FIEC Newsletter – 18 Φεβρουαρίου 2020

The distribution of seats in the European Parliament (EP) has been modified following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

As from 1 February, the EP counts now a total of 705 seats compared with 751 (the maximum allowed under the EU treaties) before the UK’s withdrawal.27 of the UK’s 73 seats have been redistributed to other countries, while the remaining 46 seats will be kept in reserve for potential future enlargements.

The seat distribution takes into account the population of member states and follows the principle of degressive proportionality. That means that countries that are smaller in terms of population should have fewer MEPs than bigger countries. At the same time, MEPs from larger countries should represent more people than MEPs from smaller countries. In this way, smaller countries have a relatively stronger presence in Parliament.

On 17 February, FIEC attended a workshop, organised by EuDA (European Dredging Association), dealing with the issue of unfair competition by third country State-Owned Enterprises. The workshop brought together representatives from the European Commission and several industries in order to have an exchange on how to establish a level playing field on the EU internal market. The participants mainly reflected on three tools that could address market distortions: the International Procurement Instrument (IPI), the application of state aid rules to third country companies and potential trade defence instruments for services.

The AEIP (the European association of paritarian institutions), with whom FIEC and the EFBWW (European Federation of Building and Wood Workers) regularly cooperate, will organise their 12th Transatlantic conference with their Canadian and North American counterparts.
This year the conference will take place from 27 until 29 May in Brussels and it will focus on healthcare, pensions and social dialogue. FIEC will intervene on the latter.
You can find more information about this conference by clicking on the button below.

On 12 February, the current stormy climate conditions left us a miraculous slot of blue sky and shining sun to shoot the video of our forthcoming prevention campaign against undeclared work in construction.
This campaign is organised in the framework of a project (“Tackling Undeclared Work In Construction – TUWIC”, financed by the EU) of the EU social partners (FIEC and EFBWW) and will run in parallel of a cross-sectoral campaign organised by the EU Platform tackling undeclared work.
Our campaign will be launched at the occasion of the TUWIC final conference, on 19 and 20 March, in Zagreb, Croatia.
To be followed! #EU4FairWork