German construction SME wins European award for the integration of a refugee
During the closing event of the European Vocational Skills Week 2017 on 24/11/2017, the European Commission honoured the German owner-managed company Schleiff Bauflächentechnik from Erkelenz (member of BGV Düsseldorf, member of FIEC memberZDB) who won the “EAfA Award, Category SME” (see picture). Commissioner Marianne Thyssen presented Schleiff with the trophy in recognition of its special efforts to contribute to the integration of refugees.
| READ MORE |
Juncker Plan exceeds €250 billion in investment
According to the latest available information (meeting of the European Investment Bank Board of Directors of November 2017), the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is now expected to trigger more than €251.6 billion in investment. The deals approved under the EFSI amount to €49.6 billion in financing and are located in all 28 Member States. Around 528,000 small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) are expected to benefit from improved access to finance.
As of November, the top five countries ranked in order of investment triggered relative to GDP are Estonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal and Spain.
| READ MORE |
Report on Construction Products Regulation
Following interviews earlier in the year, to which FIEC contributed, a key report on the review of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) has been published. This marks one step in the review process and reports the findings of a study for the joint evaluation and impact assessment. The report broadly reflects FIEC’s input and considers issues such as the overlap of ecodesign/energy labelling with CPR requirements. This issue was also identified in the recent Fitness Check for the construction sector.
| READ MORE |