23 October 2026
On 21 October, SGI Europe contributed to a debate organised by the EESC Employers’ Group on “Competitiveness as a driver of quality jobs”, alongside representatives from Eurofound, BusinessEurope and SMEunited.
Presenting the latest European Working Conditions Survey, Eurofound highlighted both encouraging improvements in job quality and continuing challenges related to work intensity, the social environment and psychosocial risks. These pressures are particularly significant in essential services, where workers in health, education, public administration and transport frequently face high workloads and difficult interactions with patients, pupils, passengers and service users.
SGI Europe stressed that the seriousness of these challenges should not automatically be interpreted as evidence of a legislative gap. The existing EU occupational safety and health framework already requires employers to assess and prevent psychosocial risks. The priority should therefore be to improve its implementation before creating additional and potentially overlapping obligations under the forthcoming Quality Jobs Act.
SGI Europe called for an implementation agenda as serious and measurable as any legislative agenda. This should include sector-specific risk-management tools, training for managers and workers’ representatives, stronger prevention capacity, effective enforcement and practical solutions developed through social dialogue. The updated European social partner guidelines on third-party violence and harassment provide a concrete basis for action in several public-service sectors.
SGI Europe also underlined that competitiveness and quality jobs are mutually reinforcing. Sustainable improvements depend on productive organisations, investment, skills and sufficient operational capacity. EU action should deliver tangible improvements in workplaces while avoiding procedural burdens that divert scarce resources away from prevention, innovation and the continuity of essential services.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
At its meeting on 19 October, the EPSCO Council held a first ministerial discussion on the forthcoming Quality Jobs Act. Ministers addressed algorithmic management, occupational health and safety, telework and the right to disconnect, subcontracting chains, and the digital and green transitions.
For SGI Europe, the discussion comes at an important moment. Europe must improve job quality while responding to labour shortages, skills gaps, demographic change and growing pressure on essential services. These objectives cannot be achieved through additional regulation alone. The Quality Jobs Act should support competitiveness, investment and the capacity of employers to adapt, while recognising the diversity of sectors, workplaces and national industrial-relations systems.
Existing EU employment and occupational-safety legislation already provides a substantial framework. Priority should therefore be given to its effective implementation, practical guidance, capacity building and enforcement where shortcomings are identified. Social partners must also retain sufficient space to develop solutions adapted to workplace realities, particularly regarding telework, psychosocial risks and the use of AI.
The Council’s recommendation on housing exclusion and homelessness is also relevant for services of general interest. Delivering its ambitions will depend on adequate investment in social housing and accessible local, social and healthcare services, as well as sufficient staffing and administrative capacity.
Ministers also linked equality and non-discrimination to competitiveness and labour-market participation. This is a welcome direction: mobilising Europe’s workforce potential requires inclusive workplaces, accessible services and sustained investment in skills.
The Council debate should now encourage the Commission to pursue a balanced Quality Jobs Act grounded in evidence, subsidiarity and social dialogue, with implementation taking precedence over unnecessary new legislative layers.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
On 20 October, the European Parliament adopted its negotiating positions on changes to extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements under the Environmental Omnibus package. These address requirements to appoint authorised representatives for packaging, batteries, textiles, footwear, electrical and electronic equipment, and single-use plastics.
Parliament supports a temporary exemption for EU-based micro and small enterprises selling products in other Member States. This would apply until 1 January 2035 or until a horizontal EU EPR framework becomes applicable, whichever is earlier. Other producer obligations would remain unchanged.
Parliament also calls for harmonised registration and reporting procedures, interoperable digital systems and better information exchange between authorities to reduce fragmentation while maintaining traceability and enforcement across national EPR schemes.
In the same week on 21 October, the Council agreed its negotiating position on packaging. Its approach would allow exemptions for EU-based producers placing less than one tonne of packaging annually on another Member State’s market. The mandate includes safeguards addressing non-compliance and a Commission review by the end of 2030, ahead of expiry in 2032.
The institutions must now negotiate their different approaches. Neither position constitutes final legislation. For SGI Europe, simplification should preserve the polluter-pays principle and reliable financing for municipal collection, sorting and recycling, supported by effective producer registration and enforcement.
Ahead of the forthcoming Circular Economy Act, SGI Europe calls for coherent EPR rules that reduce unnecessary administrative burdens while safeguarding environmental ambition, public service financing and investment certainty. Producers’ responsibilities must remain enforceable, with clear obligations and reliable revenue flows supporting the infrastructure needed for Europe’s circular economy transition.
Contact: Henriette Gleau
On Thursday 22 October 2026, a delegation of SGI France members, with support from SGI Europe secretariat, met with Andreea-Diana Barbu, a member of Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné’s cabinet, to discuss the revision of the EU public procurement framework. The delegation comprised Fedepel, EDF, SNCF, USH, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and RTE.
The meeting provided an opportunity to present three priorities: effective simplification, proportionate transparency and an operational Made in EU approach.
The delegation called for effective simplification, reducing administrative burdens and strengthening legal certainty through interoperable digital tools. The need for flexible procedures allowing negotiation, adjustments to tenders and contract modifications, while preserving flexible framework agreements, particularly for utilities and concessions, was at the core of the discussion.
The exchange also allowed SGI Europe members to share their priorities for proportionate transparency. They made clear that publication and reporting requirements should focus on useful information, while protecting commercially and strategically sensitive data, particularly for critical infrastructure operators. These requirements must preserve legitimate public-public cooperation and public authorities’ freedom to organise services of general interest.
Finally, the delegation highlighted the importance of an operational Made in EU approach, supporting European products, strategic value chains and industrial sovereignty. For them, proportionate requirements must safeguard service affordability and quality, allowing flexibility for unavailable supply, disproportionate costs, excessive delays or urgency. Clear EU criteria and verification tools should avoid burdening public buyers.
SGI Europe looks forward to continuing this dialogue and advancing these priorities through the next stages of the revision.
Contact: Benoit Cassorla
On 21 October, the Council adopted its negotiating mandate on the proposal covering simplification of data protection, privacy, data legislation and cybersecurity reporting, which is part of the Digital Omnibus package (Omnibus VII).
The Council’s mandate introduces targeted amendments to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), maintaining the existing definition of personal data while clarifying rules on pseudonymisation. It also supports extending deadlines for notifying personal data breaches, introducing common compliance templates and simplifying certain information obligations for organisations subject to the rules.
Regarding the EU data framework, the Council proposes streamlined rules on data sharing and stronger protection of trade secrets. Public authorities would also be able to impose different conditions and higher fees for data reuse by very large companies. The mandate further simplifies cookie consent requirements under the ePrivacy Directive.
A key change concerns cybersecurity incident reporting. Instead of the Commission’s proposed single EU-level reporting point, the Council advocates establishing national entry points in each Member State, complemented by an EU-level information point and harmonised notification procedures across the different cybersecurity frameworks.
Interinstitutional negotiations on this proposal can begin once the European Parliament adopts its negotiating position.
SGI Europe supports genuine simplification of the digital rulebook, particularly through streamlined and harmonised reporting obligations. A single reporting platform could help reduce administrative burdens, alongside harmonised reporting deadlines and thresholds. Ensuring proportionality, providing practical guidance and allowing adequate transition periods for local and municipal operators are also essential, without weakening data protection or cybersecurity safeguards.
Contact: Raquel Carro-Andollo
Join us, stay informed
Subscribe to have all the latest news and developments delivered straight to your inbox.