Brussels, 01/12/2008 (Agence Europe) -The European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC) has welcomed the raft of initiatives which make up the Commission's relaunch plan for its sector, whilst specifying its expectations on a number of points. "This ambitious plan is a real challenge for the construction sector", stressed Dirk Cordeel, the president of FIEC, who added that the "craftsmen and women, SMEs and large businesses of our sector have the technical expertise to reduce the energy consumption of buildings by 50%".
Amongst the elements which have prompted commentaries on its part, FIEC states that the measures to increase the energy efficiency of buildings should be accompanied by tax incentives to encourage owners to have the work done. The funding of infrastructure, particularly the transport infrastructure (TETN), which has been inadequate so far, is still not enough, given the sums necessary (500 billion by 2020), FIEC adds, going on to voice a number of concerns on reduced-rate VAT, the funding of research projects in the field of construction, payment lead-times of the public authorities or the level of social payments. The effect of the measures announced in the construction sector also depend on an element on which the plan does not go into sufficient depth: simplification of the administrative burden and reducing lead-times for the attention of the permits required to start work. (A.B./transl.fl)