8 July 2022
On Friday 1 July, the Czech Republic started its Presidency of the Council of the EU, following the French Presidency. Various representatives of the Czech government participated in the European Parliament's plenary sitting this week, including the presentation by Prime Minister Petr Fiala of the priorities for the upcoming semester on Wednesday.
During his introductory remarks, Prime Minister Fiala presented the main priorities for the Czech presidency. Articulated around the need to mitigate and absorb the impact of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the Czech presidency will mainly focus on five main strands of work, namely:
Following the extension of the membership candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova in June 2022, the EU enlargement will remain a prominent feature of the Czech presidency. An informal summit, to be held in Prague in October, will bring together the EU Member States and EU neighbours (regardless of their status regarding EU enlargement). A dedicated conference on Public Procurement will be held on 3-4 October 2022 and on Energy Poverty on 24 October 2022. The informal EPSCO, gathering EU ministers of employment and social affairs and social partners, is scheduled for 13-14 October 2022.
Ahead of those events, SGI Europe is preparing its policy kit, presenting our key messages about the priorities of the Czech presidency.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
On 5 July, SGI Europe, with the support of its member Employers of Poland, organised the third training session in Warsaw as part of the project 'Involving SGIs in the European Semester', co-financed by the European Commission. The meeting, gathering SGI Europe members, was dedicated to the policy contents of the European Semester, and the future work of the National Semester Contact Points network.
You can find a summary of the meeting here.
Contact: Stefan Enica
On 6 July, in its plenary session, the European Parliament rejected a motion to oppose the inclusion of nuclear and gas in the EU Taxonomy, as proposed by the European Commission with a complementary Delegated Act on 2 February 2022. 278 MEPs voted in favour of the resolution, 328 against and 33 abstained. An absolute majority of 353 MEPs was needed for Parliament to veto the Commission's proposal.
With this vote, the European Parliament did not object to the Commission's complementary Delegated Act (CDA) to include specific nuclear and gas energy activities, under certain conditions, in the list of environmentally sustainable economic activities covered by the so-called EU Taxonomy.
The Council still has until 11 July 2022 to possibly veto the proposal. If neither European Parliament nor Council objects to the proposal, the CDA will enter into force and apply as of 1 January 2023.
In line with its position on the draft CDA, SGI Europe welcomes the outcome of the vote, as it ensures the inclusion of natural gas and nuclear in the EU Taxonomy framework, helping to recognise the contribution of gas and nuclear activities to the energy transition. With demanding criteria to be met, these two activities will support the increase of renewable energies in the EU energy mix.
SGI Europe will continue, via its seat in the Platform for Sustainable Finance and standalone activities, to closely monitor and ensure the successful implementation of the EU Taxonomy.
Contact: Ariel Carpanini
On 5 July, the European Parliament held a final vote and approved the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA), following the deal reached between Parliament and Council on the two proposals. The Digital Services Act was adopted with 539 votes in favour, 54 votes against and 30 abstentions. The Digital Markets Act - with 588 in favour, 11 votes against and 31 abstentions.
The objective of those regulations is to limit the domination of large platforms in the European Union and to end lawless areas on the Internet. The DMA will aim to prohibit anti-competitive practices by gatekeepers. Gatekeepers will now have to allow third parties to inter-operate with their own services, allowing smaller platforms to request dominant messaging platforms to open access to the service. There will also be a new requirement for "explicit consent" to deliver targeted advertising to strengthen the protection of personal data and limit advertising profiling. A real choice will have to be left to users to select their browser, search engine or virtual personal assistant. Finally, the European Commission will now closely monitor mergers and takeovers to limit acquisitions that aim at burying competition.
The DSA will better regulate online content and, in particular, limit abuses on social networks. Amongst others, digital service providers included in the scope of the regulation will require transparency regarding their algorithms, the rapid removal of illegal content, increased responsible marketplaces (control of the identity of sellers), and independent evaluations and audits.
Both proposals were the subject of dedicated paper positions (DMA – DSA). SGI Europe highlighted expectations for the EU to lead and set a global standard for a more competitive, non-discriminatory, responsible, and fairer online environment.
The Council of the European Union is now expected to approve the DMA in July and the DSA in September. As regulations, they will enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal, with enforcement expected to start from 2023.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
On Wednesday 6 July, the European Parliament adopted a report on the EU Action Plan for the social economy with 493 to 75 votes and 69 abstentions. The report, drafted by Jordi Cañas (Renew Europe, ES), outlines the Parliament's key recommendations on the EU action plan for the social economy.
The text underscores that the social economy is a dynamic and transformative driving force for change and the future of Europe, contributing to social integration and quality job creation. MEPs stress that to facilitate its even development across the EU, the legal and policy frameworks for the social economy must therefore be strengthened, including providing guidance on accessing available EU support instruments and guaranteeing its effective implementation.
SGI Europe particularly welcomes two proposals from the Cañas report. Firstly, the Parliament calls on the Commission to ensure that some InvestEU financial products – such as those targeting SMEs – are made available for social economy entities. These entities are mostly micro, small and medium-sized and would significantly consolidate the European social economy by benefitting from better access to EU funding. Secondly, regarding the upcoming revision of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), the Parliament invites the Commission to consider the specific needs of social economy entities regarding access to finance. This includes providing clarity and guidance to national authorities on the legal basis used to support social economy entities in state aid.
With its members, SGI Europe will continue to closely monitor the development and implementation of the EU Social Economy Action Plan, particularly the upcoming Council Recommendation on developing social economy framework conditions.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
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