FIEC Newsletter – 18 Απριλίου 2023

In a Press Release published on 12 April (see “Read more”), FIEC welcomes the long-awaited publication of the draft “Environmental Delegated Act”, which contains draft technical criteria for the four remaining environmental objectives of the EU taxonomy, including for the “Transition to a circular economy”.FIEC considers that the proposed criteria for construction activities are more balanced than the recommendations in the Platform on Sustainable Finance‘s “Tax04 Report” (March 2022), and believes that there is still room for improvement, especially regarding certain proposed targets for the minimum use of secondary materials.

FIEC and its members will continue the dialogue with the European Commission, the other EU institutions and national authorities to ensure that the future criteria are usable and respond as much as possible to the reality of the effort construction companies can make to turn their activities into more sustainable ones.

The Live Leader Board, published by our media partner Construction Europe (KHL) and edited by Neil Gerrard, illustrates how the hierarchy of European construction companies has changed in a decade, from 2013 to 2022.  As showed by the animated graph based on data taken from the International Construction “Top 200” list and Construction Europe “Top 100”, French companies Vinci and Bouygues, Spanish firm ACS and German giant Hochtief have occupied the top 4 slots in the ranking.To read the full article and check more information and data about key business revenues, increases and losses of leading contractors, click on the below tab.

FIEC was pleased to welcome its colleagues from the Fédération Régionale des Travaux Publics d’Ile-de-France (FRTP) during their visit to the EU Institutions in Brussels.
The discussions focused on the main on-going EU key issues particularly interesting for the construction industry in the area of public works. Vis-a-vis talks also served as a momentum to deepen the FRTP’s understanding of the functioning of the EU Institutions, of the legislative process behind some target dossiers, which have a significant impact on companies at national level, as well as the role and the importance of FIEC within this framework.
Among the visitors were FRTP President Jose Ramos, the Secretary General Olivier Garrigue and the Deputy Secretary General Juliette Carrasco Graff.

On 14 April FIEC co-organised the 2nd Eurobridge conference dedicated to the maintenance and safety of bridges in Europe. The event debated the challenges needed, as regards the maintenance of infrastructure in general and in particular of bridges, to meet the EU Green Deals objectives and decrease the carbon footprint.By “bridging” dialogue between the EU decision-makers and the sector, the conference gathered about 100 participants, including EU officials, representatives of national authorities, research and innovation experts and the private sector. During its 3 roundtables (inspection and management; environmental impacts of bridges; new professions for bridge management), the speakers presented the latest highlights on bridge management also by illustrating best practice cases from several European countries.

With reference to the green and digital transition, Piero Petrucco, FIEC Vice-President ‘Sustainability’ and CEO of ICOP (Italy), stressed that “it is important that Construction Associations help companies on the path toward decarbonisation also by means of operational tools”.

Ensuring a well-maintained infrastructure was among the key messages delivered by José-Michael Chenu, FIEC Vice-President, in the opening session. “FIEC has repeatedly advocated on the importance of a regular maintenance of the existing infrastructure, the uptake of innovative infrastructure, and the swift implementation of these projects. All this is vital to meeting the EU Green Deal goals” –  he said.
He also reported how malfunctioning bridges could lead to higher economic costs and generate negative consequences on traffic flows.

FIEC has been very active in pushing for the most ambitious legislation as possible in this field, with a particular focus on the revision of the guidelines for the Trans-European Transport network (TEN-T), a first step towards filling Europe’s maintenance deficit.