April, Pascal Bolo, SGI Europe President, and Valeria Ronzitti, General Secretary, participated in the last Plenary session of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) in Strasbourg, during which members reached a consensus on common proposals.
Based on the recommendations from the European Citizens’ Panels, the National Citizens’ Panels and events, ideas from the Digital Platform as well as discussions held during the Conference Plenary and Working Groups, the 49 final proposals include more than 300 specific measures across 9 different topics.
Addressing the Plenary, President Bolo welcomed the proposals and the interactions with citizens as a very positive reality check demonstrating that their demands echo some of SGI Europe’s core long-standing priorities and missions.
In particular, the call to boosting public and private investments in infrastructure and services stood out as a key linking feature, from health to climate, the economy, the education sector as well as Europe’s geopolitical standing, security and its democratic values, to concretely deliver on the citizens’ expectations.
With a report on the final outcome of the Conference to be presented to the Presidents of the three EU institutions (European Parliament’s President Metsola, Commission’s President von der Leyen and President Macron for the Council) during the CoFoE closing event on 9 May in Strasbourg, President Bolo stated that SGI Europe now counts on national and EU institutions to listen to the citizens’ demands and translate them into concrete initiatives.
He concluded by stressing that SGI Europe will continue to work with the EU institutions, and all the other actors involved, to transform those recommendations into reality.
Contact: Antonio Astolfi
On 4 May 2022, SGI Europe organised a panel dedicated to the Conference on the Future of Europe in the context of the Festival “Health and Safety at Work” organised by the Fondazione Rubes Triva in Urbino (Italy).
The theme chosen for the festival’s first edition is ‘participation as the new challenge of prevention’, aimed at creating a platform to gather expertise and experiences, studies and reflections on a wide array of issues related to health and safety in the workplace.
In line with the festival’s goal of providing an EU and international perspective, SGI Europe brought around the table keynote speaker Maroš Šefčovič (European Commission’s Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight), Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe General Secretary, Benedetto Della Vedova, undersecretary of State of the Italian Ministry of foreign affairs, Mario Leone, Director of the Institute of Federalist Studies Altiero Spinelli, Marco Cilento, Head of Institutional Policy at the ETUC, Federica Titas, President of the Students Council of the University of Urbino, Manuela Bora, Member of the CoFoE, and Ivo Raso, European citizens’ panel representative at the CoFoE, to discuss the outcomes of the Conference on the Future of Europe ahead of its official closing of Europe Day (9 May).
In that context, SGI Europe further confirmed its commitment to bringing to life the recommendations and supporting a fair and democratic EU future.
Contact: Antonio Astolfi
On 3 May 2022, SGI Europe, with the support of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) organised in Stockholm the second training session of the project ‘Involving SGIs in the European Semester’, co-financed by the European Commission.
The meeting, gathering SGI Europe members from all over Europe, was dedicated to the policy contents and reform priorities of the European Semester, and exchanging practices and identifying how to get better involved in the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans.
Read the summary of the training session our website.
Contact: Stefan Enica
On Wednesday 4 May, SGI Europe joined other European associations representing public transport and local authorities (UITP, CEMR, CER, Eurocities, EMTA and Polis) in signing a political statement expressing concerns about the revision of the PSO Regulation interpretative guidelines. You can read the political statement here.
In 2021, SGI Europe was involved in the consultation process as a relevant stakeholder and was requested feedback on the European Commission’s draft revision of the Interpretative guidelines of PSO Regulation (Regulation 1370/2007). On 10 February, SGI Europe responded to it by highlighting that the draft guidelines in some areas go beyond the text of the regulation and contain new and questionable interpretations of the Treaty and case law. What is particularly harmful is the narrowing down of the definition of Public Service Obligation by imposing on national authorities to demonstrate a demand for those services. The ex-ante assessment of the existence of demand is harmful since it does not take into account parameters such as environmental compliance or quality of the services.
The stated goal of revision of the Interpretative Guidelines being to facilitate the green transition, SGI Europe and the co-signatories of the joint statement highlighted that only promoting quality public transport can successfully reduce pollution while ensuring that no one is left behind.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
On 2 May 2022, in the aftermath of Russia’s decision to suspend gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria, EU energy ministers held an Extraordinary Energy Council meeting to discuss the EU's level of preparedness in the event of a supply crisis as well as solidarity and emergency measures to strengthen and better coordinate the exchange of information.
This extraordinary Council was also an opportunity for the ministers to recall their solidarity with Ukraine and with the Member States affected by the suspension of gas deliveries, which was implemented despite existing contracts.
Ministers took stock of possible additional actions in terms of security of supply, gas transit and management of gas stocks in the short-term. They reaffirmed their commitment to work towards the gradual elimination of the EU's dependence on Russian fossil fuels, with great interest in the REPowerEU plan, which will be presented by the Commission during the present month of May.
In its Position on the REPowerEU Initiative, SGI Europe contributed to the upcoming plan by bringing the expertise from SGIs involved, throughout the entire energy value chain, in the implementation of the short-, medium- and long-term measures to reach the REPowerEU objectives.
Contact: Ariel Carpanini
On 12 May 2022, the European Commission will organise a hearing of the social partners – including SGI Europe – dedicated to the issue of access to essential services. Principle 20 of the European Pillar of Social Rights provides that everyone has the right to access essential services of good quality and that support for access to such services shall be available for those in need. The principle also provides a list of these essential services, which includes water, sanitation, energy, transport, financial services, and digital communications.
Having access to water, sanitation, energy, transport, financial services and digital communications is essential to meet basic needs. The ability to access them is a critical aspect of social and labour market inclusion and an important determinant of well-being, including for disadvantaged groups. Moreover, these facilitate access to other services that fulfil an enabling function, such as education, long-term care, housing, labour market, and social services. The future report will aim at bringing together in a comprehensive and structured way all available evidence and information in relation to access to essential services to those in vulnerable situations, whilst pointing to existing knowledge gaps.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
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