Subsidies from third countries to companies active in the EU are increasingly leading to serious distortion of competition on the EU single market. The aim of fair competition on the single market is therefore undermined by foreign subsidies to the benefiting companies, making the playing field unlevel. European companies and workers are suffering the effects.

The Austrian Chamber of Labour welcomes in general the efforts of the Commission to submit subsidies from third countries to more stringent monitoring and checks in the scope of the proposed regulation. However, the proposed regulation does not fulfil the expectations raised politically in key points since the intention is only to investigate major cases by setting high threshold values. Furthermore, the European Commission wishes to have exclusive competence for execution of the regulation. In the Austrian Chamber of Labour’s opinion, significant parts of the proposed regulation need to be improved since otherwise the risk is too great that the efforts to achieve greater fairness and justice will miss the mark. In this sense, it is of central importance for there to be equal conditions for all companies on the European single market. In the field of public procurements for example, foreign subsidies can particularly distort competition on the single market.