The latest attempt of EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas, to allow Monster HGVs in the European Union by sledgehammer method is simply unbelievable. For years now, the Commission has made every effort to introduce HGVs with a weight of up to 60 tons and 25.25 metre lengths throughout the EU. However, until now the resistance of many EU Member States, trade unions and civil society representatives was too great. Now EU Transport Commissioner Kallas had his officials draw up a legal opinion on the respective existing EU Regulation.

The economic recovery had unexpectedly stalled at the end of 2011, said Olli Rehn, EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs yesterday in a press conference. However, in view of the extensive austerity measures introduced by many EU countries in order to cut public spending it is more than astonishing that the Commission is surprised by the poor state of the economy.

This week, both employer and employee representatives voiced their dissatisfaction with the new Commission Proposal on groundhandling services and the loading and unloading of or refuelling of aircrafts within the scope of a hearing in the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Although the competent Commission official did not tire of emphasising the necessity of more competition, suggesting this would bring more quality and efficiency, employer and employee associations criticised the proposal, as they envisage the danger that in particular the quality of services might deteriorate.

On 01.12.2011, the European Commission, within the scope of the Airport Package, also adopted a proposal on the new regulation of the groundhandling services market.

The target is ambitious. The EU Commission plans to reform the more than 15-year old rules on data protection with far-reaching proposals. The aim is to create common regulations at EU level. The hope at the same time is that this move will give new impetus to growth, jobs and innovations in Europe. The proposed legislation gives the impression of having been thoroughly thought through.

This week, Siim Kallas, EU Commissioner for Transport, presented the new package of measures for the air transport sector in the Transport Committee of the European Parliament, including a new legislative proposal for ground handling services. This concerns among others services such as aircraft loading and unloading, as well as the de-icing and refuelling of planes. Regarding these services, the Commission would like to see even more competition than has been possible until now.

This week, a public hearing on the planned new rules for credit rating agencies took place in the European Parliament. Whilst the agencies are free to put their thumbs up and down as they please and in the process plunge already ailing countries even deeper into the abyss, some MEPs were surprisingly lenient towards them.

The attempts to solve the so-called “government debt crisis“ continue to be the focus of the debate between the political factions. This is the conclusion for the public hearing on evaluating the instruments to deal with the government debt crisis, which took place in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament on Monday and Tuesday.

Just in time for the mid-term arrival of the legislative period in the European Parliament, there are a number of new appointments to be made in the Parliamentary committees. Apart from the election of Martin Schulz (Socialists & Democrats) as new President of the European Parliament, there are also significant changes from an Austrian point of view.