Bratislava, 15/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen said after a meeting of European employment ministers in Bratislava on Friday 14 July that she was planning to keep the current draft targeted review of EU legislation on the posting of workers.
As reported in this newsletter yesterday (EUROPE 11594), the meeting was devoted to changes in the world of work, along with bilateral meetings on the outcome of the British referendum of 23 June and the new draft legislation on the posting of workers.
In connection with secondment, Thyssen told this newsletter that she was planning to request support from her colleagues on 2 July in order to keep the current draft targeted revision of the 1996 directive (EUROPE 11592) despite opposition from 11 national parliaments. She says that arguments made as part of the 'yellow card' procedure - questions of powers, timing and subsidiarity - were not justified.
Slovak labour minister Jan Richter cautiously explained that this was not a comfortable position for the Slovakia, since the country holds the rotating presidency of the Council but the Slovak parliament is one of the eleven signatories of the yellow card procedure. He said they were trying to remain above the fray.
Away from the cameras, he said he didn't have any problem with ensuring the best conditions for workers, but made two criticisms of the Commission. Firstly, he said that it should have waited for the 2014 application directive to take effect before unveiling a new proposal. Secondly, he said that the idea of equal pay for equal work should be reworded to include the idea of 'equal company.' He criticised the way German workers at Volkswagen get paid four times more than Slovak workers for the same company.
Commissioner Thyssen refuses to talk content at this stage, pointing out that the yellow card procedure is about respect of subsidiarity rather than the contents of the proposal. She said the Commission did not have any plans to submit a revised proposal. She said she would be suggesting to the College of Commissioners that the current proposal be kept as it is, which the European Parliament and Council would then discuss and amend where necessary.
Quizzed about the aftermath of the United Kingdom leaving the EU, she said the country would remain at the negotiating table until it officially left. She said, however, that the UK was not one of the great critics of the new posting of workers rule, but Brexit could have an impact on the draft review of the regulation on the coordination of social security systems (amending Regualtion 883/2004) because the UK was calling for optouts. The victory of the 'Leave' campaign meant the February agreement no longer holds and this should facilitate the process.
Thyssen and Richter both hailed the success of the ministers' meeting, the main aim of which ad been demographic and technological changes in the world of work. The Slovak minister said that a record number of ministers had attended and the visit on the ground, the first in ten years, had been a great success. He added that welfare protection of workers should not be sacrificed on the altar of flexibility. The Commissioner stressed the potential of migration whether intra- or extra-European. Refugees also represent a potential, which is why they should be integrated into the labour market as quickly as possible, she said. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)