FIEC Newsletter – 12 Σεπτεμβρίου 2023

On 6th September the Boards of FIEC and EFBWW (European Federation of Building and Wood Workers) met in Brussels. The aim of these regular joint meetings is to continue strengthening the EU sectoral social dialogue for the construction industry.One of the main items on the agenda was the launch of the preparation of the next Social Dialogue work programme for the period 2024-2027, which will have to be adopted by the end of the year.

Other important topics have also been addressed, such as the forthcoming campaign of ELA (European Labour Authority) on construction; sub-contracting and the Memorandum of Understanding related to the reconstruction of Ukraine that will be signed by FIEC and the EFBWW in the coming weeks (further information on this will follow).

At its July plenary session, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), one of the EU’s consultative bodies composed of “social partners”, published new recommendations for a comprehensive water policy in the EU. Construction is cited as one of the main water intensive industries in the EESC recommendations.The EESC is due to present the opinions to the EU institutions at a “Call for an EU Blue Deal” conference on 26 October. The objective is for water to be one of the next European Commission’s top priorities in 2024.

In 2020, the The European Commission committed to develop a roadmap leading up to 2050 for reducing whole life-cycle carbon emissions in buildings.This open public consultation offers all stakeholders in the buildings value chain the opportunity to express their views on how they perceive the relevance of the matter and how to best address the whole life cycle emissions associated with buildings.

The public consultation can be accessed via the link below. It is open until 15 September.

According to a report published by the European Commission in July, additional investments of over EUR 620 billion annually will be needed to meet the objectives of the EU Green Deal.By far the greatest part of these will have to come from private funding, according to the “Strategic Foresight Report”.

On 6 September, the European Commission presented a new Communication on Digitalisation in Social Security coordination to facilitate free movement in the Single Market. The Commission emphasises the needs for further digitalisation to improve the coordination of social security systems, reduce administrative burden and to support fair labour mobility. In this regard, the Communication presents the different initiatives that exist and their progress and proposes future actions to accelerate the digitalisation in this area.The Commission calls on Member States to accelerate the implementation of the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) and to support the European Social Security Pass (ESSPASS) pilot project. Additionally, the European Labour Authority will have a key role in collecting good practices and facilitate exchanges between national authorities.

With their project SIDE-CIC, the EU sectoral social partners FIEC and EFBWW are exploring the different existing social identity cards schemes and the possibilities for a better interconnectivity between them.

The BIBM (Federation of the European Precast Concrete Industry) will hold its 24th Congress  in Amsterdam from 27 to 29 September. The participants will exchange about the future of contruction with a programme focused on green, digital, resilient precast concrete solutions.FIEC President, Philip Crampton, will intervene as guest speaker in the opening session to talk about the “Construction‘s future in the context of a green and digital society”.

The European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC), in partnership with European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) have launched a Call for Tender for external expertise in an EU funded project “Social Identity Cards in Construction” (SIDE-CIC).

Recently launched project ​​​​​​SIDE-CIC proposes a comprehensive mapping of current social identity card schemes in construction across the EU. Its aims is to assess opportunities, challenges, good practices, and the feasibility of interconnectivity among existing schemes.

Deadline to submit the offers: 15 September 2023.