FIEC Newsletter – 7 Ιουνίου 2022

“The uptake of innovative and future-oriented infrastructure is vital for strengthening EU competitiveness, for fostering the achievement of our environmental goals and for bringing Europe’s economy back on track” said FIEC President Philip Crampton at the opening of the Conference on Bridges maintenance held on 3rd June in Brussels.

The continuous maintenance of existing infrastructure is necessary to ensure an adequate quality level of the TEN-T network and it can substantially contribute to a more circular economy by prolonging the lifetime of infrastructure, thereby reducing raw material consumption and generation of waste, as well as contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions.

European Council President Charles Michel stated, on May 30th, that an agreement has been reached to ban export of Russian oil to the EU. This ban would cover over 2/3 of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for the war effort. This announcement followed an extraordinary European Council summit attended by EU leaders in Brussels to discuss the sixth package of sanctions against Russia.More specifically, leaders of the European Council said that they had agreed to ban 90 percent of Russian oil imports by the end of the year.  Delivery of Russian oil by tankers would also be banned. Nevertheless, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that an exemption would be made for the southern segment of the Druzhba pipeline going to Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic.

The embargo on Russian oil could have serious consequences on EU industry, including the construction sector. Indeed, several contractors have found it difficult to cope with the surge in energy prices in the last couple of months. Therefore, the impact of further sanction must be carefully assessed.

On 1st June, FIEC and EFBWW had the pleasure to welcome Mr Cosmin Boiangiu, Executive Director of the European Labour Authority (ELA), in the framework of their Social Dialogue meeting dedicated to labour and employment issues.
At this occasion, FIEC and EFBWW promoted some of the joint activities they run in the field of posting of workers and undeclared work in the construction sector.
Mr Boiangiu presented the main lines of the construction-related activities which will be organised by the ELA in 2023.
Both FIEC and EFBWW insisted that they are ready to support the ELA’s campaign on construction for a better functionning of the EU labour market.

On 1st June, the World Green Building Council, the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP) and the European Commission hosted the first ever Built4People Online Stakeholder Forum. Launched by the Commission in June 2021, Built4People (B4P) is a co-programmed partnership within Horizon Europe and aims to catalyse the transition to a people-centric, climate-neutral, sustainable and smart built environment that will achieve the goals of the Green Deal and sustain the objectives of the 2020 “Renovation Wave Strategy”.

Participants took a deep dive into aims, activities and impacts of the B4P Partnership and were given information about the wider European policy context and how it can stimulate innovation Europe’s built environment sector.

Whether you attended the inaugural forum or not, you can still join the Built4People Stakeholder community by clicking on this link.