Ensuring a level playing field in the Single Market and closing existing regulatory gaps were the Commission’s declared goal when presenting the proposed Regulation on foreign subsidies, which are distorting the Single Market. A political compromise between Council and EU Parliament has now been reached. The initial assessment has been mixed.

At the last meeting before the summer break, the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) voted on the Directives on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. The Committee calls for significantly accelerate reducing energy consumption by 2030.

On 21 June 2022, Council and EU Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). A welcome step, as in future more information on social and environmental impact of corporate activities has to be disclosed. Sustainability reporting must become a main driver of socially-environmentally oriented governance.

The proposal by the EU Commission to classify, subject to requirements, natural gas and nuclear energy as "green" to provide private investors with guidance on the financial market, was met with plenty of resistance over recent months. However, at the vote on 6 July 2022, the EU Parliament did not veto the proposal. As a result and in accordance with the Taxonomy Regulation, investments in gas and nuclear energy will be classified as sustainable from January 2023 – provided they fulfil the requirements.

Energy prices in the EU have been rising sharply since autumn 2021 and are becoming a threat to more and more people. Against this background, AK EUROPA and ÖGB Europabüro hosted a joint event on 27 June 2022 to discuss the dimensions of energy poverty and options to solve the problem.

Energy prices in the EU have been rising sharply since autumn 2021, which led to increased energy poverty. However, these uncontrolled price increases are not only a consequence of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, but also an indication of the currently non-functioning energy markets. From the point of view of AK, there is a pressing need for immediate, but also long-term policy measures, to obtain affordable prices for all: On the one hand a decoupling of the electricity price from the gas price is necessary and hence a gas price cap should be considered.

With a new resolution, the EU Parliament urged the EU Commission on 9 June 2022 to ban products from the EU market, which are made by forced labour and under inhumane conditions. AK welcomes this motion by the EU Parliament.

Sustainable is the buzzword of the moment – regardless of whether we talk about food, clothing or investments. However, how can consumers be sure that a financial product is sustainable and that it “does exactly what it says on the tin”? To provide better guidance, the Austrian Chamber of Labour did not only commission a study to examine sustainable financial products but has also used mystery shoppers assessing the quality of advice regarding sustainable monetary investments provided by 16 financial institutions.

The Brussels Offices of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour (AK EUROPA) and the Austrian Trade Union (ÖGB Europabüro) are pleased to invite you to our event:

As part of the European Semester, the EU Commission each year publishes Country Reports and country-specific recommendations with the objective to improve the coordination of Member States’ economic policy. From the AK’s point of view, the Country Report for Austria, which was submitted on 23 May 2022, comprises positive approaches in some areas.