The questionnaire - available only in English - reflects the work of the BIO Intelligence Service on behalf of the European Commission, supported by Arcadis (Belgium), Federal Environment Agency (Austria), Ecologic (Germany) and IEEP (Great Britain), which consists of an analysis and a comparison of 36 systems of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in EU Member States on packaging, waste electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and accumulators, mineral oil, paper and vehicles).

In its everyday work, the European Commission regularly receives support from external advisors in so-called groups of experts. However, the problem is that the overwhelming majority of these advisors represent corporate interests. In the past, both AK and ÖGB have repeatedly pointed out this unsatisfactory situation. The European Parliament and the newly appointed European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly are also very critical of this development. O’Reilly, for example, recently launched a public consultation on her own initiative to get the problem under control at last.

A recent study commissioned by the German Ministry of Finance shows that the implementation of the Financial Transaction Tax would generate an additional income of over 17 billion euros in Germany alone. Admittedly, speculators could in many cases take their transactions to other countries; however that would not harm the economy.

The Gender Equality Strategy of the EU Commission will expire next year. Based on this fact, the EU Parliament took the opportunity of organising a workshop under the title "A new strategy for gender equality post 2015" in Brussels to voice recommendations from the point of view of the EU Parliament at an early stage. A study, featuring the most important demands was also presented for this purpose.

The almost four-month public consultation of the European Commission on the Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) within the scope of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) came to a close on 13.07.2014. AK EUROPA, the European Office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation ÖGB and Friends of the Earth Europe had developed an online tool, which was also to enable/make it easier for individuals to participate in the consultation. Well over 23,000 people made use of this opportunity.

The EU Parliament and the Committees have already been set up. Martin Schulz (S&D) was re-elected President at the inaugural meeting of the European Parliament. Othmar Karas (ÖVP) did not put himself forward to be elected as Vice-President; however, Ulrike Lunacek’s appointment means that there is an Austrian Vice-President after all. Meanwhile, the composition of the committees has also been determined.

Not long ago, an agreement of the EU social partners for the better protection of hairdressers became the latest casualty of the EU Commission. This was greeted by fierce criticism of labour representatives. This did not occur a second time and the EU Commission has now taken the opportunity of proposing the setting of specific rules on working time for the inland waterway transport sector. This means that there are new minimum rules on working time for passenger or cargo transport ships in inland waterway transport across the EU.