FIEC FLASH – JANUARY 2008Published 1/2/2008
European Construction Industry Federation
FIECFLASH
N°55, JANUARY 2008 - PUBLISHED 10 TIMES A YEAR
SUMMARY
Editorial Daniel Tardy, President
I. Steering Committee, Council and General Assembly
1.Steering Committee
2.Council
3.Congress/ General Assembly
II. Current issues
A. ECO
1."Lead Markets": Commission initiative for innovative markets
2.Taxation : reduced VAT rates
3.Eurostat : construction output up by 0.6% in the €-area between September and October
B. SOC
1.European Qualification Framework (EQF) : FIEC is partner in a project led by HDB
2.The European Commission presents its 2007-2010 action plan for job mobility
3.The "Viking" and "Laval" cases : a delicate balance between 2 EU fundamental rights
C. TEC
1.TEC-1: Single Market package for Goods, draft EU-Regulation on Construction Products.
2.Commission’s Draft Proposal for a Regulation on Construction Products
3.Parliament adopts a Resolution on the Commission’s Action Plan for energy efficiency
D. SME
New SME Working Group – first : meeting 4/3/2008
E. MEDA
1. MEDA newsletter
F. Speeches/ Presentations on behalf of FIEC
G. Members Corner
New President SE – Sveriges Byggindustrier (BI), Mr Leif Stridh
1. Current deadlines for response
2. Internal forthcoming meetings
3. EIC / CICA / Member Federations
4. External Meetings
EditorialDaniel Tardy, President
In introducing this 55th issue of FIEC Flash, the very first one of 2008, we would like to convey to all our readers, our best wishes of good health, happiness for themselves and their families as well as much success in all their endeavours !
Last year’s editorials highlighted the responsibility of contractors, namely their obligation to make a profit (today’s employment depends on yesterday’s investments, hence on the day before yesterday’s profit margins), the will to ensure ethical behaviour in our companies (provided they are not totally isolated in their efforts), and also the will to strive for increased social responsibility.
Today, I would like to emphasize the collective awareness (better late than never…) of the necessity to fight against the excess of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the unavoidable (it is just a matter of time) process of exhausting fossil fuels, which themselves produce these emissions, contributing to the warming of the planet.
Fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions go in hand in hand, but total energy consumption is far more important, which sometimes obscures the aims to be achieved and the means to be implemented.
Europe’s goal is to reduce its energy consumption by 20% of which transport accounts for 28% and buildings for 40%.
For some years efforts have been made to reduce energy consumption (mainly fossil fuels) in transport, thanks to the promotion of multi-modal urban transport and new energy-saving engines, using various fuels. There is no doubt that progress has been made, but in awaiting the technological leap forward expected with photovoltaic cells and hydrogen batteries, the transport sector, closely linked to our wealth creation model, must be dealt with carefully, as a standstill in the development of the European transport infrastructure would put our economic model at significant risk.
Existing buildings account for 40% of energy demand in Europe. Reducing the demand in buildings will not put our economic model in danger, on the contrary the action required will boost employment.
From an energy consumption balance of 380 kWh/m2/year in some office buildings, we can achieve a balance of 30 kWh/m2/year in the “3-litre” house, or even achieve a zero balance in “zero-energy houses” (or better still: energy positive buildings).
A reduction of 20% in European energy consumption without any risk for our economic model could be achieved simply by reducing to 120 kWh/m2/year the average energy consumption of the built environment. The technical means exist, the political will seems to be under way. We just need to secure the funding which could be recouped later by savings in energy consumption. Owners and occupiers are not necessarily the same people, therefore incentives must also be created to encourage tenants to carry out the relevant works.
This is a wonderful opportunity for the construction sector, and the increasing number of young people looking for vocational training in our different branches reflects a real awareness that this opportunity is the common-sense approach.
FIEC, on behalf of the thirteen million employees throughout its small, medium and large enterprises, will do its utmost to get involved and support such a development.
