On 17 January 2018 and after tough negotiations, the Plenum of the European Parliament adopted the reports on the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Renewable Energy Directive and the Governance Regulation. Hence, the green light for the trilogue negotiations concerning these three dossiers with Council and Commission has been given. However, exactly the ambitious targets for energy efficiency, as they were demanded for energy by a majority in the competent ITRE Committee of the European Parliament last November, did not withstand the vote in the Plenum.

On 14 December, the European Parliament adopted its final report of the PANA Committee of Inquiry on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion. Once again, the treacherous tax avoidance practices of large corporations and rich individuals were discussed in great detail. The demands of the report are an important step towards combatting these methods. However, on the home stretch, MEPs of the Conservative and Liberal factions thwarted some important elements.

The European Commission fires the starting shot for the European Semester 2018 against the background of solid economic growth. Once again, the economic recommendations do not hold any big surprises. The Commission continues to recommend reducing debt and increasing investments by “structural reforms”. However, according to a wealth-oriented policy, the development of social systems and sustainable wage increases to boost domestic demand should be right at the top of the Commission’s list of priorities.

The current EU trade policy is first and foremost aimed at the liberalisation of goods and capital flows.According to the European Commission, free trade should benefit all participants. But there are obviously limits to liberalised trade, if one can believe Jean-Claude Juncker’s statement “we are not naïve free traders”. This is expressed by the screening of foreign direct investments, which has been proposed by the Commission. What is hiding behind this concept?

This week, the MEPs in the Committee of Inquiry of the European Parliament into Money Laundering, Tax avoidance and Tax Evasion (PANA) voted on the final details of the report and on the recommendations to Council and Commission before these will be submitted to go to vote in the plenum. The report once more emphasises the necessity of intensifying the cooperation in tax issues at European level. Only then will it be possible to sustainably drain the tax swamps in Europe.

This week, the Commission presented a redraft to a common European deposit insurance scheme. The negotiations concerning this final building block of the Banking Union have stalled since 2015 because important Member States fear that their national deposit insurance schemes will have to take responsibility for the banks of other countries, which have not yet done their homework.

As a reaction to the economic and financial crisis, the Member States of the European Union imposed strict budgetary discipline and a reduction of existing debt on themselves. This austerity policy has been reflected in the so-called Fiscal Compact. This week, the European Parliament held lively discussions concerning the integration of this agreement into EU law. However, from the point of view of employees, the discussions should have focussed on another issue: putting an end to neoliberal austerity policy!

The 2008 financial and economic crisis has been the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression of the 1930s. However, there have been signs that the European economy is recovering at last. But which paths to follow to promote sustainable economic growth, which, at the end of the day, benefits all people of our society?