On 25 June 2013, Rübig was elected already for the second time in a European-wide vote as MEP of the Year for his outstanding commitment in the field of research and innovation.

By facilitating the accession of Austria to the European Union in this period, he quickly gained significant expertise in EU related matters.

[20] In the negotiations for Horizon 2020,[21] which will follow the 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7), he supports the restructuring of the available sources towards more funding for small and medium-sized enterprises.

[22] At the same time, he requests in the ongoing budget negotiations for the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) an increase of means for growth generating measures in education, science and research.

Instead of only one-sided increases of single budget items, he generally advocates to examine in detail the use of tax money on its efficacy, appropriateness and cost-effectiveness.

He justifies his refusal of dangerous nuclear energy with reference to the high security risks and the enormous costs in the life cycle of such a power plant (construction, operation, decommissioning, final storage).

[26] As EPP spokesperson in the WTO steering committee of the European Parliament, Rübig advocated for a sustainable removal of global trade barriers.

In his view, developing countries can only break out of the poverty trap by opening their economies to international trade and investments, whereas protectionist measures have the opposite effect.

[28] In the debate about the possible Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement with the United States, he supports the initiative due to the positive effects for the global economic development.

In this context, Rübig was invited amongst others by the renowned College of Europe (CoE) and the French École nationale d’administration (ENA) in order to give public lectures.

[31] As a self declared expert in key issues about the internet, Rübing voted for restrictions of the net neutrality and is also jointly responsible for the legislative text.

His opinion on this issue is mainly based on his thoughts that soon the internet will be overloaded, and emergency calls will be delayed due to increasing streaming traffic (like netflix etc.).