“Although I am not free of dreams, I am not a dreamer” said Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in his address at this week’s press conference (14.2.2018), during which he presented the new Commission Communication “A Europe that delivers” on the institutional work of the EU. This statement also outlines the proposed reforms: these are mainly limited to developing the lead candidate system, which was for the first time applied in the European Elections 2014.

Hundreds of guests followed the invitation of AK President Rudi Kaske and ÖGB President Erich Foglar, who in their addresses emphasised the importance of the Social Pillar and a Social Progress Protocol.

On 31 January 2018, the Commission presented the revised new Code of Conduct for EU Commissioners. It does not manage to solve the existing “revolving door” problem of the EU Commission, but only slightly delays it.

ÖGB Europabüro, the Brussels office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation and AK EUROPA, the Brussels office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour, would like to cordially invite you to our traditional

NEW YEAR'S RECEPTION 2018

Following the important events at the end of last year (Joint UK/EU Report from 8.12. and go-ahead for the start of Phase 2 of the negotiations at the European Council from 15.12.2017), the new year sees Brexit negotiations gaining pace again. From the AK’s point of view, the success of the negotiations depends on whether a future agreement between the EU and United Kingdom will ensure sufficient protection of employees, consumers and the environment.

One of the key issues, which will keep Brussels very much occupied over the coming months, is the budget of the European Union. It is the sixth time that a Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) has to be negotiated between the European institutions, based on which the EU’s budgetary guidelines will be laid down for a period of seven years. The current Multiannual Financial Framework is still in place until 2020, which is the reason why a new MFF has to be adopted.

This week, the Task Force on Subsidiarity, Proportionality and “Doing Less More Efficiently”, which was launched by EU Commission President Juncker‚ started work: the first meeting of the Group took place on 25 January; the Task Force, chaired by Vice Commission President Frans Timmermans is to have completed its work by 15 July 2018. It is to be expected that the Task Force will have a major political say in the debate on subsidiarity in the EU.

Mid November 2017, the European Commission presented its Gender Pay Gap Action Plan. At 16.3 %, the pay gap between men and women in der EU remains constantly high and working women are still confronted with a glass ceiling. The AK therefore welcomes the measures of the Action Plan, which are aimed at women’s equality in the labour market. These must now be put into action!

On the occasion of the EU-wide Gender Pay Day on 3 November 2017, AK EUROPE reported that unfortunately hardly any progress has been made towards more gender equality in Europe. From a statistical point of view, since this day, women in the EU have been working without payment, as they are still being paid less than their male counterparts for the same work. Mid-November, the European Commission presented its Action Plan to combat the gender pay gap.