This is indeed one of our major wishes at the beginning of 2008.
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FIEC FLASH – N°55, JANUARY 2008
Published by: FIEC, European Construction Industry Federation
Avenue Louise, 225– B-1050 Bruxelles/Brussel
Tel: (+32 2) 514.55.35 – Fax: (+32 2) 511.02.76 – E-Mail:–
FIEC FLASH – JANUARY 2008Published 1/2/2008
I. Steering Committee, Council and General Assembly
1.Steering Committee
Following the invitation of the Construction Fair Berlin (Bautec/Build IT), the next Steering Committee meeting will take place on 20th February in Berlin, in the framework of a Conference programme (20-21/2/2008) organized also with the support of our German member federations HDB/ZDB (see details in Mr.E 2008/001).
2.Council
a)The draft minutes of the meeting held in Brussels on 7/12/2007 are available on the FIEC website.
b)The next "Presidents' only" and General Assembly/Council meetings will take place in DUBLIN on 19th June 2008.
3.Congress/ General Assembly
a)Congress 2008: Dublin, Ireland, Thursday 19 – Saturday 21/6/2008
b)Congress 2009: Invitation received from our Spanish members
c)Congress 2010: Initial discussions under way
II. Current issues
A. ECO
1."Lead Markets": Commission initiative for innovative markets
In an effort to unlock market potential for innovative goods and services, the European Commission adopted on 7 January 2008 a Communication on the “Lead Markets Initiative for Europe” (LMI) [COM(2007)860]. The aim of this initiative is facilitate the development of 6 important markets with high economic and societal value, representing an annual turnover of more than €120 billion and 1.9 million jobs in the EU. According to the Commission, European enterprises (particularly SMEs) would profit from new fast growing world-wide markets. Through this initiative the 6 markets’ turnover may increase to over €300 billion and the number of jobs generated in the EU could reach over 3 million in 2020. The LMI will seek to foster the emergence of these markets by notably improving legislation, encouraging public procurement and developing interoperable standards, as well as by bringing visible advantage to Europe’s consumers in key domains for their welfare.
Representing 10% of GDP and 7% of the workforce, the construction sector is one of the 6 identified lead markets.
According to the European Commission, a different, more goal-oriented approach to construction in the form of a lead market on sustainable construction solutions is needed.
Indeed, buildings account for the largest share of the total EU final energy consumption (42%) and produce about 35% of all greenhouse emissions. Furthermore, the sector suffers from considerable administrative burdens and a high fragmentation.
Besides applying its better regulation policy, the EU may further render the regulatory framework more efficient and standardisation measures can introduce concepts relevant for sustainability.
2.Taxation : reduced VAT rates
After the unanimous approval of the ECOFIN Council, the European Parliament approved on 11December 2007 the extension, until the end of 2010 (as was already the case for those “old” member States that had decided to apply the “Reduced VAT” Directive), of certain lower rates of value added tax (VAT) negotiated by 5 “new” Member States (Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus, Poland and Malta) when they joined the EU in 2004.
As part of the drive to simplify and rationalise the confusion of European reduced rates of VAT, the Commission is to draw up specific draft legislation in 2008 in order to deal with the most controversial and urgent questions – namely on labour intensive services. Indeed, the last ECOFIN Council of 4 December 2007 did not enable Member States to give clear guidelines to the European Commission over how to continue its work on simplifying the EU reduced rate VAT system, leaving the ball in the Commission’s court.
According to the latest discussions within ECOFIN, two main groups of Member States can be distinguished : a first group of countries which doesn’t want any major extension of the reduced VAT system but will agree to consider which rates might be acceptable for certain services because of the effectiveness of reduced rate VAT in terms of stimulating growth and employment; whilst the second group of countries wants to be able to levy reduced VAT as long as the measures, applied mainly to locally supplied services, do not create an uneven playing field.
