A report by the European Parliament on the Annual Competitiveness Report by the European Commission, which contains significant demands, makes one take notice

There are hardly any areas where the competencies of the European Commission are as comprehensive as with regard to competition policy. The Directorate-General for Competition of the Commission is regarded as one of the most powerful weapons in the arsenal of European policy.

Last week, the draft of the own-initiative Report on Employment and Social Aspects in the Annual Growth Survey 2016 was presented in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL).

This week, the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) of the EU Parliament debated the composition of Workers representation on board level.Even though the report by the FEMM Committee has no binding or legislative effect, it nevertheless contains interesting issues worthy of discussion. For example, the rapporteur could imagine quotas to be implemented and urges, among other, trade unions to appoint workers representatives, to take affirmative action and to ensure that the proportion of women on boards reaches the threshold value of 40%.

This week, the Netherlands EU Presidency presented its priorities for the coming six months in the EU Parliament. The Netherlands will concentrate on the following three key objectives: a Union that focusses on the essentials, an innovative Union that creates growth and jobs and a Union that unites.

This week, ÖGB Europabüro, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions together with AK EUROPA, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour and British and Swedish trade unions hosted a panel discussion on “BREXIT”.

It took less than seven months for the EU Commission, the EU Parliament and The Council of the European Union to agree to a so-called Interinstitutional Agreement (IIV), which will revise the cooperation of the three EU institutions to guarantee better legislation in future. Following an initial review, many concerns of employees and the civil society have been taken on board.

Kaum ein Thema wird so kontrovers diskutiert wie die Globalisierung der Wirtschaft. Trägt sie zur Entwicklung des globalen Südens bei und schafft Arbeitsplätze oder vernichtet sie Jobs und zerstört den Wohlfahrtsstaat? Letzteres wäre vermeidbar, wenn die internationale wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit entsprechende Governance-Strukturen hätte, um soziale Mindeststandards auf globaler Ebene durchsetzen zu können.

This week, AK EUROPA, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour and ÖGB Europabüro, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions hosted a panel discussion on the subject of data protection in the 21st century. New technologies provide companies with increasingly more options to monitor and analyse their (potential) customers without their knowledge.

In accordance with its 2015 Work Programme, the EU Commission decided this week to withdraw the Maternity Leave Directive - a proposal, which would have led to the improved reconciliation between work and family life. However, in this case one cannot pass the blame onto the EU Commission; it is rather a question of the gap between the ideas of EU Parliament and Member States being too wide. The negotiations lasted seven years - unfortunately to no avail.