FIEC Newsletter – 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024

On 17 September in Strasbourg, President von der Leyen presented her proposed college of EU candidate Commissioners for her new mandate. She explained that the proposed structure reflects the core priorities for the new term: prosperity, democracy and security. The whole college will be committed to competitiveness.

The Commission President also announced that her proposed structure will bring more flexibility and the Commissioners will have to work together. There are six Executive Vice-Presidents  (four women and two men). Among them, Teresa Ribera (Spain) for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Stéphane Séjourné (France) for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy and Roxana Mînzatu (Romania) for People, Skills and Preparedness.

FIEC welcomes, in particularly, the appointment of a Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jørgensen (Denmark), who will be looking at all aspects from energy efficiency to investment and construction. Although construction activity goes beyond the issue of affordable housing, we now have a clear political responsibility at least f the main issues of concern with which our sector is confronted.

Each Committee of the European Parliament will now organise hearings of the responsible Commissioner(s). The hearings should take place at the beginning of November. Once all Commissioners are approved, the European Parliament will vote on the whole College which will be able to start its work.

On 20 September, the European Commission reinforced its support for Ukraine by proposing a comprehensive financial assistance package consisting of a loan cooperation mechanism for Ukraine of up to €45 billion and an exceptional macro-financial assistance (MFA) loan of up to €35 billion.

This package takes advantage of the profits from frozen Russian assets. It is part of the efforts to ensure long-term and stable financial support for Ukraine’s recovery and resilience.

The Research Institute for Work and Society of the University of Leuven published a report titled “Unravelling the subcontracting chain in the construction works. Declaration of works in immovable property in Belgium”.The report provides a mapping of the subcontracting chains in the construction sector, in terms of size and profile. The report states that, in average, 5,6 (sub)contractors are involved in a subcontracting chain, with chains above the threshold of €500.000, having an average of 17 sub(contractors).

Regarding the length of subcontracting, it is in average 2,2 levels in general and 2,8 level for those above the threshold of €500.000. The report also looks at the country of establishment of companies involved in the subcontracting chains.

In the early hours of 11 September, the communist-era Carola Bridge in Dresden collapsed over the River Elbe. Fortunately, no injuries or fatalities were reported.

The 32m wide pre-stressed concrete bridge was built between 1967 and 1971 by VEB Brückenbau Dresden. It carried four lanes of road traffic and two tram tracks. Parts of the bridge had already undergone maintenance in phases between 2019 and 2024. However, the Dresden fire brigade has warned that other parts of the bridge are at “acute risk” of collapse. The section of the bridge affected by the bridge carries the tram lines.

Christian Tridon, Chairman of FIEC’s Structural Maintenance working group, explains that “bridge collapses are a reminder that bridges are the links in our communication ‘routes‘”. He adds that “their structure is fragile and their maintenance is a must. It is part of the necessary investment that our States must continuously budget for in order to keep the infrastructure functional and safe“.

Against this background, FIEC will once against be involved in EUROBRIDGE – a conference on bridge maintenance and safety in Europe. The next edition will take place on 11 April 2025 in Brussels.

The European Commission (EC) published a report on possible future “End-of-Waste (EoW) criteria of Construction & Demolition Waste (CDW)”.The aim of EU-wide EoW criteria is to improve market potentials and sales for the reuse of CDW with positive impacts on the environment. Therefore, the objective of the study is to support the EC with data and information on CDW as a basis to develop future EoW criteria. The study analyses impacts associated with secondary materials deriving from a list of ten ranked CDW streams.

According to the report, most involved stakeholders would be in favour of EU EoW criteria for their CDW stream.
The background data collection took place from March to November 2023 and involved about 100 stakeholders. The deliverables are now available. The EC may plan possible further steps towards the definition of EU-wide EoW criteria based on this report and its recommendations.