Brussels, 08/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - The question of whether it should be for the employment (EMPL) or the transport (TRAN) committee to provide the precise definition of “social dumping” was discussed on Thursday 7 April when adopting the opinion by Jens Nilsson (S&D, Sweden) on the own initiative report by Guillaume Balas (S&D, France) on social dumping in the EU.
According to a Parliamentary source, the EPP and S&D Groups were at odds with one another on compromises one and two relating to the definition of “social dumping” and on its misuse for protectionist ends. The EPP wanted the TRAN committee to deliver the definition, while the S&D argued that it should be the EMPL committee which has a greater locus on the issue, the same source revealed. Ultimately, both compromises were adopted. The S&D voted for the “more general” first but not the more specific second.
The issue of shared responsibilities between the two committees had already been raised during the first debate on the Balas report on 25 January. In that debate, the Social Democrat MEP was criticised for placing too great an emphasis on social dumping in transport and also of being too ambitious, with, for example, the creation of a European road transport agency. Balas also suggested addressing cabotage and work by bogus self-employed persons (see EUROPE 11476).
These proposals were nonetheless largely accepted by the MEPs on the TRAN committee. Thus, compromise 13 on cabotage and bolstering European legislation was adopted. Of particular note, MEPs adopted compromise 15 which calls for a road transport agency to be set up, dedicated to monitoring fraud at EU level (such as working time).
Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France), monitoring the issue as a substitute member in the EMPL committee, seemed satisfied with the report in its current form. She welcomed the mention made of tackling “letter-box companies”, the creation of a European agency and the strengthening of the social dimension of the aviation strategy (see EUROPE 11438), which, it is true to say, has been widely criticised by trade unions (see EUROPE 11448). The only regret for the Greens/EFA was that the proposal to set up an EU-wide black list of companies which have been involved in fraud, removing them from public contracts, was rejected by one vote.
Transport minsters discussed the social dimension of road transport in December of last year (see EUROPE 11450). The European Commission intends to revisit the thorny matter of posted workers. It is also expected to bring forward a raft of initiatives on road transport in the latter part of this year or perhaps the first half of 2017. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)