3.Eurostat : construction output up by 0.6% in the €-area between September and October
According to the latest information from Eurostat about the construction sector, seasonally adjusted production rose by 0.6% in the euro area (EA13) and by 0.3% in the EU27 in October 2007, compared with the previous month. In September, production decreased by 0.1% in the euro area, but increased by 0.3% in the EU27.
Compared with October 2006, output in October 2007 gained 2.4% in the euro area and 2.7% in the EU27. In September the annual growth was 0.9% and 2.9% respectively.
Monthly comparison :
Among the Member States for which data are available for October 2007, construction output rose in ten Member States and fell in three. The most significant increases were recorded in the United Kingdom (+8.9%), Portugal (+5.2%) and Spain (+4.2%). Decreases were registered in Sweden (-5.6%), Slovakia (-5.2%) and France (-0.2%).
Building construction rose by 1.1% in the euro area and by 0.2% in the EU27, after –0.1% and +0.5% respectively in September. Civil engineering remained stable in the euro area and grew by 0.3% in the EU27, after –0.1% and +0.2% respectively in the previous month.
Annual comparison :
Among the Member States for which data are available for October 2007, construction output rose in ten Member States and fell in three. The largest increases were recorded in Romania (+39.5%), Slovenia (+9.0%) and the Netherlands (+6.6%). Decreases were recorded in Sweden (-5.0%), Slovakia (-1.5%) and Germany (-0.7%).
Building construction rose by 2.6% in the euro area and by 2.9% in the EU27, after increases of 0.4% and 3.3% respectively in September. Civil engineering grew by 0.6%in the euro area and by 2.8% in the EU27, after increases of 1.7% and 3.3% respectively in the previous month.
Notes :
The production index in construction approximates to the evolution of output within the sector, broken down into building construction and civil engineering.
The seasonally adjusted euro area and EU series are calculated by Eurostat by aggregating the working day adjusted series from individual Member States and making an adjustment for seasonal effects on this series.
From 1st January 2007 the euro area (EA 13) consists of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland.
For further information on the ECO Commission please contact Christine Le Forestier at the FIEC Secretariat (; Tel:+32 2 514 55 35).
B. SOC
1.European Qualification Framework (EQF) : FIEC is partner in a project led by HDB
At the end of August 2007, the training institute of the construction association of Nordrhein Westfalen ("Berufsförderungswerk der Bauindustrie-NRW e.V."), member of D-HDB (Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie), applied for a grant from the European Commission (DG EMPL) for funding of a project in the framework of the EQF.
Behind the lead organisation of this project are several other EU bodies from Italy, Netherlands, Romania, participating as partners, among which FIEC.
The EQF, which received the full support of the European Parliament and of the Council of Ministersin October 2007, is a voluntary intersectoral framework put forward by the European Commission aiming at establishing links between the different qualification systems existing in the various EU member States, therefore facilitating their transparency and the mobility of workers across the EU.
The objective of the project is to study the feasibility at EU level of a construction specific "Sectoral Qualification Framework" on the basis of the EQF, which is horizontal and therefore not tailored for a specific sector.
In December 2007 the European Commission (DG EMPL) officially confirmed the award of a grant for the funding of this project, which will therefore now begin.
We shall keep you informed about the developments of this project.
2.The European Commission presents its 2007-2010 action plan for job mobility
In December 2007, EU Commissioner Vladimir Špidla, responsible for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, presented the European Commission's new action plan for promoting job mobility in the EU over the period 2007-2010.
Although the mobility of workers within the EU has increased, it has remained however at a relatively low level : currently only 2% of the citizens of the 27 member States of working age live and work in another member State of the EU.
The action plan lists 15 specific actions to be undertaken by the national, regional and local authorities, as well as by the EU authorities, in order to remove existing obstacles to mobility, which range from legal and administrative constraints to the cost and availability of housing, mobility of pensions, linguistic barriers and recognition of qualifications in the other member States.
