The Flemish government is reforming the isolation subsidies. This is a good option according to both SERV and MINA (environmental advisory council) but at the same time they recommend additional initiatives. Flanders’ buildings and houses should be renovated at a much higher pace for reasons of climate, employment and the economy. Vulnerable groups should be backed, pioneers should be stimulated, those lagging behind should be forced to catch up and practical problems should be tackled by tailor made solutions.
For both councils now is the moment to invest in energy saving in housing and construction. This is not only a question of money but also of encouraging and energizing people to make their houses energy friendly and increase the comfort of renovating.

Compared to the end of 2014 the Flemish economy is growing with a slightly positive pace. However, the most recent forecasts seem to predict a new slowdown of the economic growth. International organizations (IMF, OECD) foresee for 2016 that global growth will be lagging behind and recovery will be limited in Europe.
Though economic activity will be supported by decreased energy prices and a flexible monetary policy in the Euro zone other factors can reduce economic growth such as: internal developments in the European Union, the Chinese growth decrease and the normalizing of the American monetary policy. Eventually these factors could also affect export, investment and jobs. The impact of the terrorist attacks on the Belgian economy will especially hit the tourist sector.

The Flemish social partners have formulated their vison for the policy agenda of the next 15 years. They invite government and other stakeholders to cooperate on well agreed priority actions of the broadly accepted objectives for 2030.
With the SERV Platform text ‘Flanders 2030’ the social partners are committing themselves to the vison 2050 of the Flemish government. SERV is willing to cooperate actively on the starting documents that should be ready before the end of 2016 for each of the transition fields chosen by the government. Social partners are looking forward to further dialogue with the Flemish government, the Flemish Parliament and the other stakeholders.

Sectoral partnerships must be at the center of the renewed dual learning processes in Flanders. SERV misses the central role for sectoral partners in  the draft decree of the Flemish government. Moreover SERV expresses his doubts concerning the modulation of the internships agreements in groups of more or less than 20 hours on the work floor. SERV is asking for concrete examples to demonstrate how this will work in practice. Finally SERV is asking for a rapid solution regarding the benefits for the pupils that should be fair if it is meant to encourage pupils to choose for dual learning.

VREG, the Flemish energy regulator proposes to extend the transparency regarding the origin of the delivered electricity, the so called disclosure. SERV is agreeing that transparency is important but thinks a further disclosure is at the moment rather premature. The cost and effects  are uncertain and the reliability is not ensured yet. A further discussion on the content of the energy invoice and the opening up of the energy figures is more needed.
SERV is asking VREG to apply disclosure carefully since there are doubts on the effectiveness in the development of green energy and of the impact on the market forces. To increase the transparency the market regulator should focus on other priorities, such as the monitoring of the energy prices and the “sleeping contracts??. SERV agrees with the proposals to match the Flemish disclosure arrangements with the common practices and the European guidelines as well as with those proposals that are meant to correct errors in the pending regulation.

For years the Flemish government, being one of the biggest employers in Flanders, is applying target objectives to hire more people belonging to the vulnerable groups in the labour market. Despite the efforts the results stay poor. The number of disabled or chronically ill persons employed in the Flemish public sector is actually decreasing. Therefore the Flemish social partners and the representatives of the target groups are calling for focused actions such as internships and student jobs to attract these specific groups. In this way they get acquainted to employment in the Flemish public service sector in order to evenutually acquire a regular job in the sector. Apart from this, it would be a good idea to focus more on competencies and not solely on diploma requirements. This can lead to more diversity in the staff.

SERV calculated that the actual pace of growth for stimulating innovation will not enable the government to reach the EU 2020 objective of 1% of the Flemish GNP invested in R&D.  At least 389 million EURO extra for economy and innovation are needed. Social partners advise the government to spread the extra sum over the next 4 years as it represents a rather high amount.

From 1st of May 2016 the ‘Competent’ team of SERV will move to VDAB. The decision of the Flemish minister for Work to do so is a step further in the implementation of the skills and career policy of the government. The transfer of the databank of ‘Competent’ will create new possibilities and applications. At the same time working with competences in the field of service providing the labour market will become a higher priority. The transfer will strengthen the mutual expertise of the Competent team and the team of VDAB. More news concerning the new work address, e-mail addresses and telephone number will follow.

Do you want to stay in touch with the reports and advises that are to be expected in the coming year ? Consult the year program of SERV 2016 in which you can find all projects and future activities of SERV: : social dialogue, strategic advisory council (SAR ) and study and research (STiA). The link with the Diversity Commission, the Commission of Social Economy and all other commissions can also be found in the work program.

SERV backs the actual participatory process to finalize a new decree on student guidance from September 2016 onwards. What today is going well should be taken up in the framework of the new decree. SERV thinks the concept note of the Flemish government is putting too much stress on (health)care. All pupils and students should be informed timely on the (range?) supply of study disciplines, on the health and welfare institutions and on the transition to the labour market of the future. Other stakeholders/partners can take up a role in the counseling or guidance  especially since part of the learning process takes place in the work place. Further on the CLB’s should invest more time in the vulnerable groups.