This week, the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee voted on a report on social housing. According to demands of MEPs, affordable housing had to be available and investments in social housing were necessary. Unfortunately, however, the text does not reflect the fact that social housing does not only serve to fight poverty, but also pursues socio-political objectives.

The BAK provides an initial assessment on the planned Revision of EU Regulation 261/2004 on establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights and of EU Regulation 2027/97 on air carrier liability in respect of the carriage of passengers and their baggage by air.

This week, Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier presented a proposal regarding the amendment to existing accounting legislation. The transparency of companies with more than 500 employees shall be improved: in future, these would be required to disclose information on policies, risks and results concerning environmental matters and social and employee-related aspects as well as their approach to human rights, diversity and anti-corruption issues. This shall provide consumers and investors with additional information on corporate policies in these areas.

This week, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) presented its World of Work Report in which it urges the EU to initiate a shift in policy towards job creation in the EU in order to tackle the dramatic jobs crisis with more than 26 million people out of work. According to the ILO, sweeping austerity measures and structural reforms are wrong and miss the root causes of the crisis.

The Directive 97/68/EC regulates the type approval process and the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the European Commission is set to permit the cross-border use of oversized HGVs weighing up to 60 tons with a length of 25 metres.

On Monday this week, Commissioner Michel Barnier presented the long awaited Green Paper on long-term financing of the European economy. The Paper aims at stimulating the debate as to how governments and businesses of all sizes will in future be able to ensure and increase access to finance their investments. Only if the great demand of long-term investments is financed, the EU could find its way back on the path of self-imposed targets (“Europa 2020”), i.e. intelligent, sustainable and integrative growth.

The purpose of the draft proposal is to continue to push forward the internal market in the railway sector, and exactly for that reason, authorities and states will no longer be able to choose between tendering or directly awarding rail transport services.

Whilst the social crisis in southern Europe escalates, Europe suffers from mass unemployment and the economy is in recession, EU Commission displays its usual zeal with regard to the economic and monetary union: on the one hand, future plans for big national economic reforms shall be coordinated in advance by the Commission and other Member States concerned.

For more than a year, MEPs were averse towards a new groundhandling regulation, which includes services such as loading and unloading of baggage, cleaning or servicing and refuelling of aircrafts at airports. Last year, the Commission proposal was rejected by both the competent Transport Committee and the plenum of the European Parliament. This week now the surprise turn: following a further debate of the dossier, a narrow majority of EU representatives now voted in favour of the proposal.