Christmas news - A look back at the year
Christmas news
LSC – 12/2023
Dear Readers,
Christmas is nearly upon us and 2023 is slowly drawing to a close. Now is an appropriate moment for us to look back together.
The year got off to a festive start with
the 30th anniversary of the European Single Market and Sweden's Council
Presidency. Back in the spring, the European Commission (EC) gave the go-ahead
for many initiatives and legislative projects. An exciting and work-intensive
time began.
It included the pharmaceutical
strategy, on which we took a clear
position. We were also able to contribute to the EU's
initiative on mental health and the initiative to protect workers from the dangers of asbestos.
In March, we reviewed the draft
regulation covering the European
Health Data Space (EHDS) and came to the following conclusions: The draft
report contained many proposals that went in the right direction, whereas
others needed to be improved.
The EC published its revision of the
basic EU
pharmaceutical regulations after several delays. The five main objectives:
Access to and the affordability of medicines, promoting innovation, securing
supplies, strengthening environmental sustainability and combating
antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The first issue of our ed*
magazine for 2023 was published in June, with its focus on the
"challenges of climate change for social insurance". The focus was on
the European Green Deal.
A special highlight this year was our
30th anniversary,
which we celebrated with a ceremony entitled "140 years of social
insurance - 30 years of the single market. Bismarck on the move: Get digital.
Go green". High-ranking politicians spoke with our German Social Insurance
(DSV) Board in two panel discussions about digitisation and climate change
issues and their impact on social systems.
On 1 July, Spain took over the Council
Presidency for the fifth time and the trialogue about the proposed directives
for improving the working conditions of platform
workers began.
In the second half of the year, we
focussed more on the issue of an interoperable Europe, the proposed legislation
covering late
payments in commercial transactions and the EU's pharmaceutical reform. We
also welcomed the reduction of the lead limit values used in the workplace and
the introduction of limit values for diisocyanates.
On the occasion of DSV's 30th anniversary,
we published the second issue of our ed* magazine, in which you could get a deeper insight into our anniversary event
themes.
We will continue to keep you up to date with the
latest developments from Europe in the coming year. This is because one or two
legislative initiatives have not yet been finalised. They include the proposed
directive to harmonise specific insolvency law issues. What else can you
expect? An exciting European election year 2024.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank
you for your interest and we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
If you need some reading over the
holidays, you can find all the 2023
news here.
Your team at the European representative
office of German Social Insurance.