FIEC Newsletter – 22 Οκτωβρίου 2019

A delegation of our German member HDB-Bauindustrie came to Brussels for  meetings with EU officials and Members of the European Parliament.

During this visit a dinner debate with Commissioner Oettinger, to which FIEC was invited, took  place.
Amongst the various topics addressed he underlined the need for a united Europe, to be able to face the global environmental, social and economic challenges.

On 16th October, the activities of the European Labour Authority (ELA) were officially launched with the first meeting of its Management Board.
On the day before, the inaugural ceremony was attended by President Jean-Claude Juncker, Commissioner Thyssen (Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility) and Vice-President Dombrovskis (Euro and Social Dialogue). Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini was also present as his country will host the sit of the new Authority (in Bratislava).
The next meeting of the Management Board will take place on 3rd December. In the meantime, FIEC will make sure to get a seat in the stakeholders’ group of the ELA, where both employers’ organisations and trade unions will be represented.

A conference was held in Athens last week hosted by FIEC’s Greek member federation PEDMEDE. Keynote speakers were FIEC President Kjetil Tonning, FIEC Director of Technical and Environmental Affairs Sue Arundale, MEP Maria Spyraki and Dr. Antonios Panas. The event was opened by the Ministers for Development Adonis Georgiades and Nicholas Papathanasiou, the Minister for Infrastructure Konstantinos Karamanlis and Minister for Employment Domna Michailidou.  The theme was BIM and Construction 2050 and the panel presented some of the challenges and possible solutions for contractors, as they are faced with the transformation of the industry.  The livelink to the event can be found below. Some of the first speeches are in Greek but FIEC’s presentations are in English.
Livestreaming of the event available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08pmPecQ73s

On 16 October a call for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Transport Programme was launched making €1,4 billion available to co-finance sustainable transport projects. €650 million are allocated under the Cohesion envelope, i.e. only the 15 EU Member States eligible for cohesion funding can apply. €750 million are made available under the general envelope for which all Member States can submit proposals. Most of the amount is dedicated to pre-identified projects on the Corridors of the TEN-T Core Network, while smaller sums shall support safe and secure infrastructure, for example.

The CEF Transport programme has disposed of €23.4 billion for the period between 2014 till 2020. Most of this budget has already been used during the first two years which underlines the need for an increased budget for the next multiannual financial framework to ensure continuous financing in this key sector.

 

This year’s European Week for Safety and Health at Work raises awareness of “managing dangerous substances in the workplace“. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) collaborates with an extensive network of partners at a national level to raise awareness during this European Week, organising many events. Which includes conferences, competitions, training sessions, exhibitions and networking and good practice events.