At the request of the Czech delegation, a point on the agenda of the Employment and Social Policy Council (EPSCO) was added at the last minute on Thursday 15 March. This takes into consideration some of the concerns about possible legal uncertainties in the provisional inter-institutional agreement reached at the end of February.
The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – and to a lesser extent Croatia – expressed their concerns, indeed dissatisfaction, about the common approach found at the end of the trilogue negotiations held during the night of 28 February to 1 March (see EUROPE 11972).
Poland publicly announced that at least 11 member states had failed to give their support on Wednesday 14 March to the renewed mandate of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the EU (Coreper). This declaration confirms the information EUROPE has received (see EUROPE 11981).
Concerns particularly focus on the synchronisation clause between the Posted Workers Directive and the lex specialis for the international road transport sector. Hungary would prefer to wait for an agreement on the lex specialis before closing the inter-institutional negotiations on the directive on posted workers.
The Hungarian authorities also circulated a document, examined by EUROPE, which calls for an upward revision of the transposition period and which requires the opinion of the Council legal services on: - the definition of remuneration; - the addition of collective non-universal agreements; - the inclusion of the mention of respect for fundamental rights in the body of the directive; - the mention of covering "non-genuine posted workers".
Compensation is also an issue that is provoking a number of questions, particularly with regard to the kind of compensation relating to postings and compensation for those that are not.
These delegations therefore called on the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council to stick to the agreement reached at the EPSCO Council at the end of October 2017 (see EUROPE 11889, 11890) and, if necessary, continue inter-institutional negotiations after the negotiation on Monday 19 March, in order to reach a more balanced agreement between workers' protection and the free provision of services.
Greece opposed this demand. It would like to close this dossier as quickly as possible, as would Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands, which also spoke on the matter.
Marianne Thyssen, the commissioner for Social Affairs, reiterated the main Council points that would be retained: - the maximum duration of a posting (12 months extended for six months); - maintaining the synchronisation clause with the lex specialis; - removing the mention of subcontracting. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)