FIEC Newsletter – 8 Απριλίου 2025

During the plenary session of 3 March, the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) confirmed the decision to start negotiations with the Council on the EU Talent Pool. With 327 votes in favour, 229 against and 50 abstentions, MEPs adopted their mandate. The Council adopted its position in June 2024.The Regulation establishing an EU Talent Pool was published by the European Commission in November 2023. The Talent Pool aims to facilitate the recruitment of jobseekers from non-EU countries through an online platform that will match job offers from employers in the EU with jobseekers from third countries.

FIEC welcomes this initiative but stresses that this should be easily accessible to employers and should not create administrative burden. Additionally, the role of sectoral social partners will be key for the implementation of the platform.

On 31 March, FIEC sent out a Press Release to clarify some points about the EU sectoral Social Dialogue “Construction”. The document was issued following the publication of misleading information, which questioned FIEC’s representativeness as social partner.FIEC has Member Federations in 24 Member States, and in 21, these organisations are involved in collective bargaining. Additionally and according to the outcome of the most recent representativeness study done on behalf of the European Commission, microfirms are 66,5% of FIEC membership in terms of companies affiliated to the national member organisations.

FIEC would like to recall that the representativeness study of the European social partner organisations in the construction sector concludes by reaffirming that “FIEC can be considered the most representative of the employers in the largest companies, SMEs and microfirms with employees in the sector”.

Italy will co-organise the second edition of the “EU-Ukraine Business Summit – On the Road to the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) 2025”, together with the European Commission and the Polish Presidency to the EU. The event will be hosted on 10 – 11 April at the Autoworld, Brussels, and will be opened by Antonio Tajani, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denys Shmyhal, Ukrainian Prime Minister and the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos.The summit is the second preparatory meeting in view of the URC 2025 of 10-11 July 2025, in Rome. Talks will focus, among other topics, on the financial instruments made available by the European Union for investing in the reconstruction. Starting with the Ukraine Recovery Facility, the invited guests will discuss on the reforms that can facilitate investment and improve the business environment.

FIEC President, Piero Petrucco, will intervene as speaker during the thematic workshop on “Reforms as enablers for critical sectors: public-private synergies in energy and infrastructure”.

Considering the potential accession of Ukraine to the EU, FIEC President will stress that buildings and infrastructure should be procured, designed and rebuilt sustainably, in accordance with the European standards. This implies strengthening institutional mechanisms for effective implementation and enforcement of EU aligned standards. And the country reconstruction should meet the social criteria in the use of EU funds in Ukraine. The EU-Ukraine Business Summit represents also a key opportunity to promote the mission and output of the joint FIEC-EIC Task Force “Ukraine”, important milestones such as the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between FIEC and the European Federation of Builders and Wood Workers (EFBWW). FIEC continue supporting its member CBU (Confederation of Builders of Ukraine).

Additional useful information and contacts for companies interested in attending the workshop is available on FIEC website on this page.

Last week, FIEC attended the European Labour Authority (ELA) Forum on the Posting of Workers. On the agenda of this 5th edition, since this Forum has been created, ELA and the European Commission discussed with national representatives and social partners about posted temporary agency workers, subcontracting and posting of workers, cooperation in the field of social security coordination, posting of third country nationals, cooperation in labour mobility via bilateral and multilateral agreements, as well as the ongoing work for a “remuneration tool” aimed at helping employers to calculate the correct remuneration of their posted workers.For the latter, ELA seems to look in the direction of the construction sector to do a pilot exercise. If this is the case, FIEC insisted that, for the success of the exercise, the sectoral social partners of the volunteering countries shall be involved.

Concerning temporary work agencies (TWAs), ELA is currently undertaking a mapping exercise of the various legislations applied at national level (i.e. legal definitions, licensing, processes, etc). In parallel, ELA started a peer learning exercise to help Member States better tackle frauds in this sector. The European Commission stressed however that a pure ban of TWAs in the construction sector was not a solution

Launched in 2022 by FIEC, EFBWW (European Federation of Builders and Wood Workers) and EBC (European Builders Confederation), the Pact for Skills in Construction aims to promote quality investment in vocational education and training, as well as in knowledge, skills and competences for the benefit of the European construction sector workforce. To achieve this, the Pact seeks to mobilise a concerted effort among private and public partners. With the launch of the Blueprint 2 project, the Pact will increase its ambition.All interested stakeholders are invited to join the Pact for Skills via this link.
(Don’t forget to indicate the Construction Large-scale partnership number: 626).
You can gain visibility and networking opportunities, access to EU funding and stay informed on skills trends and best practices.

FIEC is pleased to announce its participation in EXCEL4HOUSING4.0, a new project under the Erasmus+ programme. This initiative is dedicated to supporting the digital and green transition of the construction sector by strengthening skills development and workforce training for sustainable housing. The kick-off meeting will take place in Brussels on 2-3 June 2025, bringing together partners from across Europe to begin the project activities and objectives.EXCEL4HOUSING4.0 aims to build a network of Centres of Vocational Education and Training (CoVEs). These Centres will unite VET providers, academic institutions, research centres, innovation clusters, industry representatives and public authorities engaged in energy and sustainability programmes. Together, they will tackle the evolving challenges and skills shortages facing the housing and construction sectors. FIEC will have an active role in aligning training content with the industry’s demands, ensuring that training leads to employment growth.

Additionally, FIEC will contribute to provide feedback to EU policymakers and help shaping legislation that supports long-term workforce development.