By Martin Banks

MEPs from The Left group in the European Parliament had a face to face meeting with EU Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen ahead of the unveiling of the Commission’s Affordable Housing Act, expected next Wednesday (9 September).

Left MEPs said they had “made it clear that market solutions will not resolve the deteriorating housing crisis which is now general across the European Union.”

A group source told this site: “On the contrary, financialisation and the widespread use of housing as an asset are now among the main drivers of the lack of affordable housing in our towns and cities, and this must be recognised in European legislation.”

“An ambitious Affordable Housing Act, which confronts the impact of short term rentals such as Airbnb and facilitates measures such as rent controls, is a significant opportunity for the EU to play a leading role in tackling the housing crisis.”

Following the meeting in Brussels on 3 September, MEP Leïla Chaibi (La France Insoumise, France) said: “We welcome the legislative proposal and Commissioner Jørgensen’s will to tackle the housing crisis.

“It is time for the EU to act, and we know short-term rentals have an impact on the housing crisis, in our city centers, in our neighborhoods, as well as in the countryside across Europe.

“We expect the Affordable Housing Act to be the first proposal, but other issues will also have to be tackled.

“Financialisation is another driver to the crisis and the EU has tools to regulate it.

“This mandate was presented as the one that will resolve this crisis, it is now time to deliver.”

Meanwhile, it has been claimed that European workers will benefit from enhanced health and safety after the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs voted to approve the interinstitutional agreement on improved labour protection against exposure to dangerous chemicals.

The agreement is the sixth revision of the EU’s carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxic substances directive (CMRD).

It introduces new occupational exposure limit values (OELs) for a number of dangerous substances, as well as clarifying rules on personal protective equipment (PPE) and introducing regular obligatory breaks for workers wearing it.

Renew Europe said it “is particularly proud” to have ensured that the directive includes clear recognition that emergency services personnel and firefighters are inherently at risk of exposure to carcinogens, mutagens, and reprotoxic substances in the course of their duties, as well as on securing explicit protections for them against Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs).

A group source said, “In addition, it was Renew’s lead negotiator Grégory Allione (Renaissance/France), a former firefighter himself, who ensured that the directive also includes occupational diseases and the explicit acknowledgement that reducing exposure reduces the risk of occupational diseases for emergency personnel.

Allione says. “Every year, tens of thousands of European workers develop cancer because of their exposure to dangerous substances at work.

“This compromise addresses that directly. I am particularly pleased that this text finally recognises that our firefighters and emergency workers are also exposed to these cancer causing substances as part of their job, an issue that carries particular weight after the summer we have just been through.

“These advances will help prevent tens of thousands of cancers and occupational illnesses in the decades ahead. This is a concrete victory for the health of those who put themselves at risk every day.”