CEPI - European Council of Real Estate Professions

At the beginning of the new term of the European Parliament the existing intergroups are required to resubmit their applications for establishment. Intergroups can be formed of MEPs from any political group and any committee, with a view to holding informal exchanges of views on particular subjects and promoting contact between MEPs and civil society. CEPI calls for the continuation of the URBAN Intergroup which existed in the last parliament and the enlargement of its scope to include real estate issues at large.

On 23 July the EU proposed a new energy efficiency target of 30% for 2030 in its Energy Efficiency Communication. The Communication assesses whether the EU is on track to reach its 2020 target to increase energy efficiency by 20% and outlines what is necessary to ensure that the target is achieved. It also analyses how energy efficiency can drive competitiveness and strengthen security of supply in the EU in the future. Overall it finds that with current measures the EU will achieve energy savings of 18-19% by 2020. However, if all Member States work to implement properly existing legislation the 20% target can be reached without the need for additional measures.

House prices, as measured by the House Price Index (HPI), fell by 0.3% in the euro area and rose by 1.0% in the EU in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. These figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The European Commission adopted on 2 July new proposals which aim to reduce the environmental impact of new and renovated buildings by increasing resource efficiency and improving the information available about the environmental performance of buildings. The Communication on Resource Efficiency Opportunities in the Building Sector was published as part of the Circular Economy package which also includes a Communication “Towards circular economy: a zero waste programme for Europe”, a legislative proposal on waste policy review and two other communications on green jobs and a green action plan for SMEs.

A fully functioning Single Market for services is an important goal for the European Union and the European Commission is looking for experience-based evidence as to what remaining obstacles exist. It has published a questionnaire aimed at providing it with such evidence, including non-regulatory restrictions and the effectiveness and consistency of the existing legal framework applying to a sample of services activities.