ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Juan Díez de los Ríos, president of EFCI - the organisation representing the cleaning and facilities services sector at EU level - recently attended the Tripartite Social Summit, the forum for dialogue between the EU institutions and the European social partners at top management level.

The theme, ‘Progressing on the social and economic dimensions for a competitive, fair and sustainable Europe'. It was the first social summit to discuss a topic directly linked to climate change and its impact on the economy. Isabel Yglesias, EFCI director, also participated.

For the last time before the establishment of the new European Commission, the meeting was co-chaired by Donald Tusk (president of the European Council) and Jean-Claude Juncker (president of the European Commission). The Finnish prime minister Antti Juhani Rinne (head of state or government of the rotating presidency), the Commission's vice president for Euro and Social Dialogue (Valdis Dombrovskis) and the commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility (Marianne Thyssen) were also present.

The employers' delegation was composed of representatives from BusinessEurope (with its president Pierre Gattaz), SMEunited (association of crafts and SMEs in Europe, with its president Ulrike Rabmer-Koller) and the European Centre of Employers and Enterprises (CEEP), accompanied by the employer's associations from the trio presidency countries (Finland, Croatia and Germany) and the EFCI as sectoral association.

The agenda included the just transition to a climate neutral economy; investing in skills and improving access to adult training; and designing an industry policy fit for the future.

Juan Díez de los Ríos underlined the need to have a services-oriented policy mindset in order, for instance, to allow the services industry to rapidly integrate into the circular economy. He further highlighted the need to ensure wide access to basic digital and ‘green' skills and the need to ensure the application of existing legislation and cooperation with social partners in the drive to reducing the gender gap in the labour markets.

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