FIEC addresses road pricing issues at “TRA 2018” conference
On 18th April, Mr. Vincent Piron, Vice-Chair of the FIEC working group on “Infrastructure & Financing”, intervened at the 2018 conference of the Transport Research Arena (TRA), which took place in Vienna. In particular, Piron spoke in the session dedicated to “infrastructure and decarbonised transport”. It was the occasion for him to question the efficiency of road pricing schemes for the purpose of decarbonising road transport. In fact, road pricing seems more suitable for reducing congestion – and ultimately GHG emissions – in cities (i.e. via urban tolling). This is not so important when it comes to tolled roads for inter-urban connections, because of the availability of alternative routes. In this respect, alternative environmentally-friendly modes of transport should be encouraged.
Survey on users’ need for information on construction products – results published
Following the survey that was commissioned by DG GROW in the context of the revision of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR), in an attempt to find out what kind of information users really need (users being the people that install such products), the findings have been published. FIEC is in the process of assessing the report, published by Ecorys. DG GROW will host a validation meeting in May.
Making skills and qualifications more visible across the EU
At a moment in which companies in various Member States are facing difficulties in finding the right workers with the right skills, the revised Europass framework has recently been adopted. This revised framework aims at simplifying and modernising the Europass CV and other skills tools for the digital age. It will offer an e-portfolio for storing and sharing information, tools for people to self-assess their skills and tools for describing formal and informal learning as well as qualifications and thereby it will enable people across the EU to make their skills and qualifications more visible.
For the first time, Europass will also offer information to support career management including information on trends and demands in the labour market and on guidance and learning opportunities across Europe, helping policy makers to better anticipate labour market needs and trends.