The AK welcomes the fact that the Commission is looking into the growing segment of payment cards and has raised a series of questions on secure payments at the point-of-sale(POS) and on the Internet.

Most of the participants at a discussion in the European Parliament this week reacted hostile to the new Directive proposals on the award of concession contracts for public services.

Most of the participants at a discussion in the European Parliament this week reacted hostile to the new Directive proposals on the award of concession contracts for public services.

The Commission proposal on contract terms within the EU Sales Law lowers the standard of consumer protection. This was the clear statement by Ursula Pachl, deputy Director General of the European Consumer Organisation BEUC, at a Workshop on the Common European Sales Law in the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament. A representative of the Italian Chamber of Commerce also voiced her concerns in respect of terms contained in sales contracts.

An informal meeting of EU Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs took place last week to discuss among other solutions to combat youth unemployment. Due to the financial and economic crisis, the situation of young people in Europe has tremendously worsened, and youth unemployment in the euro area has risen to 22.1 %. Spain even has an unemployment rate of over 50 % among the under-25s. Many regard a youth guarantee based on the Austrian model as a way out of the dilemma. However, there are only a few supporters of this idea and as usual, Great Britain is against the idea in any case.

A debate in the European Parliament on the EU Budget revealed that the battle lines are drawn between Council and European Parliament. MEPs Reimar Böge and Ivailo Kalfin, competent co-rapporteurs for the EU financial framework for 2014 - 2020 did not mince their words. A new financial framework would only come about once the European Parliament had given its approval.

Similar to banks, they arrange credits, but without being subject to the same regulations: How the regulation of “shadow banks“, such as finance companies or money market funds can be improved in the future to counteract their risks to the stability of the financial system, is currently being hotly debated at EU level. Following the Green Paper on Shadow Banking published by the EU Commission and in the context of the ongoing consultation, it was the aim of a conference to discuss different views on the role of shadow banks and possible relevant regulatory plans.

This week, the European Central Statistics Office Eurostat presented the latest data concerning public sector debt and deficit. The figures once again showed the enormous impact the rescue of the financial sector and the recession, which is unprecedented since the existence of the European Union, had on the public sector: within only 4 years (2008 – 2011), the level of debt in the European Union rose by more than € 2.6 billion resp. by 20 percentage points from 62.5 to 82.5 % of the Gross Domestic Product.

The European Union is experiencing the most serious crisis in its history. But this is not only a crisis of the financial markets and the economy, but also a crisis of confidence by the citizens in political institutions at national and EU level and their ability to find solutions to urgent issues. Commission President Barroso, EU Parliament President Schulz and the Danish Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt, who took part in a discussion event in the European Parliament, organised by European Ombudsmen outlined their positions as to how confidence in European integration could be restored.

The world looked alright for the European Commission at the start of the year: in January, ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, had been signed in Tokyo by 22 of the 27 EU Member States. Neither the Commission nor the Member States expected that the Agreement would trigger such a storm of indignation with the population. This resulted in a number of EU Member States deciding to back down. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht reluctantly announced in February that he would ask the European Court of Justice to review the Agreement.