In December 2016, the European Commission announced a Communication on Modernising Education, detailing specific initiatives on school and higher education; now it has upped the ante. However, a closer look reveals that the so-called “Youth Initiative” is nothing more than a collection of ideas with few concrete intentions.

 

The employees’ side regarded the Commission’s Communication on the Pillar of Social Rights on 26 April to a large extent as disappointing. This delusion is easy to understand: after all, Commission President Juncker announced at the start of his term in office that the social dimension would be one of his ten priorities; since then, the Commission has fuelled these expectations time and again. The striven for “AAA Rating” with regard to social rights in the EU, aimed by the Commission in its Communication, however, has not been achieved.

 

This week, the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) of the European Parliament adopted a report, which requires an EU-wide strategy to end and avoid the gender-specific pension differential. A closer look at the gender pension gap shows why this strategy is urgently required.

 

Brussels has long been waiting for the so-called European Pillar of Social Rights. At long last the time had come this week: the Commission presented a number of papers, indicators and initiatives. As feared, however, the plans hardly usher in the urgently needed change of direction towards a social Europe with binding high minimum standards and a departure from neoliberal economic policies. Instead, existing European and international rights have simply been reinforced.

 

This Wednesday, the European Transport Workers' Federation ETF called on its associated trade unions to join in a demonstration in Brussels to draw attention to the poor working conditions in the transport industry.

 

On Tuesday this week, a debate on the Special Report by the European Court of Auditors on the Youth Guarantee and the Youth Employment Initiative was held by the competent Committee of the European Parliament. For the third time, the report has cast a critical view on the less than adequate implementation of Guarantee and Initiative. Both the Court of Auditors and the AK see a lot of room for improvement.

 

Apart from the revised Posted Workers Directive, the Commission at the end of last year also presented a revision of the coordination of social security systems. This proposal is currently intensively discussed by the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL); after all, it concerns the claim to unemployment benefit, social security benefits for persons in need of long-term care and other social benefits for EU citizens living and working respectively in another Member State.

 

Education is more than a collection of formal qualification certificates! Against the background of a digitalising labour market, qualification and competences are again gaining more attention at European level, namely within the framework of the ‘New Skills Agenda for Europe’.

 

The notification directive proposed by the European Commission interferes with the sovereignty of the Member States and also undermines the principle of democracy. The new consultationprocedure, which allows for the participation of not only the Commission, but also the Member States, will artificially delay the legislative process and create additional bureaucracy.

According to the European Commission, the legislative initiative on introduction of a European services e-card is designed to increase cross-border activities in the service sector and promotecompetition. However, in the view of the BAK, the legislative proposals do not provide any benefit. In reality, the proposals make it easier for dishonest companies and pseudo self-employed persons to engage in crossborder activities. Austrian companies and their employees could suffer considerable damage due to the resulting unfair competition.