This week, the European Parliament debated in its special committee on the future of the EU budget from 2014 the revenue side of the EU budget. Janusz Lewandowski, commissioner for financial programming and budget, who had been invited, remained disappointingly vague. Replying to a comment by an MEP that the commissioner had in reality hardly said anything in his 10-minute statement, Lewandowski himself admitted that this statement was not too far from reality. In the end the budget commissioner gave a little hint in favour of taxing the financial sector.

On Tuesday, Werner Langen of the European People’s Party presented 125 Amendment Applications on a Proposal for a Regulation on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories in the Economic and Finance Committee of the European Parliament. The intention is to debate the regulation again mid-April in the Committee and to vote on it in Parliament at the beginning of June.

The proposal of the EU Commission concerning the intra corporate transfer of third-country nationals has now been on the table for over six months, during which time the Council has held negotiations behind closed doors. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has also prepared a draft opinion and this week even held a very interesting public hearing on the subject.

That is the title of an article by the American economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman. The plans of an European economic government also seem to be hooked on the idée fixe of competitiveness, associated with wage and government cuts. Austerity measures and the European economic government were the key topics of a conference, which had been organised by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Federal of Public Service Unions (EPSU) this week.

The EU institutions have held negotiations with Croatia concerning the country’s accession to the European Union since 2005. The Council would like to conclude the talks with the Croatian representatives during the first half of 2011. However, no date has been set yet when Croatia will finally join the European Union.

It has been planned to amend Article 136 of the Lisbon Treaty as a basis for the creation of a permanent rescue mechanism for the Euro.

This week, the EU Commission presented its action plan to reduce the rate of early school leavers, one of the five key objectives of the EU 2020 Strategy. The aim is to reduce the current level of 14.4 % to under 10 % by the end of the decade. Early school leavers have great difficulties in finding a job, are more frequently unemployed and more often dependent on social benefits. The action plan urges the Member States to become active.

As far back as July 2008, the European Commission had presented a new draft Directive, which proposed that in future environmental costs should be considered in the HGV toll. Since then, European Parliament and Council debated, as to which external costs should be included in the toll calculation. However, now that the joint position has been adopted in the Council, it becomes apparent that the inclusion of environmental costs has been put on the backburner.

This week, the EU Commission presented a Communication on raw materials, in which it outlines a strategy on dealing with increasing and more volatile prices of raw materials and agricultural products. A three pillar strategy shall ensure the supply of commodities and restrict the speculation with them.

2011 will be a decisive year for workers and employees around Europe. This has been one of the main messages during this year’s New Year’s Reception, organized by AK and ÖGB in Brussels.