Brussels, 23/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission will “in the coming weeks” present its response to the 11 national parliaments which challenged its proposal on a targeted revision of the directive on the posting of workers, and will refute claims that it infringed the subsidiarity principle, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stated on Monday 23 May.
Juncker spoke of this matter in a speech delivered in Luxembourg at the conference of the speakers of the parliaments of the European Union. Referring to the “yellow card” procedure and to the opinion of 11 parliaments arguing that the Commission had failed to observe the principle of subsidiarity (see EUROPE 11548 and 11549), he stated that he saw things differently. A response will be delivered in the coming weeks, he said. He stated that this response would make clear that the proposal relates to a cross-border issue which must be dealt with at the European level.
Since the “yellow card”, brandished on Tuesday 10 May, the matter has been at a standstill. According to a European source, the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU is waiting to see. Some member states, such as France and Belgium, which back the Commission proposal, have called for the issue to be discussed in Council. They have won their argument, to a certain extent, as the posting of workers has been included as an item for discussion on the agenda of the Competitiveness Council on Thursday 26 May. Commissioner Marianne Thyssen, who has responsibility for this matter, will be present. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys with Aminata Niang)