This week, the EU Parliament for the first time held an intensive debate on the EU Commission’s EURES proposal. The aim of the proposal is to turn the currently existing European Network of Employment Services “EURES” into an effective tool for job seekers and employers. A comprehensive pool of job offers and employee profiles shall be made accessible and transparent across Europe in particular to those, who are voluntarily interested in labour mobility within the EU.

This week, the Social Democratic rapporteur Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann provided a first assessment of the Commission proposal on smart regulation. Based on the so-called REFIT Programme, the EU Commission wants, in accordance with its own words, to decrease administrative burdens and to reduce bureaucracy. In order to achieve this, the entire acquis communautaire of the EU is under review to make it more efficient, more powerful and more cost-effective, whereby particular focus is on simplifying rules and regulations for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This week AK EUROPA, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour, the ÖGB Europabüro, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions and the European Social Observatory (OSE) hosted an event under the heading “Economic Crisis and Austerity in Southern Europe: Threat or Opportunity for building a Sustainable Welfare State?” In particular the welfare state in the Southern European countries was most badly affected by both economic crisis and austerity policy.

AK and ÖGB want to call on you again to convey to the Commission our clear rejection of ISDS in trade agreements. This week, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström presented the results of the public consultation in Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) within the scope of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The immense criticism by labour representations and civil society had spurred the Commission into action. A first interim report by the Commission in July 2014 already showed how extremely high participation was.

On Tuesday, almost two months after Juncker’s announcement of an EU Investment Offensive for more jobs and growth, a proposal has been adopted for the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The Fund will be established in partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The Banking Structural Reform (BSR) shall make the financial system more resistant and less dependent on state aid in times of crisis. In order to achieve this, major system relevant banks shall separate high-risk trading activities from their deposit and lending business. However, in his draft report, the rapporteur responsible in the European Parliament, the Conservative MEP Gunnar Hökmark, has massively watered down the proposal by the Commission on BSR.

The Banking Structural Reform is an important pillar to prevent any repetition of the last financial crisis.

As promised, the EU Commission introduced its 2015 Work Programme before the end of the year. In it, the Commission boasts in grandiose terms that over the coming twelve months it will provide important impulses for more jobs, growth and investments and that citizens will be able to enjoy actual benefits. That is exactly how one imagines a Christmas present to be but will it deliver on its promise? One thing already catches the eye - there will be far fewer legislative proposals in 2015; talk is about only 23. Normally, the Commission introduces 130 legislative proposals per year!

At the two-day meeting of the EU heads of state and government in Brussels, which is probably brought to a close this lunchtime, the focus has been on the 315 billion investment package as well as on further action against Russia and respective sanctions. In the run-up to the meeting, the AK had supported the idea that Austria would use the summit to increase her effort to drive forward concepts of public investments and to promote domestic demand.

The thought behind the Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is to provide enterprises with incentives for foreign investments. However, ISDS also means that corporations may sue states if they suspect that new laws might cut their profits. Hence, this means, which is more than questionable in terms of democracy, has led to widespread protests by trade unions, political parties and civil society.

AK EUROPA, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Chamber of Labour, the European Office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation ÖGB, the Brussels Office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation and the Austrian Chamber of Civil-Law Notaries this week invited to an event under the title “Societas Unius Personae (SUP) – a Trojan horse?” Behind the title is a draft proposal, which was presented by the EU Commission in April that does not only concern companies and company founders, but also intervenes in national standards in corporate law and entails the threat to co-determination rights of employees