Brussels, 14/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - The EU should take inspiration from the US practice of employee financial participation (EFP) in their companies. This was the main message that the European Parliament wanted to give on Tuesday 14 January by adopting - in plenary session in Strasbourg - a non-legislative resolution by 562 votes to 62 and 60 abstentions.
Written by Phil Bennion (EPP, UK), this resolution highlights several benefits of EFP - it strengthens good governance of the company by involving employees in the decision-making process, and employees could potentially enjoy financial benefits and more training throughout their career. However, such a system is still little developed in Europe. Several obstacles persist, like “the lack of information, the lack of incentive measures, the way these schemes are affected by national taxation regimes and the different models in the member states”, deplored Bennion during the Parliament debate the day before the vote, a press release states. Several solutions at the European level can be found to these issues. The Commission could thus propose guidelines on setting up EFP and also ways of facilitating cross-border EFP, with a common but optional tax system. A reference framework of best practice for companies that want to start EFP could also be created, according to the resolution. (JK/transl.fl)