FIEC Newsletter – 14 Ιουνίου 2022

FIEC President Philip Crampton intervened in the European Parliament in a high level conference organised by MEP Iskra Mihaylova on “Digital and innovation challenges for construction in the context of the Green Deal”.

Several of the initiatives under the EU Green Deal, such as the Renovation Wave or the Energy Efficiency of buildings, can only be achieved with the direct and active involvement of the construction sector. The same is valid for many of the projects under the Recovery and Resilience plans.

On this occasion Philip Crampton highlighted the following messages :

It is therefore of crucial importance to bring closer the legislators and the representatives of the industry, in order to ensure that what is finally adopted adequately takes into account the political priorities on the one hand, as well as on the other hand the needs, the constraints and specificities of construction.

Mrs. Federica Brancaccio has been elected as the new President of our Italian National Association of Builders ANCE during the General Assembly held in Rome on 8 June. Mrs. Brancaccio is the first woman at the head of ANCE.President Brancaccio held key positions in the Naples Association of Building Contractors as Chairperson and previously as Vice-President of the Industrial Relations and Social Affairs Commission and as member of the General Council of ANCE.

FIEC wishes all the best to Federica Brancaccio and is looking forward to continuing with her the longstanding constructive cooperation with our Italian Member currently represented in the FIEC Steering Committee by ANCE Vice-President Piero Petrucco.

In its press release of June 10th, FIEC reiterated  that a one-to-one implementation of the Basel III agreement and stricter capital requirements for banks could have potentially damaging consequences for the construction industry.In particular, it would lead to a reduction in the purchasing power of clients as well as in companies’ investment capacities. In addition, as much as 440.000 jobs in the construction sector could be at risk.

On 6th June, the rapporteur in the responsible Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) of the European Parliament, Ciaran Cuffe (Greens/EFA/Ireland), submitted his draft report on the proposal for a recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). The draft report goes well beyond the Commission’s proposal in many areas.

It introduces, e.g., additional social safeguards and a proper regulatory, financial and advisory framework to support renovations for low and middle-income households. It also strengthens the ‘district level’ approach, which, according to the report, “will lead to a quicker and cheaper decarbonisation of the building stock”.

Most importantly, the draft report foresees that whole life-cycle emissions of buildings should progressively be considered in line with a EU methodology to be established by the Commission, for which Member States should determine whole life-cycle greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

In addition, the rapporteur proposes a new definition for  ‘sufficiency policies’, ‘one-step deep renovations’ or ‘energy plus buildings’. It is also noteworthy that minimum targets for the use of secondary raw materials are introduced for Member States.

On June 3rd, the European Union adopted its sixth package of sanctions against Russia. Belarus is also targetted due to its involvement in the aggression against Ukraine.The most recent package of sanctions contains a complete import ban on all Russian seaborne crude oil and petroleum products. This covers 90% of our current oil imports from Russia. Nevertheless, a transition period is in place to allow global markets to adapt. There is also a temporary exemption for pipeline crude oil to ensure that Russian oil is phased out in an orderly fashion.

Temporary measures should allow the EU and its partners to secure alternative supplies and also minimise the impact on global oil prices. This is particularly important as several EU industries have been hit hard by soaring energy prices.