For better comprehensibility, comparability and transparency, in the future companies will have to disclose sustainability information on the basis of new uniform EU reporting standards. The aim, among others, is to raise the awareness of corporate management regarding their social and ecological responsibility. AK welcomes the improvements; however, they must not be watered down in the current implementation process.

The Industrial Plan covers several policy areas and contains a variety of initiatives. The promotion of net-zero industry is to contribute to achieving the goals of the Green Deal. In this sector of future, European industry is to be given a central role internationally. It is now important to examine the plan closely for its social fairness, both in the EU and internationally.

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.

On 5 October 2022, the EU Parliament adopted a resolution, which identifies the right to clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right. This resolution underlines the EU’s commitment to ensure that all people worldwide have appropriate access to water and to take further action to achieve this objective.

The proposal by the EU Commission to classify, subject to requirements, natural gas and nuclear energy as "green" to provide private investors with guidance on the financial market, was met with plenty of resistance over recent months. However, at the vote on 6 July 2022, the EU Parliament did not veto the proposal. As a result and in accordance with the Taxonomy Regulation, investments in gas and nuclear energy will be classified as sustainable from January 2023 – provided they fulfil the requirements.

Regarding the proposed guidelines of the EU-Commission for the interpretation of the Public Service Obligations Regulation (PSO), AK commissioned a legal opinion evaluating whether direct awards in rail transport are still covered by them or not. Among other things, the legal opinion concludes that the proposed guidelines contradict both the text and the aim of the PSO regulation in this regard.

There were turbulent scenes in the plenary of the European Parliament on 8 June 2022: the vote on Parliament’s position on the Emission Trading System did not result in a majority for the final report. As a result, voting on the Social Climate Fund and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism was suspended and all three dossiers were referred back to the Environment Committee.

The EU Commission is currently working on guidelines, which would make direct awards in public transport significantly more difficult. To address this subject, AK EUROPA, together with ÖGB, vida and the European Transport Workers Federation ETF hosted a webinar, where speakers made it clear: Member States should still have the choice whether they want competitive tendering or directly award transport services.

The Brussels Office of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour (AK EUROPA), the Brussels Office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB), the Austrian Transport & Services Union (vida) and the European Transport Worker´s Federation (ETF) are pleased to invite you to our webinar.

On 27 April 2022, the Vice President of the EU Commission, Věra Jourová, presented a Directive proposal to protect journalists and human rights defenders against abusive intimidation lawsuits, so-called “SLAPPs“.