Ten years ago, EU institutions adopted the Regulation on rail passengers’ rights. According to the Commission, the time has now come - based on its recommended amendments - to “strike a balance between strengthening rail passengers rights on the one hand and reducing the burden on railway undertakings” on the other. Hence, from a passenger point of view, the Commission proposal, which was published at the end of September 2017, contains both some improvements as well as critical points.

On 31 May 2017, the Commission presented the Mobility Package “Europe on the Move”. The Commission’s objective is to make road transport in Europe cleaner, fairer, more competitive and more connected. In order to achieve this, amendments and recasts of eight Regulations and Directives have been presented.

The ‘Europe on the Move’ package includes a number of innovations, which are to contribute to a fair transport system on Europe’s roads. Does this instrument, however, really meet the requirements? This difficult question was debated during a panel discussion on July 3 in Brussels, in which the Austrian Transport Minister Jörg Leichtfried and the Swedish State Secretary Mattias Landgren took part and that was organised by AK EUROPA, ÖGB, DGB and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation.

At the beginning of this year, nine European Transport Ministers formed the Road Alliance in order to set an example for fair competition on the European roads and against social dumping. This initiative is supported by trade unions across Europe, who have been denouncing the often horrifying working conditions of truck drivers for years.

The Mobility Package, which the Commission presented on 31 May 2017, contains numerous innovations, which are intended to make road transport in Europe fairer and more sustainable. In particular the proposed changes with regard to cabotage and posting of drivers represent major developments for all employees in the road transport sector, which are now debated in Brussels.