FIEC discusses housing crisis at “Construma Budapest”
On 25 March, Joël Schons and Laurenţiu Plosceanu, both FIEC Vice-Presidents, participated in the Construma trade exhibition taking place in Budapest, upon the invitation of FIEC’s Hungarian member federation EVOSZ.
Responding to the conference’s theme “At home in Europe – a dialogue on housing”, both FIEC representatives highlighted that housing has become a critical challenge across Europe. Rising costs, regulatory burdens and labour shortages are limiting supply, while sustainability goals add further pressure. At a time where 650.000 new homes must be built every year to close the EU’s housing gap, they welcomed the European Affordable Housing Plan and called on stakeholders at all levels to seize the opportunities offered.
The construction sector is ready to deliver, but we need a strong public-private cooperation, housing-friendly policies and, in the first place, faster permitting: public authorities must go digital and BIM (Building Information Modelling)-friendly to drastically accelerate building permitting procedures.
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European Labour Authority consults EU social partners on subcontracting liability
On 25 March, FIEC participated in a workshop organised by the European Labour Authority (ELA) and the European Commission and dedicated to EU social partners on the issue of liability schemes put in place by Member States in the field of subcontracting.
Most participants shared views on how to better support enforcement and promote compliance with subcontracting liability rules. FIEC highlighted that subcontracting is a useful and necessary model for contractors in many situations, more and better data are needed to properly assess the realities and challenges, whatever the legislative scheme in place, efficiency relies on controls, field inspections and sanctions, contractors need to be equipped with the right tools to be able to control who they are doing business with, and last but not least, there are already good practices in the construction sector, including sectoral social ID cards, mostly developed by sectoral social partners at national level.
The input shared during the workshop will contribute to a report, including a mapping, that the ELA is expected to publish during Summer 2026 on national liability schemes in subcontracting.
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Launch of the new “Industrial Forum”
On 27 March, Domenico Campogrande, Director General of FIEC, attended the first meeting of the new Industrial Forum, in which FIEC represents the construction industry.
The Industrial Forum is coordinated by the European Commission (DG GROW) and gathers representatives of the Member States, of the main industrial sectors and European Institutions. The new mandate covers the period 2026-2029 and the main objectives of the Industrial Forum are :
- Information sharing on key policy initiatives;
- Consultation on early-stage Commission initiatives;
- Collecting business intelligence;
- Gathering industry feedback and input on simplification and enforcement of the Single Market.
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Social dialogue for construction: meeting of the Working Group on “VET and Youth”
The first sectoral social dialogue meeting of the year for the construction sector was held on 25 March. The meeting of the Working Group “VET (Vocational Education and Training) and Youth” gathered more than 30 participants from FIEC and EFBWW (European Federation of Builders and Wood Workers) affiliates.
European Commission’s representatives also attended the meeting to present upcoming initiatives such as the Skills Portability Initiative, part of the Fair Labour Mobility package, the Construction Services Act and the VET Strategy. Participants discussed their priorities and concerns on these files.
DG Grow and Ecorys also presented the recently launched European Construction Observatory and the analytical report on skills.
European Parliament publishes a draft report on Mental Health at Work
The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament published a draft report on psychosocial risk, stress and mental health at work, containing a request to the European Commission for a legislative initiative. Estelle Ceulemans (S&D, Belgium) is the rapporteur.
The draft report, which will be presented during the EMPL meeting of 15 April, “requests that the Commission submit, by the end of 2026, a proposal for a directive on work-related psychosocial risks, stress and mental health at work“. The draft report proposes among others :
- “calls on the Commission and Member States to explicitly recognise that work-related psychosocial risks give rise to occupational diseases”;
- to introduce a mandatory psychosocial risk assessment which should lead to an annual action plan to prevent, eliminate or reduce work-related psychosocial risks;
- to introduce a right to disconnect;
- to have a comprehensive return-to-work policy.
FNTP at FIEC: the European Commission outlines priorities for construction
The strategy is structured around four main pillars :
- Reducing material costs by improving access to raw materials and fostering the development of secondary materials markets, notably through circular economy initiatives and digitalised pre-demolition audits.
- Supporting innovation, both from the supply side (development of innovative materials and construction methods) and the demand side, including through public investment and new financing tools such as dedicated instruments developed with the European Investment Bank.
- Simplifying the regulatory framework. The Commission is currently analysing national rules, in particular regarding construction permits, with a view to identifying best practices and potential areas for convergence. Digitalisation is seen as a key lever, including through the rollout of digital product passports and more integrated data systems to reduce administrative burden.
- Addressing remaining barriers to the free provision of construction services across the internal market, with further initiatives expected in this area by the end of the year.
The exchanges also highlighted a number of challenges raised by industry representatives, including the cumulative impact of regulatory requirements on costs, the need for greater flexibility in public procurement (including the use of variants), and the importance of addressing issues such as insurability of recycled materials, access to energy and the limits of electrification in construction equipment.
Finally, the Commission recalled ongoing governance work through the High-Level Construction Forum, with the next plenary meeting scheduled for 30 April, which will further contribute to shaping the policy agenda for the sector.
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High Level Construction Forum – Plenary meeting
FIEC will actively participate in the 6th plenary meeting of the High Level Construction Forum (HLCF) to be hosted by the European Commission (DG GROW) in Brussels on 30 April. The event will debate the strategic challenges faced by the construction ecosystem and how the EU institutions, together with the sector stakeholders, may address them in the future.
Joël Schons, Vice-President of FIEC will intervene as speaker.
The forum is bringing together policymakers, Member States and industry representative with a focus, among others, on the implementation of the European Strategy for Housing Construction, part of the broader EU Affordable Housing Plan.
Check out the forum agenda, which includes a plenary session and 3 workshops exploring how to translate the strategy into concrete actions.
Read full FIEC news article for more information.
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