On 22 June 2015, Commission President Juncker – working in close cooperation with the Presidents of the European Council, the ECB, the Eurogroup and the European Parliament – submitted a report entitled "Completing Europe's Economic and Monetary Union". In doing so, Juncker joined the debate on EU reform, which peaked in 2012 during the worsening economic crisis and in which the precursor to the current Presidents' Report and a Euro-pean Commission "blue print" constituted key points of reference.

A short while ago, the European Parliament had the opportunity to have a closer look at the Volkswagen emission scandal. Apart from requesting Volkswagen to provide full disclosure, demands have also been made for the speedy introduction of new emission tests within Europe, which better present driving conditions (so-called Real Driving Emission – RDE tests).

Exhaust emission standards and health and environmental issues associated with them, have not only been a concern within the European Union since the VW scandal became known to the public.

BAK proposes to underpin the development of the electricity market design by a transparentframework based on public order law, allowing for a steered, systemic-holistic progression of the energy market. We hold the opinion that only this way a cost-efficient, affordable and sustainable electricity provision for households and real economy can be achieved. The corner stone for this energy policy will be the increase of energy efficiency.

The Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour (BAK) welcomes the European Commission’s aim of presenting an ambitious initiative to promote the circular economy by the end of 2015. The initiative is intended to comprise not only a revised version of proposals on amendmentsto various waste management directives, but also a mandatory and coordinated action plan that takes into account the whole value-added chain, rather than just a part of it.

This week, AK EUROPA, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour and ÖGB Europabüro, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions hosted a panel discussion on the subject of data protection in the 21st century. New technologies provide companies with increasingly more options to monitor and analyse their (potential) customers without their knowledge.

In accordance with its 2015 Work Programme, the EU Commission decided this week to withdraw the Maternity Leave Directive - a proposal, which would have led to the improved reconciliation between work and family life. However, in this case one cannot pass the blame onto the EU Commission; it is rather a question of the gap between the ideas of EU Parliament and Member States being too wide. The negotiations lasted seven years - unfortunately to no avail.

Last week, AK EUROPA, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour and ÖGB Europabüro, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions hosted a high calibre panel discussion on the issue of regulatory cooperation in TTIP. Subject of the debate were the so-called non-tariff barriers to trade, which are to be reduced in the “novel” trade agreements TTIP and CETA by intensive cooperation of the legislators.

Since the beginning of this week, it is possible to ask MEPs within the scope of the AK EUROPA campaign “NO 2 ISDS” directly via email or Twitter in various languages to publicly commit against private investment arbitration courts (ISDS), which would give foreign companies unjustified privileges. We therefore once again ask for your support: visit our campaign homepage www.no2isds.eu and contact as many MEPs as possible with only a few clicks!

Join us in asking MEPs directly via Twitter and e-mail to say NO 2 ISDS!

This week, AK EUROPA, the Brussels office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour, and the ÖGB Europabüro, the Brussels office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation hosted a panel discussion on a “Golden Investment Rule” for the European Union.

This week, the College of EU Commissioners held an initial debate on the EU’s asylum and migration policy for the coming years. Vice President Frans Timmermans and Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos presented the key points of the Agenda. As the subject had the highest priority, the planned strategy of the Commission would be finalized in May rather than June.

The Commission members announced four priorities, which the EU had to tackle within the coming years.