On 27 April 2022, the Vice President of the EU Commission, Věra Jourová, presented a Directive proposal to protect journalists and human rights defenders against abusive intimidation lawsuits, so-called “SLAPPs“.

The railway systems in Switzerland and Austria are widely regarded as the best in Europe. In both countries, most of the railway services are awarded directly. A new study commissioned by AK concludes that the PSO Regulation still entitles Member States and authorities to choose equally between direct awarding and competitive tendering. The new guidelines for the PSO Regulation on which the Commission is currently working should therefore retain this freedom of choice between direct awarding and competitive tendering.

In December 2021, the EU Commission presented new proposals on modernising the EU transport system. Amending the Directive on Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) shall improve connectivity, shift passenger and freight transport to rail and promote the implementation of new digital technologies. AK and vida welcome a speedy completion of the TEN-T Network. However, the measures announced fall short of expectations in terms of regulations on employees and rail transport.

On 14 March 2022, the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) hosted an event on transport poverty, which is gaining ever more relevance next to energy poverty, due to increased commodity prices. Climate compatible mobility services can reduce existing transport poverty and increase participation in the labour market and in society.

In 2017, the EU Commission presented the revision of the Eurovignette Directive to make the toll on European motorways more environmentally friendly. On Thursday, 17 February 2022, the EU Parliament confirmed the final version of the compromise. However, due to the fact that the new Directive will not reduce the volume of international road transport through Austria, in particular Tyrol, all Austrian MEPs voted in favour of renegotiations, but they remained the minority.

On 13 January 2022, EU Commissioner Hahn answered questions on the new own resources package, which the Commission had presented on 22 December 2021. Three new sources of revenues for own resources have been planned for the EU budget: revenues of emissions trading, of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and of taxing multinational corporation’s profits. From 2023-2030, these new sources of revenues shall generate on average up to 13.5 billion Euro per year for the EU budget.

Just before the start of the new year, the EU Commission took a far-reaching decision: within the scope of the Taxonomy Regulation, fossil gas and nuclear energy are to be classified as green investments. Whilst the majority of EU countries welcomes this delegated act, Austria positions itself at the forefront of opponents and even threatens to sue. However, it is unlikely that the Council will block the Commission’s initiative.

The Commission’s “Fit for 55” Package proposes concrete measures by which EU greenhouse gas emissions shall be reduced by 55 % by 2030 compared to 1990 and by which subsequently the EU becomes climate neutral by 2050. AK has scrutinised the Package and compiled four Position Papers. AK generally supports the ambitious European climate policy, however, it clearly opposes the introduction of trading CO2 emissions in respect of space heating.

AK supports the new, ambitious targets for the expansion of renewable energy sources by 2030. These targets should also be binding at Member State level since the necessary expansion of renewable energy sources by 2030 will be difficult to achieve without binding targets at all levels.
 

AK supports the new ambitious energy efficiency targets to be met by 2030 but calls for them to be binding at Member States level as well. With the proposed inclusion of the “energy efficiency first” principle in the legislation, energy efficiency could finally achieve a breakthrough. However, AK strongly opposes the proposed possibility for Member States to continue to exclude the sales of energy used in the transport sector from the final energy consumption calculation.