8 April 2022
On 5 April, SGI Europe attended the Plenary Meeting of the ESF+ Committee, where several topics were discussed, including the adoption by the Council of the Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) proposal, the ESF+ support for the integration of Ukrainian refugees and the proposal for a Council Recommendation on Just Transition.
On top of the CARE proposal introducing changes to cohesion policy rules to support emergency and integration measures, the European Commission proposed to increase by €3.4 billion the total pre-financing from the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU) for offering an injection of liquidity to Member States welcoming Ukrainian refugees.
The European Commission is also taking action regarding the recognition of skills and qualifications, including updating the EU Skills Profile Tool with a Ukrainian version, comparing the Ukrainian and EU Qualifications Framework, and preparing a web-based pilot Talent Pool to better match refugees’ skills with job vacancies.
In the context of the proposal of a Council Recommendation on Just Transition, SGI Europe underlined the importance of a dedicated approach that places access to essential services, as defined in the European Pillar of Social Rights, at the heart of the transition and balancing the environmental, social, and economic dimensions. As indicated in the proposal, this process needs to rely on reliable and accessible data and indicators regarding access to essential services. SGI Europe is keen to contribute to this discussion actively.
Contact: Stefan Enica
On Thursday 7 April, the European Commission organised a dedicated hearing of the social partners on the upcoming EU Care Strategy, providing more information about the timeline and specific purposes of the initiative and hearing the points of view of social partners on the main objectives and instruments.
The hearing was an opportunity for SGI Europe to highlight the role of SGIs in the care sectors. With a delegation of members from the healthcare and social care, SGI Europe puts forward during the hearing that the needs for professional carers are increasing whilst there is less and less staff available. The workforce in these sectors is also ageing, and the jobs are not attractive enough because of low pay and challenging working conditions. Social dialogue could be a key element to improving the situation, especially in Eastern and Central Europe, where there is a clear potential for the future social dialogue initiative to propose new tools for capacity building for social partners to be present in these countries.
The aspects of wages and working conditions are also linked to funding. There is a need to highlight the substantial investment needs and the potential return on investment. The job creation potential of investing in the care economy is essential. It could create millions of new jobs whilst favouring labour market participation and relieving the informal carers.
The strategy should be unveiled in early September and will be the first EU initiative on the care sector, building upon previous detailed reports on long-term care and childcare. Links will also be drawn between these future recommendations with the proposals for a directive on minimum wages (as many care workers are at minimum wage level) and the work-life balance directive (which created a European carer’s leave). In addition, the European Commission intends to encourage the care strategy further: policy reform to support better and more affordable access to quality services, further investment in care services, improve working conditions in the sector and reinforce the attractiveness of the sector, and address the burden on informal carers.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On 5 April, the Commission presented a Proposal for a Revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) to update and modernise rules to improve pollution prevention and control.
Updated rules will help guide industrial investments necessary for Europe’s transformation towards a zero-pollution, competitive, climate-neutral economy by 2050. They aim to spur innovation, reward frontrunners, and level the playing field in the EU market. The revision will help provide long-term investment certainty, with the first new obligations on industry expected in the second half of the decade.
The revision builds on the overall approach of the existing Industrial Emissions Directive, which currently covers some 50,000 large industrial installations and intensive livestock farms in Europe. These installations must comply with emissions conditions by applying activity-specific ‘Best Available Techniques’ (BATs). These techniques are determined jointly by industry, national and Commission experts, and civil society. The new rules will cover more relevant sources of emissions, make permitting more effective, reduce administrative costs, increase transparency, and give more support to breakthrough technologies and other innovative approaches.
SGI Europe will continue to monitor the developments under the IED and its implementation actively.
Contact: Ariel Carpanini
This week, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, confirmed during the plenary sessions of the European Parliament that the European Commission informed Hungarian authorities that the conditionality mechanism, linking EU funds to the respect of the principles of the rule of law, will be activated.
This new tool, which strained the negotiations of the EU’s €1,8 trillion seven-year multiannual financial framework, could lead to countries losing EU funds in case of systemic rule of law problems. Yet, the activation of the mechanism is likely to take months, potentially more than half a year.
The intention to move further with the process expressed by President von der Leyen comes after a letter sent by the Commission at the end of November 2021 asking the Hungarian government to explain ineffective prosecutions and problems in public procurement. The response from the Hungarian government in January was deemed insufficient by the Commission.
As part of the EU’s COVID-19 recovery fund, and on top of the €7,2 billion in grants requested in May 2021, Hungary recently backtracked from its initial position of not demanding the repayable support by requesting €9,6 billion allocation in loans.
The country’s Recovery and Resilience plan has been under extensive examination by the Commission. The Hungarian government accuses the European Commission of withholding its greenlight over the controversial law banning LGBTIQ content in public, whereas the Commission highlights as outstanding issue the need for more effective anti-graft measures.
Contact: Antonio Astolfi
On Monday 4 April, the Council adopted the regulation on Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE), amending the 2014-2020 legal framework governing the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and the Fund for European Aid for the Most Deprived (FEAD).
With the war in Ukraine pushing millions of people to leave their homes and seek refuge in the EU, the European Commission is now looking at how to support EU member states in tackling this humanitarian crisis. One of the sources of financing are the Cohesion policy mechanisms. In this context, the Cohesion’s Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) introduces the necessary flexibility in the 2014-2020 Cohesion policy rules to allow a swift reallocation of available funding to such emergency support.
The Commission proposed prolonging the implementation period for the funding available to Member States under the 2014-2020 Home Affairs Fund and other exceptional instruments to address the crisis. This reshuffling of funding should ensure that the basic needs of people fleeing the conflict (such as temporary accommodation, food and water supplies or medical care) are met whilst providing solutions for the long-term challenges in terms of housing, education, employment, health, social inclusion, care or social services.
The EU will provide support with four changes to the cohesion rules :
In the context of our activities on cohesion policy, SGI Europe will continue to monitor the developments and support the implementation of the measures.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
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