Following a long period of stalemate, we are at last confronted with a historic opportunity. The Treaty of Lisbon includes a Social Dialogue, which enables the social partners to conclude socio-political agreements at European level, which, on the proposal of the EU Commission and the Council Decision become applicable law. Adopting such a procedure, the European Parliament would only be informed. The Working Time Directive could now be subject to such an agreement.

This week, the Plenum of the European Parliament debated the current state of the negotiations concerning the EU Directive on maternity leave. The reason was a question of the European Parliament to the Council, where a decision has been due for over a year, whether the Council would be prepared to compromise in order to reach agreement and finalize the Directive on maternity leave, which has been a subject of negotiations since 2008.

After it became apparent that that the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), which came into force in 2007, threw the doors wide open for the creation of even more intransparent trading platforms, thereby enabling the speculation with commodity derivatives on a scale never seen before, the Commission has finally agreed to introduce a new Directive and Regulation in respect of the MiFID in order to bring more transparency and regulation to all existing trading platforms for financial products.

Each year, the Consumer Markets Scoreboard reflects the subjective satisfaction of consumers with a wide range of market sectors. The EU Commission would like to use these results to draw conclusions for optimising the single market from a consumer’s point of view. The comprehensive Europe-wide surveys show that customer satisfaction has even further decreased in respect of consumer credits and fuel markets, in particular with regard to subjective trust and price comparability.

After a long break and in the midst of the Euro crisis and the anti-bank movements, the EU reports back with proposals on regulating the financial markets. Following a year of negotiations, “naked” short selling of European government bonds is to be restricted. And the deregulation in respect of trading with financial instruments, which had only been implemented three years ago, is to be partly reversed.

According to the Commission, the proposal for a new facultative European Sales Law has been a great success: trade obstacles could be eliminated and consumers would have more choice and a higher level of protection. What the Commission does not mention: both consumer organisations and associations for small and medium enterprises are opposed to the Commission proposal. The organisations fear among others legal uncertainty for their members.

“We were in Brussels long before Austria became a member of the European Union“, said AK President Herbert Tumpel at the anniversary celebration of the European Office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour at Brussels “Square”. And this presence is worth its while: together with the Austrian Trade Union Federation ÖGB, the AK has made significant contributions to topics such as the demand for a Financial Transaction Tax.

About 30 million people living in the European Union do not have a basic account. This has serious consequences for everyday life, for example when applying for a job or looking for a flat or simply going about one's daily business. The recommendation, which has now been published by the European Commission in respect of the right for all citizens to hold a basic bank account is a disappointment to the MEPs as it does not oblige the banks to provide every person with a bank account.

On 10th and 11th October, the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection of the European Parliament invited representatives of the national parliaments, the Council and the Commission to take part in a debate on “Relaunching the Single Market: State of Play and Challenges Ahead”. All representatives agreed that the Single Market has to function more smoothly and more citizen-oriented. A further harmonisation of the Single Market also found the approval of all parties.

Last week, a conference under the title “Network of European Labour and Social Academies - Better Information and Training for Trade Unionists” took place at the European Parliament. The AK EUROPA Office together with the European Academy of Labour, the European Trade Union Institute and the non-governmental organisation SOLIDAR acted as co-organiser of the conference.