FIEC Newsletter – 26 Ιουλίου 2022

The draft delegated act under the EU Taxonomy Regulation on the four remaining environmental objectives (the so-called Tax04 Delegated Act, or Environmental Delegated Act, including the circular economy objective) will not be published before October, according to the rapporteurs of the Platform on Sustainable Finance’s Technical Working Group, due to ‘delays’ on the side of the Commission and ongoing work on recommendations for certain additional technical screening criteria.

However, the Commission brought some light into the darkness surrounding the future of the Platform during the Plenary meeting of 13th July. It confirmed that a “Platform 2.0” will be established during autumn.

Following the plenary meeting of 13th July, the Platform Secretariat informed all members on 15th July about the extension of the (existing) Platform mandate to October. “Taking measure of the work still to be accomplished in the open work streams and in order to ensure a smooth handover to the platform 2.0., the Commission has decided to extend the mandate of the existing Platform until October”, the Secretariat said. The last Plenary meeting of the existing Platform will thus take place on 11th and 12th October.

The European Commission adopted an amendment to the State aid Temporary Crisis Framework on 20 June 2022. The Temporary Crisis Framework was initially adopted on 23 March 2022 with the aim of supporting the economy in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The amended Temporary Crisis Framework expands on the existing types of support that Member States can give to companies in need. For example, Member States will be able to grant limited amount of aid to companies affected by the current crisis or by the subsequent (counter)sanctions up to the increased amount of EUR 500,000 in sectors like construction.

Moreover, the Commission further clarifies the conditions under which Member States may grant aid to cover the recent spike in gas and electricity costs for companies. Among others, the amended Temporary Crisis Framework specifies that the aid may cover only up to 70% of the beneficiary’s gas and electricity consumption during the same period of the previous year.

The amendment complements the Winter Preparedness Package adopted on the same day.

Until 31st August, stakeholders can submit to the European Labour Authority (ELA) their digital solutions in the field of labour mobility.The proposed good practices will be displayed at the occasion of the ELA TECH conference 2022, which is expected to take place towards the end of the year in Bratislava.

For instance, the ELA is interested in solutions related to business/data analytics over extensive sets of data related to labour mobility, innovative information tools for workers and employers related to exercise of free movement of workers and companies, social security and compliance with the labour rules, or digital access to services for mobile workers and employers vis a vis national authorities responsible for labour mobility.

KHL, which publishes Construction Europe, is organising the Construction Sustainability Summit on 13 September. With presentations from experts in engineering, building design and contracting, this online (free) event will look at new ideas on energy use, materials, logistics and financing – developments that promise to turn construction projects green, while keeping a lid on costs. The programme and registration link can be found below.

The FIEC secretariat will maintain its service throughout the summer, albeit with a reduced staff owing to the holiday period. We look forward to bringing you more news and interesting information in a few weeks.

We wish all our readers a relaxing summer!

FIEC Newsletter will be back on  6 September