FIEC Newsletter – 24 Νοεμβρίου 2020

Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, responsible for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, opened FIEC’s General Assembly meeting on 20th November with a keynote speech.The portfolios under her responsibility are crucial for the construction industry, in particular in the light of the EU Green Deal and the digital transition.

Commissioner Gabriel urged the industry to be more vocal and more present in the EU research programmes, as well as in the new European Bauhaus initiative.

She insisted on the need to invest in skills and education and to strengthen the links with universities.

Finally, Commissioner Gabriel invited FIEC to have regular dialogue with her.

Last week, the European Construction Sector Observatory of the European Commission published a study on investing into OSH and its benefits for construction companies, as well as 10 new OSH policy fact sheets.The study examined the overall impacts of OSH prevention on the economic performance of construction companies, at micro-economic level. As a result, a Financial Tool was developed to calculate the return on investment in OSH for a company, with a number of illustrative case studies from companies across the EU.

The policy fact sheets focus on the national OSH policies influencing the development of the construction sector in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Latvia, Poland, Sweden and the UK.

In a recently published document the European Commission sets out its plans regarding the revision of the guidelines for the development of the trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). This entails a proposal FIEC has long been advocating for: the introduction of quality requirements to ensure the safety of structures such as bridges. If implemented, this would trigger a series of maintenance operations along the EU’s transport network.