Before the European Parliament votes the new European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, into office, parliamentary committees assess the suitability of all commissioners-designate.

Parliament’s legal affairs committee identified conflicts of interests with two earlier candidates – László Trócsányi (Hungary) and Rovana Plumb (Romania) – while Sylvie Goulard (France) did not receive the support of the internal market and industry committees for the post of internal market commissioner. As a result, the three candidates had to be withdrawn and new candidates were proposed.

Each candidate commissioner is invited to a live-streamed, three-hour hearing in front of the committee or committees responsible for their proposed portfolio.

Learn more about the hearings process.

“Cold Case Hammarskjöld” (Denmark/Norway/Sweden/Belgium) by Mads Brügger, “God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya” (North Macedonia/Belgium/Slovenia/Croatia/France) by Teona Strugar Mitevska and “The Realm” (Spain/France) by Rodrigo Sorogoyen are the finalists of the 2019 Lux Film Prize.

You can book an interview slot with the film directors of this year’s finalist films by sending an email to eliana.dritsas@europarl.europa.eu by Monday 18 November at 12.00 at the latest.

Please note that requests cannot be guaranteed and will be confirmed only on Thursday 21 November, not earlier.

Leading OSH experts and decision makers from across Europe join forces with EU institutions and EU-OSHA’s national focal points, official campaign partners, media partners and social partners to reflect on the achievements of and lessons learned from the 2018-19 campaign Healthy Workplaces Manage Dangerous Substances. In doing so, they share knowledge and best practice and explore future strategies for the effective prevention and sustainable management of dangerous substances.

Many European workers are exposed to dangerous substances on a daily basis, and the use of hazardous chemicals is increasing. Our latest 2019 ESENER-3 survey confirms that 38 % of European enterprises report potentially dangerous chemical or biological substances in their workplaces.[1] EU-OSHA’s 2018-19 campaign has been very successful in raising awareness of the risks posed to workers and in promoting a culture of prevention.

Christa Sedlatschek, EU-OSHA’s Executive Director, highlights the Agency’s determination to create a risk prevention culture and how this has been reflected in the success of the campaign:

‘There has been an unprecedented level of engagement with the 2018-2019 campaign. More than 350 activities have been organised by EU-OSHA’s focal points in over 30 countries involving over 17,000 participants. The Healthy Workplaces Summit marks the end of this successful campaign, which will be carried further by providing practical tools and guidance to our audiences and by our ongoing involvement in the Roadmap on Carcinogens action plan.’

Parallel workshops — organised to encourage discussion among delegates — focus on:

• prevention measures for minimising exposure to carcinogens at work
• good practices and interventions
• the sustainable management and substitution of dangerous substances in production processes
• the future challenges for effective prevention 

A highlight of the summit is the Healthy Workplaces Good Practice Awards ceremony, which celebrates enterprises’ innovative contributions to improving OSH and promoting best practice. This year, 10 organisations are awarded and commended for their proactive and sustainable approaches to protecting workers from hazardous substances.

In the keynote speech, Greet Schoeters from the European Environment Agency, gives her perspective on how we can use the lessons of the past to inform and improve future practice.

The final session of the event looks at the preparations that are currently under way for the 2020-22 campaign — Healthy Workplaces Lighten the Load. This campaign — the first to run on a 3-year cycle — aims to raise awareness of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and promote the management and prevention of this widespread and very relevant issue.

The summit is being streamed live online, and all parallel sessions will be recorded and made available on EU-OSHA’s website.

Links:

The nine EU Justice and Home Affairs Agencies are marking the 10-year anniversary of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights by pledging to continue to respect and promote fundamental rights throughout the work.

“EASO’s mission is to support Member States in implementing a core Fundamental Right of the Union recognised by the Charter: the Right to Asylum.”, says Nina Gregori, Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). “This joint commitment by the Justice and Home Affairs’ Agencies is a great place to reaffirm our ongoing efforts towards implementing the Charter.”

The agencies have agreed to continue to promote and protect fundamental rights throughout their work. This includes ensuring their work always complies with the Charter.

They will continue to uphold fundamental rights in their working practices such as promoting gender equality and diversity at work.

They will also run awareness raising activities, staff training and joint training activities for Member States and third countries in order to increase awareness about the Charter and its entitlements.

In addition, they will continue to build and enhance their capacity to respect the Charter by sharing and exchanging best practices. This will form part of their regular network meetings of Justice and Home Affairs Agencies, chaired this year by the European Police Office (EUROPOL).

The nine agencies are the: European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA); European Asylum Support Office (EASO); European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex); European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE); EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA); European Police Office (EUROPOL); EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL); European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA); EU Judicial Cooperation Unit (EUROJUST).

It builds on a previous commitment by all EU agencies to strengthen fundamental rights’ protection in their work.

Read the statement in full here: 

The statement is being released during the 2019 Conference on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights to mark 10 years of the Charter. The event is organised by the European Commission and the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU and FRA. It takes place in Brussels on 12 November.

For more information about the JHA Agencies Network, please visit Europol’s website.