Recently, the tax policy in the European Union has again become somewhat of an explosive issue. Newly published studies of the Commission show that in the area of the EU28 countries taxes on labour are the greatest source of tax revenue. It was explained during the course of the European Semester that Austria shows a very high tax burden in respect of labour.

On Wednesday, 22 October, the European Parliament confirmed the Juncker Commission. In his speech ahead of the vote, the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg stated his position on controversial issues such as TTIP or the planned investment programme. However, the new Commission President remained largely short on concrete answers.

Recently, several important reports on the status quo of tax revenue and assets have been published in the Member States of the European Union. The outcome of these reports shows that Austria, in particular with regard to taxation of labour is among the leading group of countries in Europe, that there are large increases in wealth and that the number of millionaires in the Alpine Republic is on the up. These developments once again call for a fairer taxation policy!

On Tuesday, 14th October, the “High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens” presented its final report. The “Stoiber Group”, named after its chairman, former Bavarian Minister President Edmund Stoiber, which has been dealing with reducing the administrative burden in the European Union since 2007, is part of a major programme of the European Commission for “Better Regulations”.

For some time, social housing has also become the focus of a debate on competition at European level. Vienna’s reaction was a Resolution for Social Housing in Europe. This Monday, on International Tenants' Day, tribute was paid to Vienna within the scope of a conference. Apart from that, an exhibition on Public Housing in Vienna was opened in the European Parliament.

The EU Heads of State and Government met for the umpteenth time in Milan this week to get a grip on youth unemployment. EU-wide funds available include a budget of a trillion euros as well as co-financings of the Member States. The EU Youth Guarantee is one of many options to get on top of youth unemployment. However, the budget amounts to just six billion euros – and not even this sum has been collected by Member States.

This week, a Council meeting of the European Ministers for Transport was held in Luxemburg, whereby one of the main topics was the Fourth Railway Package. According to the Commission’s wish, this Railway Package provides for new access criteria for the rail network (complete opening of national passenger transport) as well as for a change of tender processes (ban on awarding contracts directly). The AK continues to be opposed to this planned liberalisation.

The Communication of the Commission “Towards a circular economy: A zero waste pro-gramme for Europe” enlarges upon and concretises thoughts on targets and measures for promoting resource efficiency, which, albeit in general terms, among other had been already embedded in the 7th Environment Action Programme (Abl L 354/171 from 28.12.2013).

The austerity policy of the Troika is supposed to lead to the consolidation of public households; however, its impact on countries affected by the pressure to cut costs, has disastrous consequences in some cases. Already in the past, AK and ÖGB have time and again emphasised that the austerity programmes should not be used to abolish social standards, which had been contended successfully over many decades and to privatise important public sectors. Which concrete effects the policies of the Troika have, has been demonstrated in particular in the Greek healthcare sector.

CETA, the Free Trade Agreement between the EU und Canada came to its conclusion at the EU-Canada Summit on 26 September 2014 in Ottawa. CETA and TTIP also played a large role at the hearing of the designated EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström in the European Parliament in Brussels this week. Even though she stood by the controversial Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), Malmström received majority approval of the competent committee.