FIEC Newsletter – 10 Οκτωβρίου 2023

On 29 September, the Construction 2050 Alliance gathered to discuss the path towards the forthcoming 2024 European Parliament elections.

Through a forward-looking approach, the Alliance seeks to address key challenges faced by the sector, while harnessing its potential for growth and positive global impact.

The participating organisations and FIEC exchanged views on how to have sector’s voice heard during the pre and post-electoral season (of the European Parliament) and to convey the most urgent challenges and concerns.

With the industry facing inflationary pressure, increases in interest rates and a downturn in new contracts, the Alliance agreed that its communication actions over the coming months are pivotal. Key subjects to be addressed include the green transition, the need for new homes, the rebuilding of Ukraine, and the solutions the construction industry can offer to the market and society.

As MEPs and political parties will shape their political programmes over the next few months, and the Construction 2050 Alliance is planning to bring construction matters on top of the EU agenda.

On 1 October 2023, the EU’s new “Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism” (CBAM) entered into application in its transitional phase.In this first phase, CBAM will only apply to imports of cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen.

EU importers of those goods will have to report on the volume of their imports and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions embedded during their production, but without paying any financial adjustment at this stage.

The transitional phase serves as a learning period for all stakeholders (importers, producers and authorities). As of 2026, importers will need to buy certificates.

On 5 October, the new European Commission’s Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Maroš Šefčovič, and climate commissioner-designate Wopke Hoekstra (Netherlands), got the official confirmation of their new roles by the MEPs summoned in Strasburg. Both were asked to answer additional written questions, following a first round of hearings which did not fully impress the EP members.Commissioner Hoekstra served as second Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Foreign Affairs between January 2022 and September 2023.

VP Šefčovič is a Slovak diplomat and has been serving as Vice-President of the Commission for Interinstitutional Relations since 2019. He was also Commissioner for Energy from 2014 to 2019.

On 4 October, the members of the Steering Group of the EU-funded project “Social Identity Cards in Construction” (SIDE-CIC) met for the first time in Brussels.
The project – run by the setoral social partners EFBWW (European Federation of Building and Woodworkers) and FIEC, will map the current situation of social ID cards in the construction sector, identify the possibility for interconnection of the existing national schemes and contribute to defining the needs and possible regulatory gaps in the EU framework.During the meeting, participants shared their challenges and experience while working on social ID cards and discussed the next steps of the project. A representative of the European Commission was also present to introduce the participants to the communication on digitalisation in social security coordination that was published in September.

A new VIDEO OF THE MONTH is available on our Website and on YouTube: a teaser of our STATISTICAL REPORT 2023 to attract readers toward the exploration of data and the  development of construction activity across the EU.

Take a look at:- Activity of the construction sector
– Facts, figures & trends of the industry
– Analysis sourced from 23 countries and data for the EU
– Gross value added
– Investments
– Building permits
– And much more

You can surf the full digital Report at this link