FIEC welcomes the rejection of the European services e-card by the European Parliament
On 21st March, the IMCO Committee rejected the legislative proposal for a European services e-card, following the previous rejections of the EMPL, JURI, ITRE and ECON Committees. FIEC is relieved that this proposed legislation will not interfere with its efforts to ensure both a functioning Internal Market and respect for the law. The acceptance, by a majority of MEPs, of the construction industry’s arguments and warnings against possible negative consequences of this proposed legislation must not be understood as opposition to Internal Market. On the contrary, it is an important signal that the Internal Market freedoms and the enforcement of the law have to go hand in hand, in order to be efficient and acceptable. FIEC sees this as a clear indication for the European institutions that close cooperation with the relevant stakeholders is necessary to develop tailor-made solutions to improve the Internal Market for the construction industry.
FIEC President meets President of the European Committee of the Regions
On 20th March, Jean-Louis Marchand met Mr. Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the European Committee of the Regions since July 2017. The goal of this meeting was to discuss the FIEC objective of promoting and developing the regional arm of the Juncker Investment Plan. This would provide more visibility to regional and local projects, on the basis of the existing European Investment Projects Portal (EIPP). Due to his professional and political background, Mr. Lambertz is very interested in investment issues at regional and local level. During the meeting, both Mr. Marchand and Mr. Lambertz agreed that, currently, the constraints under the Stability and Growth Pact are slowing down long-term investment for growth and jobs.
Paris is the venue for the annual Stakeholder Forum, for the Digitising European Initiative (DEI) hosted by the European Commission. The event, which opens today, gathers together all the different actors involved in the digital value chain, such as the European Commission, Member States, national initiatives, industry representatives, SMEs, academia and Digital Innovation Hubs. Amongst other things, participants will share experiences, exchange best practice and discuss the implementation of the DEI initiative.
New EU-OSHA campaign on ”dangerous substances” to start in April
In April the EU-OSHA Agency will launch its new campaign 2018-2020 which will focus on “dangerous substances”. The aims of this campaign will be :
To raise awareness of the importance of preventing risks from dangerous substances.
To promote risk assessment by providing information on practical tools and creating opportunities to share good practice, focusing specifically on eliminating or substituting dangerous substances in the workplace and on the hierarchy of prevention measures.
To heighten awareness of risks linked to exposure to carcinogens at work by supporting the exchange of good practice.
To target groups of workers with specific needs and higher levels of risk by providing tailored information as well as examples of good practice.
To increase knowledge of the legislative framework that is already in place to protect workers, as well as highlighting policy developments.
Companies and organisations interested in these topics can join the campaign as “partner”. All the information about this campaign can be found by clicking on the button below.