These specific actions are contained in 4 main objectives :
- Improving social legislation, social security and the mobility of supplementary pension rights;
- encouraging the member States to include geographic and professional ability as a priority objective in their national strategies for employment and education and life-long learning;
- reinforcing EURES (the European Employment Services), which provides access to more than a million job advertisements;
- promoting innovative activities in the field of raising awareness, exchanging best practices and information.
Further information on the mobility of workers can be found on the following website :
3.The "Viking" and "Laval" cases : a delicate balance between 2 EU fundamental rights
In December 2007 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) announced its judgements in 2 known cases, "Viking" (case C-341/05 of 11/12/2007) and "Laval" (case C-438/05 of 18/12/2007), which address 2 EU fundamental rights, namely on the one hand the right for workers to strike and to take collective action and, on the other hand, the freedom of establishment and to provide services for enterprises.
Given the fact that the exercise of one of these rights may impede or limit the exercise of the other, the challenge for the ECJ was to provide a robust judgment that would allow space for both these rights to be applied.
Currently at EU level the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services are guaranteed respectively under Art. 43 and Art. 49 of the EU Treaty and are therefore considered as fundamental freedoms which are central to the effective functioning of the EU Internal Market.
As regards the right to take collective action, including the right to strike, it is currently enshrined in Art. 28 of the "Charter of Fundamental Rights", which will become legally binding once the new "Lisbon Treaty" is ratified by all 27 EU member States.
In the "Viking" case (C-341/05) the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) started a collective action against a Finnish ferry enterprise ("Viking Line"), operating on the link between Finland and Estonia. With the aim of lowering its costs, Viking wanted to reflag its ship "Rosella" by registering it in either Estonia or Norway, in order to be able to enter into a new collective agreement with a trade union established in one of those States. In order to impede this, the ITF sent a circular to its affiliates asking them to refrain from entering into negotiations with Viking and announced its intention to commence strike action.
In this case the ECJ recognised that collective action may be, in principle, justified by an overriding reason of public interest, such as the protection of workers, provided that such action is suitable for ensuring the attainment of the legitimate objective pursued and does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve that objective (in this specific case, it will now be up to the UK national court concerned to determine whether those conditions had been satisfied). In other words, according to the ECJ the right to take collective action, including the right to strike, must be recognised as a “fundamental right” which forms an integral part of the general principles of Community law, but the exercise of that right is none the less not unlimited, rather subject to certain restrictions.
In the "Laval" case (C-438/05), the Swedish trade unions started collective action against Latvian construction firm "Laval", which had won a contract for the renovation of a school in Vaxholm, in the Stockholm area. The Swedish trade unions started the blockade of the Laval's worksite after talks on the rate of pay received by Latvian posted workers failed and after Laval signed a collective agreement with a Latvian union, which defined an hourly wage corresponding to a calculated average wage in Sweden, but lower than the one applied in the Stockholm area. The boycott by the Swedish unions ultimately led to the bankruptcy of Laval's Swedish subsidiary.
This case directly concerns the practical application of the "Posting" Directive (1996/71/EC) and its transposition in national legislation.
In this case, the ECJ backed the argument of Laval, against the position taken by the Advocate General, saying that because no minimum pay levels are set by Swedish law, the trade unions had no right to force Laval to pay its workers a locally determined minimum wage and it also referred to a Swedish law prohibiting a strike to overturn a collective wage agreement, including one signed by a foreign company in its home country, which was the case of Laval. The ECJ therefore decided that such action in the form of a blockade of sites constitutes a restriction on the freedom to provide services and that it was not justified with regard to the public interest of protecting workers.
It is now up to the Swedish national court to follow up on the ECJ's judgement and it leaves little room for interpretation : changes in Swedish law will have to take place and there might be also implications in certain other Nordic countries as regards their systems of collective bargaining.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) expressed their strong disappointment against the judgement of the ECJ in the "Laval" case, highlighting in particular contradictions at EU level : on the one hand the Nordic countries are indicated as examples for the application of the principle of "flexicurity", whilst at the same time their systems of collective bargaining are put into question by this decision of the ECJ.