The European Commission has registered today a European citizens initiative titled HouseEurope! Power to Renovation. The aim is to encourage the renovation and transformation of existing buildings. Organizers ask the Commission to propose legislation to promote building reuse through tax reductions for renovation work and reused materials, fair rules for assessing potential and risks of existing buildings, and new CO2 values for existing structures.
The decision to register an initiative is based on a legal analysis of its admissibility under the European Citizens Initiative regulation. It does not prejudge the Commissions legal and political conclusions on these initiatives and the actions it would take if one of these initiatives receives the necessary support from at least one million Union citizens.
Following todays registration, organizers have six months to launch the signature collection process. More information is available in our online press release.
Yesterday, the Commission published its fifth report on the fight against Trafficking in Human Beings (THB), providing an analysis of statistics from 2021-2022. The total number of registered victims in the EU showed an increase of 41% from 7,155 victims in 2021 to 10,093 in 2022. Trafficking for sexual exploitation continued to be the most prevalent form, with 49% of all trafficking victims being women.
The Commission has also approved the registration of two new geographical indications from Spain and Portugal, recognizing their distinctive qualities.