Since the dramatic increase in gas and electricity prices over recent months, the EU Commission has presented four emergency regulations. Whilst the first one has already been enforced, at their meeting on 24 November 2022, the energy ministers agreed on two additional regulations. However, so far there has been little support for the fourth Commission proposal for a gas price cap.

In view of the still broad resistance against the conclusion of the EU-Mercosur Agreement, the EU Commission plans to split association agreements in the future. At the moment, this would primarily apply to the EU-Mercosur Agreement, where the controversial trade section could come into effect in spite of justified criticism and without the approval of individual national governments and/or parliaments.

As part of implementing the Green Deal to turn Europe into a climate-neutral continent by 2050, the European Commission launched the next legislative package on 26 October 2022 to achieve cleaner air and water. However, another priority is to improve the options for compensation in case of infringements.

New steps on the (re)alignment of EU economic policy can be expected before the end of autumn. Together with more than 180 other organisations and academics, AK has signed an open letter, which calls for a just and sustainable reform of EU fiscal rules.

International trade relations can play an important role in the move towards a green and more just global economy. This is the view given by the EU Commission in its Communication on the power of trade partnerships presented on 22 June 2022. Even though the proposals named therein take up longstanding demands, at the same time they fall short in view of climate change and global inequality as established by AK in its current position paper.

As a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and economic retaliation measures, energy prices have reached record levels – and they continue to rise. At the same time, time is running out to counteract the climate crisis. For that reason, AK EUROPA and Oesterreichische Nationalbank hosted a joint event to discuss measures to tackle energy prices and inflation whilst at the same time accelerating the green transition.

At this years State of the Union Address on 14 September 2022, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced an excess profit (windfall) tax for energy companies. This means levying the profits generated by the energy sector due to rising energy prices and redistributing them to consumers. On the same day, Vice President Frans Timmermans and EU Commissioner Kadri Simson presented the concrete draft regulation.

At the end of March 2022, the European Commission presented the circular economy package, whose fundamental aim is to transform consumption towards an extended life cycle. AK welcomes the legal acts proposed in this package, whilst at the same time requesting to retain the high level of protection of European Consumers and a social and fair drafting of the new regulations.

The Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK) and the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) developed a model for taxing excess profits in the energy sector. It provides for taxation of 60% to 90%, limited to the years 2022 to 2024. There should be an immediate and full deduction option for investments in renewable energy sources.

The Industrial Emissions Directive regulates the impact of 52,000 large-scale industrial and livestock facilities with high pollution risk. An evaluation conducted in 2020 identified certain areas of improvement.