This document discusses the construction industry in Europe, providing the following key points: 1. It provides an overview of FIEC, the European Construction Industry Federation, including its membership. 2. It presents some key figures on the state of the construction industry in Europe in 2016, such as total construction output and employment levels. 3. It identifies several challenges facing the industry, including an uncertain global economic environment, lack of public and private investment, and difficulties accessing financing and skilled workers. It also mentions opportunities from the Juncker Investment Plan and European Investment Projects Portal. 4. It discusses priorities for the future of EU Cohesion Policy post-2020, calling for an ambitious budget, improved technical assistance,

1. Challenges and perspectives of the
construction industry in Europe
Kjetil Tonning
FIEC First Vice-President
20/7/2017, Sofia

2. ENTERPRISES
• of all sizes
• active in all fields of building
and civil engineering
Full members
Denmark
Netherlands
Germany
France
Spain
Luxembourg
Bulgaria
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Ireland
Belgium
Portugal
Switzerland
Austria
Italy
Cyprus
Greece
Hungary
Slovakia
Turkey
Observer
members
Estonia
Romania
Slovenia
Croatia
Lithuania
Co-operation
agreement
United Kingdom
26
Countries
29
Federations
19051 meetingst

3. FIEC annual statistical report

4. Key Figures – activity 2016 (EU)
 Total construction output: 1,278 bln. €
 Variation 2016/ 2015: 2.2 %
 Weight of construction in EU GDP: 8.6 %
 Total construction employment: 14.3 mln.
 Weight of construction employment: 6.4 %
 Total number of enterprises: 3.3 mln.

5. Activity by segments
Sectors 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016a 2017b
1. Building -0.6 -9.4 -0.5 2.7 -2.9 -2.1 2.4 1.7 2.9 2.4
1.1. Housebuilding -3.3 -10.3 2.8 2.9 -2.3 -1.6 4.9 2.5 4.7 2.9
1.1.1 New -9.6 -16.6 7.3 6.5 -4.6 -1.9 6.2 3.8 8.0 4.7
1.1.2 R&M 1.6 -3.0 1.8 1.8 0.3 -0.4 4.0 2.1 1.8 1.6
1.2 Non
residential**
2.8 -8.8 -5.5 1.7 -3.8 -2.6 0.6 -0.1 3.2 1/6
1.2.1 Private 2.8 -11.6 2.2 2.2 -2.7 -2.0 0.8 0.7 6.6 1.9
1.2.2 Public 3.1 0.7 -1.7 -0.7 -8.1 -3.8 3.5 -2.3 -5.9 0.9
2. Civil
Engineering
2.3 0.8 0.9 0.6 -5.9 -1.8 -1.1 6.1 -0.3 1.1
1+2 Total
Construction*
-0.2 -7.6 -0.6 2.3 -3.5 -1.9 1.6 2.1 2.2 2.2
* Without CY, CZ, EE, GR, HR, HU, IE, LU, LV, MT, SK
** incl. R&M
Variation of production in real terms of previous year (%)

6. Evolution over 10-year period

7. Evolution by country
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
GR SI PT ES LT IT EE FR AT NL DK FI EU BE DE SE UK CH NO RO PL BG
27.3
45.1
50.3
60
63.9
65.3
74.7 80.3
92.9 93.2 93.8
94 96
111.1 112.2114.2
117.8 120.2
126 128 128.4
180.2
2016 (2007=100)

8.  Still, uncertain global environment for investors…
o Brexit, Refugees’ crisis, ECB quantitative easing, oil prices…
 Lack of public and private investment
 Lack of maintenance of our core assets
 Difficult access to financing (esp. for SMEs)
 Lack of skilled workforce
 Innovation => « industry 4.0 » / BIM
Challenges

9.  Juncker Investment Plan:
o A great opportunity for SMEs, infrastructure and energy
efficiency of buildings… to be seized!
o to be extended and reinforced
- 500 billion euros => 2020
- 630 billion euros => 2022
 But let’s safeguard the CEF!
 European Investment Projects
Portal: more visibility for projects!
 A more investment friendly
regulatory framework
Opportunities

10. Cohesion Policy post-2020? (1)
 In the future: do less with more?
 ESIFs play essential role for construction sector:
o Sustainable transport infrastructure, shift towards low-carbon
economy, competitiveness of SMEs, training and long-life learning…
 With very concrete impact for EU’s growth and jobs:
o Direct and indirect employment, competitive economies, accessible
territories, sustainable homes, etc.
 Example of the European Social Fund:
o Attracting youngsters, adapting to green policies and digitalisation
o FIEC involed in various supporting projects

11.  FIEC preliminary recommendations:
o Secure an ambitious budget
o Use financial instruments where and when appropriate…
o … but safeguard the grants!
o Improve the technical assistance
o Facilitate the blending of grants and financial instruments
o Simplify the overall system!!!
- One-stop-shop with consolidated capacity-building instrument
o Ensure coverage of ALL regions
o Improve the communication about the added-value
Cohesion Policy post-2020? (2)

12. BIM