Brussels, 19/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz and the French minister for labour, Michel Sapin, called a press to conference on the sidelines of the European Parliamentary plenary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday 19 November to demonstrate how closely they are working together to make a breakthrough in the persisting stalemate on the question of posted workers. This is a major challenge because national ambassadors to the EU will meet on Wednesday 20 November to decide only whether this issue should be included on the agenda of the next Employment and Social Affairs Council (EPSCO) on 9 December.
The next EPSCO Council meeting, if there is a discussion on this question, will probably be the last chance in this parliament's term to reach a general approach, followed by an inter-institutional agreement. If such a solution is not forthcoming, the proposal on implementation of the directive (96/71/EC) on posted workers will gather dust again for at least a year, or even longer. This is why Schulz said that they now had to accept what they had as progress and ratify it. The French minister then noted that the position of the Parliament is close to the one being promoted by France. The “progress” made at the Council in October (see EUROPE 10943) does not simply involve two technical questions. The questions are only technical in appearance because these two points have led to a political gulf between the east and west of Europe, with the United Kingdom backing the first group of countries.
Since the October meeting, little progress has been made at Council working group level, according to one European source. The same divergences persist with regard to Article 9 and, above all, Article 12, which concern, respectively, the application conditions for national inspection measures and specific measures for ensuring respect by subcontractors of employment conditions relating to posted workers. There is now a significant risk that no compromise will be reached, according to another European source. France, supported by Parliament, will continue to fight for joint and several liability. After Sapin described the most recent compromise drafted by the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council as “so weak that it would change nothing” for posted workers, the Presidency is not putting forward any new proposals. (JK/transl.fl)