The proposal is for a Regulation that regulates emission values, the type approval and the market surveillance of internal combustion engines in non-road machinery and equipment. The key point of the proposal is the specification of a new emission level (“Stage V”), which, depending on the engine category, will come into force between 2018 and 2021 for type approval and placing on the internal market.

The issue of “Better Regulation” is at the focus of the new Commission. It is the aim of the initiative to reduce bureaucratic barriers and unnecessary regulations. The agenda concerns almost all European policy areas and is part of the remit of the First Vice President Frans Timmermans. In a well-attended discussion event in Brussels, AK and ÖGB explored the question whether this initiative is indeed only about identifying unnecessary regulations or whether the rights of employees and consumers will be restricted under the guise of reducing bureaucracy.

This week, the EU Commission made a first step towards creating a European Capital Markets Union. Vice President Katainen called the Capital Markets Union an important element of the EU strategy for more investments. The aim is to create a genuine single market for capital in Europe, which above all shall also secure funding of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Trade Committee this week discussed an initial working document on the resolution on “Parliament's recommendations to the Commission on the negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership”. The Trade Committee is scheduled to vote on the resolution at the beginning of May.

At its 45th Annual Meeting in Switzerland, the World Economic Forum (WEF) discusses responsibilities within the “new global context”. For three days, over 2500 politicians and managers are holding meetings to deal with topics such as climate change, Euro issues, wealth inequality and terror. A recently published report by Oxfam, which says among other that the wealthiest percent of the world population owns more than 50 percent of the world’s wealth, additionally fuels the inequality debate.

This week, the EU Parliament for the first time held an intensive debate on the EU Commission’s EURES proposal. The aim of the proposal is to turn the currently existing European Network of Employment Services “EURES” into an effective tool for job seekers and employers. A comprehensive pool of job offers and employee profiles shall be made accessible and transparent across Europe in particular to those, who are voluntarily interested in labour mobility within the EU.

This week, the Social Democratic rapporteur Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann provided a first assessment of the Commission proposal on smart regulation. Based on the so-called REFIT Programme, the EU Commission wants, in accordance with its own words, to decrease administrative burdens and to reduce bureaucracy. In order to achieve this, the entire acquis communautaire of the EU is under review to make it more efficient, more powerful and more cost-effective, whereby particular focus is on simplifying rules and regulations for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This week AK EUROPA, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour, the ÖGB Europabüro, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions and the European Social Observatory (OSE) hosted an event under the heading “Economic Crisis and Austerity in Southern Europe: Threat or Opportunity for building a Sustainable Welfare State?” In particular the welfare state in the Southern European countries was most badly affected by both economic crisis and austerity policy.

AK and ÖGB want to call on you again to convey to the Commission our clear rejection of ISDS in trade agreements. This week, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström presented the results of the public consultation in Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) within the scope of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The immense criticism by labour representations and civil society had spurred the Commission into action. A first interim report by the Commission in July 2014 already showed how extremely high participation was.

On Tuesday, almost two months after Juncker’s announcement of an EU Investment Offensive for more jobs and growth, a proposal has been adopted for the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The Fund will be established in partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB).