Europe’s citizens will elect their new EU Parliament from 23^rd to 26^th May 2019. This means that the decision will be made during these four days who will shape politics in Brussels during the next five years. As one of the three key EU institutions, the EU Parliament has significant influence on the decisions of the European Union. According to surveys, this might result in significant shifts of majorities.

In the last plenary week in Strasbourg, the outgoing Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker addressed the European Parliament for the last time. He used the debate with the Latvian Minister President on the future of Europe for a personal retrospect on his period as Commission President, which is now coming to an end.

On April 8^th 2019, the European Commission published a strategy on further developments in the Artificial Intelligence sector. The Commission emphasises that ethical and legal issues will be the focus of further research and development in order to create a technology, which enjoys the trust of people.

The future poses numerous challenges to Europe. Ongoing pollution of the environment, climate change, demographic change, economic and social imbalances and migration to mention only a few. Hence, on January 30th 2019, the European Commission presented a reflection paper for a more sustainable Europe by 2030. It is the objective to meet these challenges with clear strategies in order to improve the environmental, economic and living conditions for all.

In his latest book “Rewriting the Rules of the European Economy”, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics Joseph Stiglitz develops new ideas for the economic and social policy of the European Union. In doing so he proposes new rules for institutions and politics in the sectors employment, stability and growth.

Renting is getting increasingly more expensive and risks becoming a luxury good. More and more people in Europe can hardly afford to rent a place to call their home. However, at the same time, rents are rising faster than earnings, which, for many makes the situation even worse. Therefore, AK EUROPE supports the European Citizens’ Initiative “Housing for All”, which was launched on 27 March 2019.

Together for affordable housing in Europe: Join us in supporting the European Citizens’ Initiative “Housing for All”!

On the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8th, Brussels is focussing on gender equality. Many events were organised in the advance in order to show and to discuss the still serious, mainly structural discriminations.

Each year, the European Commission prepares a Country Report for each Member State within the framework of the European Semester. From the point of view of the Chamber of Labour, the current Report for Austria, which was published on 27 February 2019, includes several critical assessments by the Commission, but also contains a number of aspects, which have been raised by AK for years.

After almost two years of negotiations concerning the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU, the result is still uncertain and the scheduled leave date, 29th March 2019, is getting closer and closer. Most recently the probability of a no-deal Brexit (without agreement) has increased, which is the reason for European institutions and Member States to intensively prepare for this scenario. However, during the last days the likelihood of a possible delay of Britain’s exit has once again been suggested.