A conference, which had been organised by the European Economic and Social Committee, debated possible measures of the European Commission on air passenger rights. During the course of the discussion, a high-ranking civil servant from the Commission pointed out that a new legislative proposal on air passenger rights could come as early as next year.

An event by AK EUROPA in Brussels on the considerations of the European Commission concerning the future of transport within the European Union was met with great interest. Two days prior to presenting his draft report on the Transport White Paper in the European Parliament, rapporteur MEP Mathieu Grosch provided an initial insight into his deliberations on the transport sector. Eduardo Chagas, the General Secretary of the European Transport Workers' Federation and the Transport Policy expert of the Chamber of Labour Vienna, Thomas Hader, described the problems of both employees and users.

The European Parliament did not waste time and used its first day of the new session to debate the latest problems on the financial market, which, due to a stock market slump at the end of July, had flared up again. The President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet, the President of the Euro Group, Jean-Claude Juncker, the Polish Finance Minister, Jacek Rostowski, and the EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner, Olli Rehn, answered questions of MEPs of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.

The Roadmap reports results of scenarios with regard to EU-wide, sectoral emission reductions for 2030 and 2050 (compared to 1990). The BAK is in favour of the EU to continue to advocate that the group of the industrial nations reduces emissions by 80 to 95 % by 2050 compared to the level of 1990. This is in opposition to a unilateral commitment of the EU to achieve this target and is rejected by the BAK; as is the unilateral tightening of the reduction targets for 2020.

The Commission proposal on the EU budgets 2014 to 2020, which was presented this week, was to a large degree quite disappointing. For a long time, Commission President Barroso had been declaring that his top priorities were the reduction of unemployment and poverty as well as providing better education within the European Union. Now it has transpires that apart from general remarks on the Europe 2020 Strategy no new measures with regard to the EU Budget can be expected.

Last week, the EU Commission and the European Parliament launched the new Joint Transparency Register. In it, lobbyists, as well as advocacy groups and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) provide information on their objectives, budget, personnel and the organisation itself, which can be accessed by the public.

Causes and solutions concerning the increasing volatility and the rising levels of prices for raw materials and food products were the main topics at the conference “Commodities and Raw Materials: Challenges and Policy Responses”, which the Commission had staged on Tuesday. Increasing demand and speculation

On Tuesday, the EU Commission presented its “economic policy recommendations” to the Member States as part of the first so-called “European Semester”. The Member States are required to implement these “recommendations”, following the endorsement by the Heads of State and Government, within the next 12-18 months.

The Council and the European Parliament have already adopted three railway packages on the liberalisation of rail transport in accordance with proposals of the European Commission. With only moderate success, as even the Commission admits. Nevertheless, the Commission remains on liberalisation course and proposes further liberalisation steps in its new Paper on reviewing the 1st Railway Package.

On 1 July, Poland will assume the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. On Tuesday, 31 May, the Polish Parliament approved the objectives of the Presidency. Security, economic growth and the internal market, as well as foreign and security policy are central issues of the programme.