9 May 2025
On 29 April 2025, under the LABOUR-INT 3 project, SGI Europe organised the first Expert Group on Skills Matching (EGSM) meeting. The Expert Group brings together representatives from the EU-level social and economic partners, national stakeholders from Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, and Slovenia, and experts in labour market integration and migration policies working in international organisations.
The EGSM has been established to develop guidelines on improving skills-matching and the recognition of third-country nationals’ (TCNs) qualifications across the European Union. For this reason, during the first meeting, the discussion was centred around the content of the two deliverables: an assessment of current skills-matching practices for TCNs in the European labour market, and a report on recognising both regulated and non-regulated qualifications.
Participants welcomed the decision to adopt a multi-stakeholder perspective, grounded in national realities. They underlined the need to build on lessons learned from the previous editions of the LABOUR INT project and better link EU-level initiatives with practical experiences from the ground.
The EGSM will continue its work in the coming months to finalise the two documents by the end of September 2026. In parallel, SGI Europe will launch and kick-start the work of two additional expert groups focusing on ensuring decent employment conditions and welcoming services, further supporting the comprehensive objectives of the LABOUR-INT 3 project.
Contact: Cecilia Martin
HOSPEEM (European Hospital and Healthcare Employers' Association) and EFEE (European Federation of Education Employers) signed, together with other sectoral social partners for Hospital and Healthcare, Education, Local and Regional Governments, Hotels, restaurants and cafés (Hospitality), and Central Governments, the updated European Multi-sectoral Guidelines to Prevent and Tackle Third-Party Violence and Harassment Related to Work. This follows a six-month round of negotiations in 2024 with the financial support of the European Commission.
HOSPEEM Secretary General Marta Branca said on the occasion: "Updating the guidelines on preventing third-party violence and harassment, reflecting how technology has progressed since the first guidelines as well as introducing a gender-responsive approach, is an important moment for us as social partners in the hospital and healthcare sector. It reflects our shared commitment to creating safe and supportive working environments with trade unions."
“We are proud to have been part of these multi-sectoral negotiations to tackle third-party violence and harassment. As a social partner, these efforts reaffirm our commitment to creating safe, respectful environments where school leaders, teachers, students, and other education personnel feel protected and supported. This is a meaningful step forward for the well-being of everyone in schools", said Daniel Wisniewski, EFEE General Secretary.
More information on HOSPEEM and EFEE websites.
Contacts:
For HOSPEEM: Leonie Martin
For EFEE: Monika Hoang The
The European Commission held a hearing on 5 May 2025 with EU social partners to discuss the forthcoming Quality Jobs Roadmap, a key strategic document expected in Q4 2025. The roadmap is intended to complement the Clean Industrial Deal, the Competitiveness Compass, and the Union of Skills, focusing on three core dimensions: working conditions, digitalisation, fair transitions, and horizontal enablers such as childcare, access to finance, and legal clarity.
During the hearing, the Commission confirmed that the initiative will combine legislative and non-legislative measures. It reiterated that the roadmap will not define “quality jobs” at the EU level, opting for a flexible, multi-dimensional approach.
Emphasising that job quality must be linked to a broad definition of what productivity and competitiveness means, SGI Europe underlined the structural constraints faced by employers in services of general interest, such as fiscal limits and demographic pressures, and called for simplification, guidance, and investment in care, housing, and other enabling infrastructures.
Other employers' interventions also emphasised the importance of flexibility, subsidiarity, and respect for national labour market models. Warning against overregulation and a one-size-fits-all approach, employers called instead for better use of existing frameworks and more focus on enabling conditions such as skills development, funding access, and legal clarity.
Contact: Astrid Nordberg
On 13 May 2025, the Intergroup on Social Economy and Services of General Interest will hold the event on “The Revision of Public Procurement Directives – Setting the scene for Social Economy, Services of General Interest & the EU”. You can find the agenda here.
SGI Europe, together with the Social Economy Europe and MEPs involved in the European Parliament’s intergroup, will organise the second event of the Intergroup on Tuesday 13 May 2025, from 10:30 to 12:30 at the European Parliament in Brussels (room Antall 6Q1).
Focused on the revision of public procurement directives, this event will be the occasion for Services of General Interest and Social Economy providers to promote their views on the topic.
We are also glad to announce that Roxana Minzatu, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness, will address our event with a keynote speech. This will also be the occasion to hear the views of Yoland Diaz Perez, Second Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Work and Social Economy and Katarzyna Nowakowska, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy for Poland.
Contact: Benoît Cassorla
On 6 May, SGI Europe, together with 12 other EU organisations, including representatives from the drinking water and wastewater sectors, local and regional governments, civil society, social partners, trade unions, and water-related technology providers, signed a joint letter addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
In the letter, the signatories urge the Commission to uphold the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme set out in the recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD).
The EPR scheme is highlighted as a cornerstone of the directive, requiring the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, responsible for 92% of micropollutants in wastewater, to finance at least 80% of the costs associated with advanced ‘quaternary treatment’. This ensures that the financial burden of improved wastewater treatment does not fall disproportionately on public services or households.
SGI Europe fully supports this fair and future-oriented mechanism, protecting water quality, fostering innovation, and strengthening circularity. Weakening the EPR scheme would unfairly shift costs onto public operators and citizens. SGI Europe, therefore, calls on the Commission to preserve this essential provision of the UWWTD, which is critical to achieving the EU’s environmental, public health, and social objectives.
The letter was also sent to Commissioner for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Stéphane Séjourné, Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy Jessika Roswall, and Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, responsible for Economy, Productivity, and Better Regulation. The signatories call on the Commission to remain steadfast in upholding the polluter-pays principle at the legislation's core.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
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